Down on the Farm, KC style

[SubGod22]

Omaha Walks-Off on Oklahoma City Again to Win 10-7

PAPILLION, Neb. - For the second game in a row, the Omaha Storm Chasers sent the fans home in style. This time it was Cody Clark, whose ninth inning three-run blast ended the game and propelled the Chasers to a 10-7 win over the Oklahoma City RedHawks.

Teaford pitched today.

Naturals Edge Drillers

Arguelles (1-3) turned in his best start of the season going six and a third innings allowing seven hits and three runs, while striking out two. Elisaul Pimentel, Brendan Lafferty, and Kendal Volz combined to keep the Drillers scoreless the rest of the way. Volz earned his third save of the season recording the last out of the game.

Marks pitches tonight

POTOMAC TAKES RUBBER MATCH, 3-1

Ventura (0-3) took the loss despite logging his first quality start of the year. He struck out six and walked none over six innings of two-run, six-hit ball. Grace (2-3) logged his first win since his CL debut with 6.1 innings of one-run hurling, scattering eight hits in the process.

No game today, Sample starts tomorrow

Moreno drives Cougars to win

GENEVA – Henry Moreno’s one-out hit in the bottom of the ninth scored Orlando Calixte to give the Kane County Cougars a 4-3 victory over the Peoria Chiefs on Friday in front of 8,689 fans at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark.

Diamonds in the Rough 5.6
POD - Aaron Brooks
HOD - Clint Robinson

[SubGod22]

Storm Chasers Sweep the RedHawks for Their 14th Straight Home Win

PAPILLION, Neb. - The Storm Chasers finished off their short four-game homestand with an 8-4 victory over the Oklahoma City RedHawks on Monday afternoon. Seven Chasers contributed with a hit in Monday's victory. In addition to Lough's slam, catcher Cody Clark had a strong performance at the plate, as he slashed three hits in three at-bats. Starter Everett Teaford (1-0) was credited with the victory after working through 5.1 innings and giving up two runs.

Starter TBD

Naturals' bats come alive

Marks (2-1) turned in his second straight solid outing going five and a third innings allowing five hits and one run, while striking out a season high seven. Michael Mariot came on in relief of Marks and fanned the first two men he faced to end the sixth inning.

Mariot allowed just one run in two and two thirds innings of work and struck out a season high four. Patrick Keating worked the ninth inning to finish off the Naturals third consecutive victory.

Hot-hitting Myers goes deep again

The Royals' No. 2 prospect homered for the fourth time in his past five games and extended his hitting streak to 14 straight Monday as the Naturals defeated the Tulsa Drillers, 6-2. Myers collected a single in addition to his longball, raising his average to .339. He has recorded at least one hit in 27 of 28 games this year and ranks second in the Texas League with 10 home runs.

Holland to start this afternoon

Sample starts today for Wilmington

Summers, Snappers knock off Cougars

Errors by Trapp and Jin-Ho Shin helped the Snappers score two more in the bottom of the fifth. Murray Watts blasted his sixth homer of the season in the sixth for the only Kane County (14-17) run. The Cougars was held to four hits while Clinton Dempster finished the contest with a perfect ninth inning.

Edwin Carl starts today

Diamonds in the Rough 5.7
POD - Justin Marks
HOD - David Lough

[SubGod22]

River Cats Bullpen Shuts Down Omaha

Derrick Robinson delivered a two-out, two-run double in the third inning to start the scoring and then crossed the plate when Johnny Giavotella followed with a base hit to complete a three-run surge against Sacramento starter Travis Banwart, who struck out six over five innings. From there, the River Cats bullpen blanked the visitors on only two hits over five innings and helped bring an end to David Lough's 17-game hitting streak.

Verdugo starts tonight

Drillers Avoid Sweep

The Naturals were down 8-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning when Wil Myers delivered his fifth home run in his last six games, and cut the lead to five runs. The home run was the 11 of the season for Myers tying him with Nathan Frieman for the Texas League lead.

