Orioles prospects 7/16: Sisco stays hot in Norfolk

Norfolk Tides 4, Durham (Rays) 3

The Tides scored three runs in the first inning and tacked on a go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh to avoid the sweep at home against the Bulls. They also closed the Bulls’ division lead to only 18.5 games, so there’s that too.

Tides starter Chris Lee only surrendered two earned runs, but the lefty lasted just four and two-thirds in another abbreviated start. Lee is still the 6th-ranked prospect in the Orioles’ system according to MLBpipeline, even though his ERA sits at an unsightly 6.21 on the year. Reliever Jimmy Yacobonis closed out the game with three scoreless innings of work and picked up the win.

On offense, Chance Sisco went 2-for-4 with an RBI to continue his bat’s trend of heating up with the summer weather. Sisco’s average has jumped over 35 points since the beginning of June and now sits at .279. Impressive stuff from a 22-year-old catcher in his first full season at AAA. If the Orioles deal Welington Castillo at the deadline, look for Sisco’s promotion to become a hot topic around Baltimore.

Bowie Baysox 9, Altoona (Pirates) 1

Mike Yastrzemski continued his torrid pace since his recent demotion to Bowie, and Austin Hays provided multiple long balls as the Baysox ran away with one in wherever Altoona is. Turns out it’s in the middle of Pennsylvania up towards State College. I always thought that the State College area didn’t mesh so well with minors but here we are in 2017 and they have a whole AA team.

Little Yaz collected four of Bowie’s eleven hits including a double and a triple to bring his average at Bowie up to .393. Not to be outdone by Yastrzemski’s seven total bases, Austin Hays launched two homers in the game to bring his season total up to 22 between Frederick and Bowie.

In an effort to give the Orioles’ high minors some semblance of a starting pitching prospect, Lucas Long threw seven strong innings allowing just one unearned run. Spending most of the year in relief, Long lowered his season ERA at Bowie under 2 to beg the question- how much worse could he do than Ubaldo in an Orioles uniform?

Frederick Keys 8, Down East (Rangers) 6

The Keys bashed four long balls to take game one of their three-game series against the Down East Wood Ducks who ironically play slightly west of Frederick. Providing the power for the Keys were Yermin Mercedes, Glynn Davis, Alex Murphy, and Armando Araiza. The latter two also had multi-hit games.

On the mound for the Keys, Brian Gonzalez threw a quality start going six innings while surrendering only two earned runs and striking out six. It was a nice bounce-back start for the Orioles’ first selection of the 2014 draft who had given up 10 hits in back-to-back starts coming into Sunday’s game.

Rome (Braves) 8, Delmarva Shorebirds 3

The Orioles’ minor league squads weren’t all winners on Sunday as the Shorebirds fell to the Rome Braves. With the piggy-backing combo of Jhon Peluffo and Travis Seabrooke back on the mound for Delmarva, the Braves tagged Peluffo for three earned runs, and Seabrooke for three more earned runs.

At the dish, Cole Billingsley, Jake Ring, Ryan McKenna, and Tanner Kirk all had multi-hit games while the rest of the squad combined for one single. Center fielder Jake Ring had the most impressive line on the day going 3-for-4 with a double.

Connecticut (Tigers) 5, Aberdeen IronBirds 4

The IronBirds tried to claw back into the game with three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Tigers’ bullpen slammed the door as they took two out of three from Cal’s team.

2017 14th-round pick Cameron Ming took the rubber for Aberdeen and struck out four over three innings, surrendering one earned run. The former jack of all trades pitcher at Arizona has now allowed exactly one earned run in all four of his professional starts. If the trend continues as he’s stretched out, he may just become the greatest pitcher to ever play the game.

7th-round pick Ben Breazeale went 1-for-3 out of the DH spot to extend his hitting streak to 14 games. His average did drop to .439 but he’s now hit safely in 17 of his 18 games as a professional.

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

Today’s Scheduled Games

• Norfolk: at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 7:05. Starter: Gabriel Ynoa
• Bowie: at Hartford, 7:05. Starter: Tanner Scott
• Frederick: at Down East 7:00. Starter: Ofelky Peralta
• Delmarva: vs. Rome, 7:05. Starter: TBD
• Aberdeen: at Lowell, 5:35 double header. Starters: TBD