Diamonds in the Rough 7.26

2-3 day for Royals affiliates.  HR Roll Call Johnny Giavotella (10) Brian Fletcher (7) Yem Prades (6) Fred Ford (10) Patrick Leonard (10)

Photo by Levi Payton

Pine Tar Press Hitter of the Day Johnny Giavotella 3-3 2b, HR, BB

Pine Tar Press Pitcher of the Day Ryan Dennick 5.2 IP 3 H 0 R 2 BB 6 K

Patrick Leonard

Pine Tar Press Rookie League Player of the Day Patrick Leonard 2-4 HR, BB, 4 RBI

 New Orleans Zephyrs 5 Omaha Storm Chasers 1

Johnny Giavotella kept his hot bat going unfortunately the rest of the team couldn’t get much done collecting three hits, two of which were erased by a caught stealing and a pickoff.  With the offense on hiatus starter Chris Dwyer would take a loss giving up four runs on seven hits in six innings.  Giavotella extended his hitting streak to 21 games with a 3 for 3 night connecting on his 10th home run and 16th doubles of the season.

W: Webb (2-0, 1.59) L: Dwyer (1-2, 6.88)

NW Arkansas Naturals 3 Tulsa Drillers 2

The Naturals jumped into the win column for the first time in awhile getting a pair of home runs to post the victory.  Lefty starter Ryan Dennick came an out short of giving the Naturals a quality start giving his teammates 5.2 scoreless but getting a no decision when Ethan Hollingsworth gave up the 2-0 lead Ryan left with.  Tied at 2 apiece Cuban outfielder Yem Prades connected on a solo home run in the bottom of the 8th with two down to give the Naturals the lead and an eventual win.  Middle infield prospect Christian Colon played in his first game since a DL stint in Arizona going 2 for 4 with a double and a run scored.

W: Hollingsworth (1-7, 5.33) L: Sullivan (0-1, 2.42)
S: Gutierrez (2)

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 4 Kane County Cougars 0

First round pick Kyle Zimmer made his full season debut Thursday night in Kane County taking a loss but looking pretty effective in the four innings.  He used all four of his pitches while mixing up the movement on his fastball which registered in as high 97 and sat 94-95 through all four innings.  The fastball while showing plenty of velocity has a wicked tail to his arm side when he wants to break it out tying up right-handers and getting under a couple of their bats for strikeouts.  On top of the fastball variations Zimmer threw three offspeed pitches with a slider, a change up and curveball.  The slider seems to be the offspeed pitch Zimmer was most comfortable on this night throwing it in the low 80′s inducing some weak contact but also hanging a couple that ended up in hits.  While Zimmer mixed in all four pitches giving up four singles and a double in his four innings allowing that double with one out in the fourth and then giving up a single that squeaked through the left side to allow a run to cross.  It was a brief highlight reel of what the #4 overall pick can do earning strikeouts with three of the four pitches and showing good control.  The Wisconsin starter Chad Pierce earned the win despite having a less impressive stuff spotting his fastball and mixing up the Cougars hitters to toss 7 innings of shut out ball to earn the win.

Look for video and audio from Kyle on Friday or Saturday.

W: Pierce (4-3, 3.35) L: Zimmer (0-1, 2.25)

Burlington Royals 9 Pulaski Mariners 2

This Burlington crew is a bit too much for the Appy League at this point winning their ninth game in a row and fifteenth in sixteen tries Thursday.  The Royals are doing much of their damage with big bats like the one Fred Ford takes to the plate connecting on his league leading 10th home run of the season in the 2nd as part of a 4 run inning that grabbed the lead away 4-1.  Ford grabbed that lead from Patrick Leonard who has lead the league much of the season but it was short lived after Leonard connected on his 10th of the season to tie Ford with a three run shot in the 4th.  Those runs were plenty for the foursome of Royals pitchers that limited Pulaski to just three hits and two runs.

W: Peterson (4-0, 2.02) L: Marte (1-3, 3.80)