Off today. Dwyer starts tomorrow
Top Texas Leaguers extend Streaks

Northwest Arkansas outfielder Wil Myers, the No. 16 prospect, homered in his fourth straight game (and fifth in his last six) in the Naturals' 9-4 loss to first-place Tulsa. Myers has at least one hit in 28 of his 29 games this season and leads the Texas League with a .339 average, 11 home runs, 27 runs scored and a .722 slugging percentage.

PAIR OF BIG INNINGS FUEL LYNCHBURG

A couple of big innings and a season-high five errors doomed the Blue Rocks for their 10th loss in the last 13 games. The five errors were the most for Wilmington since they did so in a game at Frederick on August 17, 2011.

Adam starts tomorrow

KC won 4-3

Diamonds in the Rough 5.8
POD - Matt Riddings
HOD - Whit Merrifield

[SubGod22]

Omaha's ninth inning comeback negated by another frantic finish

Overshadowed by Billings and the game-ending dramatics was another strong outing from Verdugo, who yielded two runs on five hits while walking only one and striking out six.

Monty takes the hill tonight. Another solid outing here would make many fans feel a little better about the future.

Dwyer takes the hill today.

MARTIN HUSHES WILMINGTON BATS

Adam (1-4) once again came up on the short end of the stick, as he lost his fourth decision out of five. He went 5.1 innings, allowing just one run on four hits and three walks. He struck out three. Jon Keck came on and tossed 2.2 innings of shutout relief, allowing three baserunners. Sam Runion pitched a clean ninth inning with a pair of strikeouts.

Adam's run support has essentially been non-existent so far this year. In seven starts, he has been given 19 runs of support. That averages out to 2.7 runs per game. In all four of his losses this year, he has given up one earned run or less.

Marimon pitches tonight

Cougars put brakes on Clinton

Third baseman Daniel Mateo’s two-run single with two outs in the seventh gave the Cougars a 3-2 lead. By then, Clinton (12-20) had turned to left-hander Kyle Hunter, who also surrendered Jin-Ho Shin’s two-run single in the eighth.

Fenwick product Mike Giovenco earned the victory with a scoreless seventh and eighth for the Cougars, and Nick Graffeo worked around a hit and a walk in the ninth for his seventh save.

Both were effective complements to Moen, who delivered his second successive quality start at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark. Though it took him a couple of innings to harness it, Moen enjoyed what he called his best fastball command of the season in six innings of six-hit, two-run ball.

Diamonds in the Rough 5.9
POD - Ryan Verdugo
HOD - Daniel Mateo

[SubGod22]

Storm Chasers Sloppy in Defeat

A run-scoring single from Moss in the third and a misplayed fly ball by David Lough in the fourth allowed the hosts to get the game tied. Omaha starter Mike Montgomery endured five errors behind him and was also hit by a line drive but battled through five frames and ended his outing by setting down the last seven hitters he faced. The southern California native gave up four hits, walked three, struck out four and did not allow an earned run in a no-decision.

Smith starts tonight

Naturals No-Hit Cardinals

Greg Holland was brilliant in his second major league rehab start. He used just 14 pitches to strikeout the side in order. The Naturals offense wasted not time getting to Cardinals (14-19) starter Trevor Rosenthal (2-4) getting three consecutive singles to start the game. The last one was an RBI single from Wil Myers to give the Naturals a 1-0 lead. Rosenthal was able to get Mario Lisson to ground into a force out and strike out Eric Duncan to strand runners on second and third. The Naturals offense tacked on a second run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Julio Rodriguez smacked an RBI single to right field to score Duncan making it 2-0.

Dwyer, three Naturals throw no-no
Odorizzi gets the call today

OFFENSE FINDS CONSISTENT RHYTHYM IN VICTORY

Sugar Ray Marimon (3-0) had a strong outing after being bumped from his scheduled start on Sunday. He went seven healthy innings, allowing just two runs on four hits while striking out five.

Billo takes the hill

KC won 5-3

Diamonds in the Rough 5.10
POD - Greg Holland, Chris Dwyer, Brendan Lafferty, Kendal Volz
HOD - Orlando Calixte

[SubGod22]

Omaha Flexes Some Muscle in Subdoing Sacremento

Smith yielded just the lone run on six hits while striking out six and not walking a batter to earn his first win of the season. Tommy Hottovy took over and fanned four over two scoreless frames to preserve just the second win in the last eight road contests for Omaha.

