Orioles prospects 4/16: Giavotella walks it off for the Tides

Norfolk Tides 5, Charlotte (White Sox) 4

The Tides scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to come from behind and walk it off against the Charlotte Knights at Harbor Park on Sunday. Looks like some Orioles magic overflowed to the AAA squad.

Trailing by two runs going into the bottom of the ninth, the Tides were able to manufacture 3 runs on a botched Logan Schafer grounder and a two-run, walk-off triple by Johnny Giavotella. Robert Andino also added a solo home run for the Tides earlier in the afternoon.

Mike Wright started the game for the good guys but failed to make it out of the 5th inning. The 27-year-old right-hander seemed to be cruising through the first three frames before walking back-to-back batters with one out in the 4th. Wright was nearly able to wiggle himself out of the jam, but the free passes came back to haunt him after surrendering a 3-run homer to Knight’s catcher Carson Blair.

Carolina (Brewers) 9, Frederick Keys 3

You probably wouldn’t guess it by looking at the final score, but the Keys actually held a 3-0 lead entering the bottom of the 6th inning. Unfortunately, the wheels fell off from there for the Orioles high-A affiliate.

Orioles top-20 prospect Ofelky Peralta put together another strong start for the Keys, allowing only 1 hit over 5 innings while striking out 9. Despite issuing another four free passes, the hard-throwing 19-year-old has now only allowed 1 earned run on the season across 9 innings. Someone may have to check my math on this one, but I think that comes out to an ERA of 1.00. Pretty dang good.

Jomar Reyes had a single and another RBI for the Keys as he continues his hot start at the plate. The Orioles tenth-ranked prospect’s down year in 2016 seems to be in the rear-view with his average currently sitting at .425 on the young season. Fourth-ranked prospect Ryan Mountcastle also added his fourth double of the season.

Hagerstown (Nationals) 15, Delmarva Shorebirds 6

Similar to Frederick’s game on Sunday, the Shorebirds also kept it close for five innings despite the final score. With Hagerstown leading the ballgame 2-1, the Suns added on 4 runs in the sixth, 1 in the seventh, 4 more in the eighth, and then another 4 in the ninth to blow the game wide open.

Shorebirds starter Lucas Humpal only allowed 3 hits on the day over 5 innings, but still surrendered 4 earned runs. It’s a little easier to give up more runs than hits when you walk four batters in five innings. It wasn’t just Humpal though. As you can tell, too many free passes for the opposition seemed to be a common theme among all of the Orioles minor league affiliates on Sunday.

Stat line of the day goes to Shorebirds outfielder Jake Ring. Last year’s 31st-round draft pick went 4 for 4 with 2 doubles, a triple, a walk and 4 RBI.

Complete box scores for all of Sunday’s games can be found here.

Today’s Scheduled Games

• Norfolk: OFF
• Bowie: vs. Richmond, 6:35. Starter: Chris Tillman
• Frederick: at Winston-Salem, 7:00. Starter: Keegan Akin
• Delmarva: vs. Greensboro, 7:05. Starter: Zach Muckenhirn