Orioles Minor League Rundown: 4/26/14

Columbus 2 Norfolk 3 (11 innings)

The brain trust continues to keep a tight reign on (RHP) Kevin Gausman's pitch count. Another start, another limited outing; this one to just 75 pitches over 4.2 IP. However, he pitched pretty darn well over the course of his outing. Just 3 hits and one walk allowed while posting zeros on the scoreboard. He was pulled after giving up a 2-out single in the 5th with the lead off hitter coming up. Curious.  Anyway...he K'd 5 (all swinging) and induced 5 ground outs to just one fly out. That makes two rather sterling starts in a row for Mr. Gausman, as he went 5 IP, 4 H, 2 BBs, 0 R, and 4 Ks in his previous outing. He will continue to bide his time for the Tides until a rotation slot in Baltimore opens up.

(LHP) Troy Patton came on in the 6th. After retiring the first two hitters with aplomb he served up a HR. Adding insult to injury he proceed to issue a walk to the next hitter before allowing back to back line drive singles, scoring another run. (RHP) Brad Brach came on later in the game. He has K'd 24 in 11 IP so far this season. He faced two hitters. I'll give you one guess what each of the hitters he faced did. Yeah...he's pitching really well.

In spite of 8 basehits and 10(!!) walks on the night, the offense was only able to muster but a trio of runs. Their downfall came about for a number of reasons: (a) only one extra base hit, (b) 1-11 with RISP, ( c ) 14 Ks. icky. (DH) David Adams with the macabre line of 0-5 with 5 Ks. (OF) Henry Urrutia managed a 1-5 night with a double and a walk.

Bowie 6 Harrisburg (Nationals) 2

(RHP) Tyler Wilson's bucolic spring continued with another strong outing: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 BBs, 2 ERs, 9 Ks, and a 5:2 ground out to fly out ratio. He has now K'd 36 in 29.1 IP while walking just 6. Pretty neat.

Speaking of bucolic spring performances, (1B) Christian Walker is now doing to AA what he did to Low-A at the start of last season: dominating. 3 for 5 on the night with his 5th HR of the season. He's slashing .330 / .354 / .543 on the season now. Also off to a strong start, (CF) Dariel Alvarez put up a 2-5 night with two ribbys. ( C ) Michael Ohlman continues to...uh...let's say 'adjust' to AA. 0-4 at the plate with 1 K yesterday. But he did manage to reach via error and later score on a double. Behind the dish he allowed 2 SB in 2 attempts. (2B) Garabez Rosa knocked 2 doubles in 4 at bats.

Carolina (Cleveland) 4 Frederick 2

(LHP) Matt Taylor with an interesting pitching line: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R (0 ER), and a 10:3 GO:FO ratio. All good so far! But then...5 BBs and 0 Ks with a balk and an error committed. ooof. But enough about him. The star of the show is one Manny Machado. 1-4 on the night, he lined out, and twice grounded out in his other at bats. And though the box score lists it, I refuse to believe he committed a throwing error. Instead, I choose to believe that the only error was one of judgement on the part of the official scorer. That's the ticket.

Charleston (Yankees) 4 Delmarva 5 (Final, 7 Innings)

The future stormtroopers of the Evil Empire took on Sebastian Vader, who held the trainees to 4 H, 2 BBs, and 2 ER (4 R) over 6.1 IP. He K'd 4 and induced 9 groundouts to 5 flyouts. A respectable outing. ( C ) Chance Sisco got the night off. In his stead, Austin Wynns managed a 2-3 game. (CF) Josh Hart went 1-3 with a SB. Guess his ankle is healed up well enough to run hard on the bases. That's good. (RF) Mike Yastzemski went 2-4 with a ribby. But it's always disappointing when he doesn't manage to notch an Outfield Assist.