Omaha Opens Series of Division Leaders with Lopsided Win

Fresno, CA - Everett Teaford tossed six scoreless innings and David Lough finished a home run shy of hitting for the cycle as Omaha smothered Fresno, 10-1, Saturday night in the first of four meetings at Chukchansi Park. The Storm Chasers claimed their second straight win to improve to 24-13 overall and 2-3 on their eight-game swing through California. Lough paced a 15-hit, five walk attack with four hits while Tony Abreu drove in four and Anthony Seratelli chipped in with three hits, two runs scored and a run batted in.

Fresno collects 15 hits in the victory that evens the series

Sean O'Sullivan took over in the third and surrendered four runs, three coming on LaTorre's first long ball of the season, that extended the Fresno advantage to 6-0. The southern California native then kept the hosts off the board in the fourth through sixth innings before he uncorked a wild pitch that allowed a run to score in the seventh.

Will Minor Tweaks Make Major Changes For Royals Montgomery In 2012?

Hello my name is Clint Scoles and I’m a Royals prospect addict (Room loudly says Hello Clint). With my addiction to the Royals and the development side of baseball I have encountered a second disease, it is called Mike Montgomeryitis. All kidding aside though I’ve seen Mike at 2011 spring training, Royals Futures game and Omaha starts at least 16 times and if truth be known probably closer to 20 times the last two years. And that is before you add in the road games I’ve watched for the lefty on milb.tv. It was my assumption and the assumption of most prior to 2011 that Mike would be the savior to the Royals rotation so I wanted to take in as much as I could on the lefty during his development at AAA, unfortunately for me and other Royal fans that has taken much longer than we assumed.

As we know Mike struggled mightily last year and in his first couple starts of 2012 so rather than wait Royals minor league pitching coordinator Rick Knapp and Omaha pitching coach Doug Henry decided to get proactive and make some changes with the lefty prospect. It’s still early but in the four outings since the changes seemed to have made a positive impact. I thought it would be nice for show some of you the couple of changes that I and others have seen him make.

He has video to show the changes that were made with small explainations. Starter today TBD. Rumor is Monty might start for KC tomorrow.

Whittleman Powers Naturals to Win

Jake Odorizzi (4-2) turned another quality start going seven innings allowing just six hits, and two runs, while striking out seven. Patrick Keating came on in relief for the Naturals in the eighth inning and did not allow a hit to preserve the victory.

Taveras Blasts Cardinals Past Naturals

Noel Arguelles got the start for the Naturals (18-17) and went five plus innings allowing three hits and one run, while issuing four walks. Tyler Lyons (3-3) turned in a great start for the Cardinals going seven innings, allowing just three hits and two runs. Lyons tied a season high with seven strikeouts

Schoop's shot gives Naturals win

Myers added another RBI double in the fourth inning to make it 5-2. The RBI was the team leading 27. The Cardinals loaded the bases against Brendan Lafferty with just one out and Naturals manager Brian Poldberg went to the bullpen calling on Michael Mariot. Mariot worked out of the jam allowing just one run to score keeping the Naturals in front 5-3.

Myers makes first start at third base

Despite having to focus on a new position, Myers continued his torrid season offensively, going 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles, two RBIs, a walk and a run scored. He leads the Texas League with a .344 batting average and ranks third with 27 RBIs.

But the focus late Sunday afternoon was on his glove, not his bat.

"I thought it was good," Myers said. "I only played two innings there because of the rain delays, but my coaches wanted to get me in there to see how it'd go. I hadn't played at third in four years, so I knew it'd be interesting. It was different, obviously. But I felt good, felt comfortable out there." Third base is the fifth position Myers has played since the Royals selected him in the third round of the 2009 Draft. He started out as a catcher before playing all three outfield spots last season. He said he was approached by Royals farm director Scott Sharp two weeks ago about the latest switch but isn't sure how long it might last.

