Diamonds in the Rough 6.20

3-3 Royals affiliate record.  HR Roll Call Max Ramirez 2 (7,8) Tony Abreu (7) David Lough (5) Mark Threlkeld (1) Luis Lara (1)

Max Ramirez via Mindahaas.net

Pine Tar Press Hitter of the Day Max Ramirez 2-4 2 HR 3 RBI

Pine Tar Press Pitcher of the Day Sam Selman 2.2 IP 1 H 0 R 0 BB 3 K

Memphis Redbirds 13 Omaha Storm Chasers 9

The Chasers lost a high scoring affair Wednesday afternoon despite hitting 4 home runs.  Starter Ryan Verdugo’s struggles with the strikezone continued with the lefty walking four Redbirds in just 4.2 innings while allowing 6 hits and 5 runs in that time.  Verdugo has walked 11 in his last 3 starts which spans just 16.2 innings which increases his average to over 4.6 per 9.  Max Ramirez would keep Omaha within shouting distance early with home runs in the 2nd and 5th inning accounting for 3 Omaha runs to keep it close at 5-3.  The Redbirds wouldn’t stop scoring though putting up 7 runs in the 6th and 7th innings, six of those runs came courtesy of Sean O’Sullivan who struggled with the zone as well walking 3 while giving up 4 hits including a pair of doubles.  Those runs would be plenty for Memphis take home a 13-9 victory despite a 4-4 day at the plate from Salvador Perez who caught the afternoon game after catching all nine innings the night before.

W: Gast (4-1, 4.57) L: Verdugo (5-2, 3.65)

NW Arkansas Naturals 7 Tulsa Drillers 6

Third day in a row for a comeback victory by the Naturals over the Drillers.  This one didn’t take extra innings but they did have to overcome a 6-1 Tulsa lead heading into the bottom of the 6th.  The Drillers had built that lead with a tough rehab start by Felipe Paulino who gave up a pair of home runs and another run while giving up 4 hits and walking 2.  Paulino threw 54 pitches, 33 of which were strikes leaving after 3 innings.  Down 6-1 NW Arkansas would get a 2 runs in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI triple by Paulo Orlando and a sac fly by Eric Duncan that pushed Orlando across.  Two Drillers errors in the bottom half of the seventh opened the door for a big Naturals inning.  The first error came with one down when a pitch that caused Rey Navarro to strikeout allowed Julio Rodriguez to score while Navarro reached.  With two down a wild pitch got away from the catcher pushing Lorenzo Cain across while trimming the lead to just one and pushing Navarro and John Whittleman into scoring position.  With two down and the lead runner just 180 feet away Paulo Orlando would come through again with a pop up that eluded the Drillers second baseman scoring both runners and giving the Naturals a 7-6 lead.  The Naturals Ryan Dennick and Patrick Keating would finish off the Drillers working the final two innings to earn the win.

W: Dennick (3-1, 4.72) L: Williamson (2-2, 1.69)
S: Keating (8)

Burlington Royals 7 Pulaski Mariners 5

One of the benefits to the new CBA is that draft picks have an opportunity to play much sooner than they did under the prior rules since teams don’t have to wait for MLB to release bonus totals.  With those new rules the Royals got to see their 2012 3rd round pick make his pro debut a day after their 2011 4th round pick made his.  That pitcher, Colin Rodgers held his own tossing 2 innings while working around a hit and 2 walks, striking out 2.  Burlington would capture a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning when the Mariners made a throwing error on a Humberto Arteaga sac bunt allowing Adrian Morales and Terrance Gore to score.  A double by Chris Elder in that same inning scored Arteaga pushing the Royals lead to 3-0.  Pulaski would score three in the bottom 4th and add a run in the 5th to take their first lead 5-4.  That lead would hold up until the top of the 8th when Mark Threlkeld hammered a two run shot to left field to give Burlington the lead back 6-5.  The Royals would add a run in the 9th on a Chris Elder single which turned out to be more than enough as Jossiel Martinez worked around a single in the final inning to earn the save.  Speedster Terrance Gore was 2-4 with his 2nd stolen base in as many games.

W: Stumpf (1-0, 0.00) L: Holman (0-1, 0.00)
S: Martinez (1)

Idaho Falls Chukars 7 Orem Owlz 1

The Chukars finished off a series opening sweep of the Owlz Wednesday night getting solid pitching and plenty of help from Orem.  Chukars starter Andrew Ferguson was the only Idaho Falls pitcher to allow a run on the evening giving up a 2nd inning solo home run but finding a way to work around base runners in all four innings thanks to 4 K’s.  Idaho Falls had built a 6-1 lead after just 2 innings with 6 hits and 3 Orem errors in the first two innings turning a big lead over to the bullpen who cruised through the rest of the game.  The biggest contributor our of the pen was 2nd round pick Sam Selman who cruised through 2.2 innings, striking out 3 and allowing just a single earning his first pro win in the process.  Idaho Falls knocked out 10 hits on the night including 2 more by Jack Lopez who had 5 in the series.

W: Selman (1-0, 0.00) L: Lowery (0-1, 18.00)