Orioles Minor League Rundown: 4/5/14

Charlotte (White Sox) 3 Norfolk 2

Steve 'Spawn of Dave' Johnson got the start but failed to make past 3 innings, yielding 3 H, 2 BBs, and 1 ER while K'ing 4 (3 swinging) and inducing 2 pop outs in that time. He threw just 55 pitches (35 for strikes), so pitch counts seem to rule everything around Tides Manager Ron Johnson at the moment: (P)CREAM, get the LOOGY, bullpen arms y'all. Bad jokes aside, that seems an encouraging outing for SteveO. And he will likely get his shot in the majors again sometime this summer. Southpaw Nick Additon came on and tossed 4 IP of effective pitching, K'ing 5 (4 swinging) while allowing just 1 ER via 2 H and no BBs.

On the offensive ledger, the Tides brought their running shoes to this game: swiping 4 bags in 4 attempts, one each by Julio Borbon, Jemile Weeks, Quinten Berry, and Cord Phelps. But a team collective performance of 0-9 with RISP and 8 runners LOB snookered the Tides. ( C ) Caleb Joseph put together a 4-4 night with 1 double.

Harrisburg (Nats) 3 Bowie 4

Tim Berry watched Tyler Wilson's 6 inning / 6 K outing yesterday and decided he'd go out and do him one better. Berry went 7 IP and K'd 7. 5 of those 7 Ks were of the swinging variety, with 4 of those coming during innings 5-7. He allowed 3 hits and 1 walk, but also induced 2 GIDPs. And then there is the 10! to 1 groundball to flyball ratio. Good golly!

The lone (unearned) run he yielded came after issuing a lead-off walk. The runner then went on to steal 2nd and advance to 3rd when the Catcher chucked the ball into centerfield. A fielder's choice then allowed the runner to score. So Berry wasn't completely innocent in his undoing there. But his outing was pretty great regardless. Might we see the young 50th round southpaw in OPaCY this season? Time will tell.

The offensive attack was driven by a couple of big brothers of current Orioles: Buck Britton and Sharlon Schoop, who each contributed a trio of hits. Schoop also drew 2 BBs. (1B) Christian Walker took an 0-fer, but did knock in a run via Sac Fly. (CF) Dariel Alvarez chipped in a 2 RBI double.

Frederick 3 Lynchburg (Atlanta) 4

After a workman's start by (LHP) Matt Taylor the 'pen spit the bit and let the game get away from the Keys. Taylor, making his first Class A+ start after two seasons of toil in Delmarva, tossed 6 scoreless innings allowing just 6 baserunners via 3 hits and 3 BBs. He K'd 2, got 9 groundouts to just 3 fly outs (one of which was just a popup) and induced 1 GIDP. His D did back him up with a 2nd DP though after a line drive was caught by (CF) Glynn Davis he nailed a runner attempting to tag from 3rd and ended the inning.

(RHP) Gene Escat came on in relief of Taylor and allowed 3 ER via 1 H, 1 HBP, and 3 BBs (one Intentional) over his 1.1 IP. With the score 3-1 in favor of the Keys Escat walked the bases loaded in the 8th before (LHP) Lex Rutledge was brought on. Rutledge allowed two of his inherited runners to score, one via Sac Fly and the other via a bunt for basehit that the 3Bman was unable to handle. Rutledge was brought back out for the 9th. After retiring the lead off man he allowed a single, stolen base, and then walk off ground ball single. So, that's unfortunate.

Not much to speak of offensively. (LF) Brenden Webb and (SS) Adrian Marin each had 2 hit nights. (1B) Creede Simpson and (RF) Torsten Boss each hit Doubles.

Delmarva 3 Asheville (Rockies) 4

After Hunter Harvey's scintillating debut yesterday (LHP) Mitch Horacek took the bump for the Shorebirds. He did not fare as well. 5 R (4 ER) yielded over 5.2 IP via 6 H (1 HR), 1 HBP, and 1 BB. He K'd 5 (4 swinging).

Offensively, (LF) Gregory Lorenzo got his season going with a 2-5 night which featured his first 2 steals on the season as well. (1B) Trey Mancini and (SS) Jeff Kemp collected 2 hits apiece. (CF) Josh Hart took an 0-fer, K'ing thrice. ( C ) Austin Wynns filled out the stat sheet on the defensive side with an Error on a pickoff, a Passed Ball allowed, a Stolen Base allowed, and 2 Caught Stealings.