Pimentel to start

EIBNER SLAMS ROCKS TO VICTORY

Frederick, MD - The second-to-last team in minor league baseball to hit a home run rode its first grand slam of the season to a 6-5 victory on Friday night as the Wilmington Blue Rocks (14-19) bested the Frederick Keys (10-20) at Harry Grove Stadium. Brett Eibner had struck out twice in his first two plate appearances before his bases-juiced blast provided the exclamation point on a five-run fifth. He now owns five of the team's 13 homers on the year.

VENTURA'S CAREER NIGHT HIGHLIGHTS TRIUMPH

Ventura allowed an unearned run in the bottom of the second due to Whit Merrifield's sixth error of the season, but otherwise faced few threats. He faced the minimum in five of his seven frames, struck out six, walked two and allowed just three hits, all singles.

UNLIKELY SUSPECTS HELP KEYS AVOID SWEEP

Wilmington's Opening Day man, repeater Tyler Sample, lasted a season-low three-plus innings to suffer his team-worst fifth loss. Sample (0-5) allowed four runs on seven hits and a walk, gave up two homers, and failed to notch a strikeout. In an omen of things to come, Planeta took Sample's first pitch of the game out of the park for his first homer of the season. Later, Tremblay began the home third with his first homer to force a 2-2 deadlock.

PTP Scouting Report: Sugar Ray Marimon - Adam to start today

KC won 8-7, lost 1-2 and won 5-4

Diamonds in the Rough 5.11
POD - Will Smith
HOD - Brett Eibner

Diamonds in the Rough 5.12
POD - Yordano Ventura
HOD - David Lough

Diamonds in the Rough 5.13
POD - Michael Mariot
HOD - Wil Myers

[SubGod22]

Late inning dramatics leave the Chasers with a chance at a road trip split

Ryan Verdugo, who carried the sixth best ERA in the league to the hill, kept the hosts blanked on just one hit through the first four frames but ran into trouble in the fifth. Jackson Williams singled in a run before a sacrifice bunt by Justin Christian drove home the tying marker. Noonan capped the three-run frame with a two-out, RBI double that put the Grizzlies in the lead for the first time.

Monty does infact start tonight

Myers Powers Naturals to Victory

TULSA, OK - Powered by Wil Myers two home runs, The Northwest Arkansas Naturals defeated the Tulsa Drillers 10-6 Monday afternoon at ONEOK Field.

The Naturals (20-17) got on the board quickly in the first inning. After two quick outs, Wil Myers hit a solo home run to right, his 12th of the season, putting the Naturals ahead 1-0. Johnny Whittleman followed up with a home run of his own, making it the first time the Naturals have had back-to-back home runs since last July, and putting them up 2-0.

Elisaul Pimentel (1-1) pitch five solid innings in his first start of the year, walking two and striking out three. His only blemish came on the only hit he gave up in the second, a home run to Kent Matthes. His sixth of the year cut the lead in half to 2-1.

Myers does it all in Naturals' win

Third base, center field -- it doesn't matter where you put Wil Myers, he's going to hit.

MLB.com's No. 17 prospect homered twice and started his second straight game at third base as Double-A Northwest Arkansas beat Tulsa, 10-6, on Monday.

Myers, who also drove in three runs, took Joe Gardner deep in the first inning before taking the field at the hot corner. After moving to center field in the third because of an injury to left fielder Carlo Testa, Myers hit a two-run homer off Joey Williamson in the sixth, giving him 13 homers.

"First at-bat, [Gardner] threw me a fastball in and I took it and he came in with a slider away and then a fastball away and it was a little over the plate and I was able to take advantage of it," Myers said. "Second one, [Williamson] came in with a fastball and he left it over the plate and I took advantage." Myers made his mark in the field as well, starting an inning-ending double play in the first. He was not tested any further while at third and did not record a putout in the outfield.

Dwyer to start

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES MAR ONE-RUN LOSS

Lynchburg, VA - Jason Adam entered an important series opener against the first-place Lynchburg Hillcats (21-14) with the second-best ERA among active Carolina League pitchers at 2.08. He also entered with a 1-4 record due to a lack of run support. While the Wilmington Blue Rocks (15-21) collected a season-best 15 hits with their ace on the hill, they scored just four times as Adam posted a rare less-than-stellar performance and the 'Cats earned a 5-4 win.

