Orioles prospects 7/12: Three blowouts, one win

The Tides and the Baysox were both off last night for their respective all-star breaks, but all three of the single-A level teams played. Frederick and Delmarva both lost big, but Aberdeen was able to keep the O’s affiliates from getting swept on the night with a blowout win over Auburn. On to the recaps:

Buies Creek Astros 8, Frederick Keys 2

There’s really not much to say about this one, considering the Keys’ lineup mustered only two hits. Ryan Mountcastle had one of them (who else?) with a leadoff double in the seventh, and Shane Hoelscher had the other with a single in the second.

Hoelscher ended up scoring on a wild pitch that inning, and Frederick’s only other run was an ugly one in the eighth; Drew Turbin was hit by a pitch, advanced on a wild pitch, and later scored on an error.

Ofelky Peralta got the start for the Keys and had a rough night, allowing eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits and four walks in four innings, while striking out three. It’s been a difficult season for Peralta, and a lack of control seems to be the culprit.

While his hit prevention hasn’t been impressive, opponents are running a .341 BABIP against him, which is bound to come down. Peralta also has a nice 9.92 K/9, but his BB/9 of 8.03 is...less nice.

As you would expect, the bad BABIP luck combined with an Ubaldo-esque walk rate has resulted in an ERA approaching seven. Peralta has struggled with walks his whole minor league career, but never quite to this degree.

Lexington Legends 9, Delmarva Shorebirds 2

Lexington jumped out to a big lead against Delmarva starter Lucas Humpal, who at one point was staring at a 6-0 deficit with no outs in the third. To his credit, he managed to settle down after that.

After a leadoff homer in the third, Lexington’s seventh hit of the day, Humpal allowed just three more baserunners and no more runs while pitching through the seventh. Six earned over seven innings doesn’t look great, but it’s a hell of a lot better than six earned in two.

Meanwhile, the Shorebirds lineup managed only five hits. Jake Ring doubled and later scored on a sac fly in the fourth, and Ryan McKenna scored on a sac fly in the eighth after singling and advancing to third on a double by Stuart Levy. Those doubles were the only two extra base hits for Delmarva in the game.

Chris Davis played with the Shorebirds yesterday for his second rehab appearance, and went 0-4 with a strikeout from the DH spot.

Aberdeen Ironbirds 10, Auburn Doubledays 3

The Ironbirds jumped all over Auburn pitching in this one - while eleven total hits doesn’t pop off the page, seven of them were of the extra-base variety. All but one Aberdeen starter had at least one hit in the game.

The star of the day was third baseman Trevor Craport, this year’s 11th round pick out of Georgia Tech. Craport got the scoring going with a two-run double in the first, picked up an RBI single in the fifth, and smashed a three-run homer in the seventh.

Craport’s six-RBI performance overshadowed a nice game from Irving Ortega, a 20-year old shortstop out of the Dominican Republic. Ortega has struggled in a big way this year, hitting .147 split between two levels coming into yesterday’s game, but last night he was 2-3 with a double and a solo home run.

On the pitching side, the Ironbirds got a solid start from Zac Lowther, this year’s #74 overall pick out of Xavier. He only went 3.1 innings, which is typical for an Aberdeen starter this time of year, but he allowed just one run on one hit and one walk, while striking out four.

That actually was Lowther’s worst outing of the year, because he was carrying a 0.00 ERA into the game. He’s now sporting a 0.96 ERA with 14 strikeouts in 9.1 innings after his first three professional appearances.

Nick Gruener also tossed 3+ solid innings, which was good to see after a rough start to his pro career. After allowing seven runs in just one inning in his debut a few weeks ago, he’s had four decent apperances in a row, dropping his 63.00 ERA to a much less ugly 6.16.

Today’s matchups and probable starters

Durham @ Norfolk, 7:05 PM (TBD)

Bowie @ Altoona, 7:00 PM (David Hess)

Frederick @ Buies Creek, 7:00 PM (Keegan Akin)

Lexington @ Delmarva, 7:05 PM (Zach Muckenhirn)

Aberdeen @ Auburn, 7:05 PM (TBD)