Orioles minors 7/17: Sisco stays hot at the plate, Shorebirds forget they are a baseball team

Rochester Red Wings (MIN) 3, Norfolk Tides 2

The Orioles’ old triple-A affiliate edged out their current triple-A affiliate in this one. Joe Gunkel got the start for Norfolk and wasn’t at his best early, allowing a run in each of the first three innings (one was unearned). He ended up going five, allowing seven hits and two walks while striking out just two.

The Tides had a chance to tie up the game in the top of the 8th, after Trey Mancini’s bases-loaded single drove in a pair of runs and cut the lead to 3-2. Two batters later, Audry Perez singled with two outs and Dariel Alvarez was cut down at the plate to end the inning.

Perez and Mancini each had two hits, as did Ozzie Martinez. Scott McGough pitched two hitless innings of relief after Gunkel exited the game.

Bowie Baysox 6, Richmond Flying Squirrels (SF) 2

The Baysox demolished Richmond starter Tyler Beedle, putting up 12 hits and six runs in the first four innings. Julio Borbon and Henry Urrutia each went 3-4, and Chance Sisco stayed hot by going a perfect 3-3 with a walk. Sisco is now hitting .324/.414/.416 this year.

Starter David Hess has had a weird year - at the beginning of June he had a 2.96 ERA, but since then he’s been absolutely horrendous. Coming into yesterday’s game he had given up 27 earned runs over 18.2 innings in his last five starts, and his season ERA had ballooned to 5.63.

He really needed a good performance in this game, and he delivered. Hess allowed just a single hit and struck out six over six innings. He allowed only one run, and it was unearned.

Frederick Keys 4, Carolina Mudcats (ATL) 3 (Game 1)

The Keys and Mudcats split a pair of seven-inning games yesterday. Frederick got the better of Carolina in the first game behind a decent pitching performance from starter Cory Jones (4 IP, 2 ER) and a nice outing from Garrett Cleavinger (3 IP, 0 ER). Cleavinger had been terrific so far this year, with a 2.16 ERA in Frederick since his promotion and a 1.62 ERA overall with 72 strikeouts in 55.2 innings on the year.

Offensively, Jay Gonzalez kicked off a two-run inning in the third by doubling and later scoring on a double steal. Wynston Sawyer had a game-tying RBI double in the fifth, and Cameron Kneeland doubled in Sawyer to give Frederick the lead in the seventh.

Carolina Mudcats 7, Frederick Keys 5 (Game 2)

Frederick led 3-1 heading into the sixth, thanks to 3 RBIs from Jomar Reyes and a solid start by Franderlin Romero (5 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 5 K). Tanner Scott took the mound for the sixth to try and hold the lead - it didn’t go well.

Scott’s outing went like this: single, walk, walk, grand slam, walk. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s five earned runs in zero innings pitched. Scott has a 12.0 K/9 on the season, which is great, but he also has a BB/9 of 8.0, which makes Ubaldo Jimenez look like Greg Maddux.

Augusta GreenJackets 6, Delmarva Shorebirds 0 (Game 1)

This one was practically over before it started, as Augusta scored four runs in the first inning off of Shorebirds starter Brian Gonzalez. None of the runs were actually earned, because the inning started with leadoff hitter Lucius Fox (real name) striking out and reaching on a passed ball, followed by another error that prolonged the inning a few batters later.

Despite his zero earned runs, Gonzalez wasn’t sharp, walking five batters in his four innings of work. On the offensive end, there isn’t much to say: Delmarva had no extra base hits and just three hits overall. Sounds bad, right? Just wait...

Augusta GreenJackets 1, Delmarva Shorebirds 0 (Game 2)

Augusta starter Jake McCasland threw a 7-inning perfect game. That covers the offensive half of this recap.

Cristian Alvarado actually had a nice five-inning, one-run start, but he took the loss anyway. That’ll happen when the other guy throws a perfect game.

Aberdeen Ironbirds 7, Staten Island Yankees (NYY) 3

Alex Wells got the win for Aberdeen with a five-inning, one-run outing. The 19-year-old Australian has looked terrific through his first six professional starts, with a 1.77 ERA and only two walks in 35.2 innings.

Offensively, it was a team effort for the IronBirds. Six players had an RBI, and all but one starter had at least one hit. Ronarsy Ledesma was 2-2 with a walk and a double, and Kirvin Moesquit was 2-5 with two runs scored.

Today’s matchups (probable starter in parentheses)

Norfolk @ Buffalo, 7:05 PM (Ariel Miranda)

Bowie @ Binghamton, 6:35 PM (Matthew Grimes)

Frederick @ Carolina, 7:00 PM (TBD)

Delmarva @ Augusta, 7:05 PM (Brian Gonzalez)

Aberdeen vs. Staten Island, 7:05 PM (TBD)