Santiago Garrido will make his first start for Wimington

Cougars slam Rattlers

GENEVA, IL - Kane County Cougars third baseman Michael Antonio was hitting .182 with no home runs heading into Monday afternoon's game against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark. Antonio collected three hits, including a grand slam home run in the third inning, to lead the Cougars to a 9-2 victory over the Rattlers.

Cougars rip Rattlers

Kellen Moen (2-1) tossed six innings for the Cougars as he held the Timber Rattlers (23-15) to four hits. Yadiel Rivera hit a solo homer off Moen in the sixth, and Moen struck out four and didn’t walk a batter. Mike Giovenco worked a pair of scoreless innings out of the Cougars’ bullpen as Matt Ridings held Wisconsin scoreless in the ningth.

Yambati to start for KC

Diamonds in the Rough 5.14
POD - Kellen Moen
HOD - Michael Antonio

[SubGod22]

Grizzlies flip the script from Monday night with late-inning rally

Omaha starter Mike Montgomery was lifted after six innings during which he allowed three runs on eight hits while walking three and fanning four. The southern California native was replaced by Hardy, who gave up a solo home run to Roger Kieschnick in the seventh that extended the Grizzlies advantage to 4-2.

No game today as they return home. Smith expected to start next

Naturals homers top Drillers

The third run of the night for the Naturals also came via the long ball. This time it was Christian Colon that took Cabrera deep in the third inning to make it 3-0. The home runs were more than enough for Naturals starter Chris Dwyer. Dwyer (3-4) went five and a third innings allowing just three hits and one run, walking two and striking out six.

Odorizzi to start tonight

HILLCATS CLAIM PITCHERS' DUEL, 1-0

Lynchburg, VA - Gus Schlosser, Caleb Brewer and Juan Jaime of the Lynchburg Hillcats (22-14) combined to allow just four hits as the trio bested the Wilmington Blue Rocks (15-22) on Tuesday night, 1-0. Santiago Garrido (0-1) took a tough-luck loss in his first Advanced-A start. The 22-year-old right-hander allowed just six hits over six innings, but gave up a homer to Robby Hefflinger at the start of the fifth inning that proved the difference. The Blue Rocks have lost nine of their last 13 games including seven one-run setbacks.

Billo pitches next

Cougars top Rattlers for third straight game

GENEVA, IL - The Kane County Cougars hit their second grand slam in as many days and defeated the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 11-5 at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark on Tuesday afternoon. Justin Trapp's bases loaded home run capped a seven run third inning and paved the way to Kane County's third straight win over the Rattlers.

Diamonds in the Rough 5.15
POD - Chris Dwyer
HOD - Justin Trapp

[RoyalShock]

Myers and Odirrizi have been promoted to AAA. Wil joins Omaha tomorrow, not sure about Jake.

[SubGod22]

Myers and Odirrizi have been promoted to AAA. Wil joins Omaha tomorrow, not sure about Jake.

That happened earlier than expected. I'm wondering if this mean Monty will get called up in the near future. From what I've heard, they think he's close. I wonder if Jake will go ahead and pitch for NWA tonight or if he's already headed up to Omaha. The Chasers are traveling home today if that means anything...

[SubGod22]

From PTP

Wil Myers- Wil has shown that position movement has had little to no affect on his offense bouncing around from catcher, right field, center field and even seeing a few innings of action at third recently. Whereever KC has put him the 6’3 thin athlete from North Carolina has hit, putting up a career .911 OPS in 282 minor league games including a 1.146 OPS in 38 games this year with the Naturals. Myers has played 20 games in centerfield this year after playing primarily as a RF last season. In that time he’s shown solid range and a good arm and could be fit there late in the season as an offensive addition if the Royals should climb back into the race. What to expect – AAA shouldn’t be a huge test for Myers as he’ll be playing in a friendly right hand hitting environment in Omaha. He will likely see a steady diet of offspeed pitches from more advanced pitchers and may need to adjust his let’er rip two strike approach that he has employed so far this season.

Jake Odorizzi – Jake has had a big bounceback season after struggling at AA in his introduction there last year. Odorizzi’s major problem in his 12 starts at AA was a propensity to give up the longball, allowing 13 in just 68.2 innings in 2011. Jake has fixed that problem this year giving up just 2 in 38 innings on the hill while also attacking hitters with his lively fastball, earning 47 K’s in that time. Odorizzi’s sub 1 WHIP ranked 4th in the Texas league while his K/BB ratio is #1 in the league among starters. What to expect – The run environment is similar to what Jake has dealt with in the Texas league but he’ll be dealing with a little more advanced hitters so I would expect some adjustment period similarly to what he had at AA.

[RoyalShock]

That happened earlier than expected. I'm wondering if this mean Monty will get called up in the near future. From what I've heard, they think he's close. I wonder if Jake will go ahead and pitch for NWA tonight or if he's already headed up to Omaha. The Chasers are traveling home today if that means anything...

It's sounding like Wil is going immediately and Jake tomorrow, so maybe he's going to start for NWA tonight?

I really hope KC doesn't think Monty is ready. He was ineffective in Spring Training and inconsistent at best so far in Omaha. He's still walking too many and giving up too many hits. His ERA in Omaha would be barely average in the majors. His WHIP is nearly 1.60. IMO, the guy needs to throw more strikes that miss bats. When he gets his ERA under 4 and his WHIP somewhere in the 1.2 neighborhood, then I'll start getting excited about him.

[SubGod22]

NWA is playing now and Ryan Dennick started. So apparently Jake is headed up as well and missing his scheduled start. Will Smith is supposed to start for Omaha tomorrow, but you know they'll want Jake to pitch in the next couple of days.

As far as Monty goes, they've made some tweaks and are happy with the results for the most part. I don't think he's quite ready, but I think KC wants to see what he can do. I expect 3 or 4 more starts in AAA before he gets called up. Especially with Duffy going down and Sanchez sucking. If Hochevar can pitch like he did in his last outing and Mazzaro can be effective, they may prolong his call up. But if they struggle, they'll bring him up. Also to keep an eye on is Ryan Verdugo. Nobody thinks he's quite ready, but he's been very effective in AAA this year.

[RoyalShock]

If the tweaks start to yield consistently fewer walks without an increase in hits (ie, he's missing bats), I'll buy stock in Montgomery. I'm encouraged that he's improving on last year's stint in Omaha, but I fear him pitching in KC this year. I'd rather have Adcock or Teaford hold his spot in the rotation until at least September.

I only have stats to go from, but his poor walk and strikeout rates in AAA can't translate well to the big leagues. Unless he's simply a mental miracle, I see his confidence getting easily shaken if he struggled in his first outing or two.

[SubGod22]

Smith is indeed starting for Omaha today. Hopefully Odorizzi starts soon.

Naturals Take Series at Tulsa

Naturals Starter Ryan Dennick (1-1) was solid over his five innings of work, allowing just three hits while striking out four. The start was the first ever in Double-A for Dennick.

Arguelles starts for NWA

BLUE ROCKS RALLY FOR ROLLERCOASTER WIN

Lynchburg, VA - They jumped out to a 4-0 lead, only to see it lost. The tied the game, only to see the go-ahead runner called out on a questionable call. They lost their manager and pitching coach to separate ejections late. But in the end, the Wilmington Blue Rocks (16-22) rallied when it mattered most, using a two-out two-run triple by Brett Eibner in the ninth inning to best the Lynchburg Hillcats (22-15) on Wednesday night, 7-5. The win snapped a three-game slide and provides the Blue Crew an opportunity to split the series while posting a winning road trip.

Ventura to start

Kernels drop series opener to Kane County

The Cougar's Emilio Bonifacio, the Midwest League's leader in batting average and hits, hit a 2-run home run to tie the game in the 6th inning. Subsequently, three straight Kane County singles pushed the game to its final score.

Diamonds in the Rough 5.16
POD - Ryan Dennick
HOD - Jorge Bonifacio