Orioles prospects 8/12: A big night at Aberdeen

Rochester Red Wings 3, Norfolk Tides 2

Mike Wright got the start for Norfolk on Saturday night and had about as average an outing as one could post. He went 4.2 innings, allowing six hits and three earned runs. Behind him, Jason Wheeler tossed 2.1 scoreless with Logan Verrett wrapping things up on the mound with a clean eighth inning.

The lineup scattered eight hits with just Drew Dosch and and Chris Johnson picking up the two multi-hit performances on the night. Dosch went 3-4 and was a home run away from the cycle, hitting his 30th double of the season. He’s had a nice year with a .269 average.

Portland Sea Dogs 4, Bowie Baysox 2

It was a good outing for Baysox starter Justin Kipper, who threw just 74 pitches through six innings. He allowed two earned, seven hits and struck out five Sea Dog batters.

The bad news is that the Bowie offense collected just a total of four hits over nine innings of play. The good news? Austin Hays went 2-4 with a pair of singles to boost his season batting average to .349. Don’t know if you heard, but this guy is a pretty good prospect.

Frederick Keys 3, Potomac Nationals 2

The pitching in this game was a combined effort, with Matthew Grimes tossing just three innings (all scoreless) coming off of a recent injury. It was his first outing since July 14th. This was a good effort, but his age 25 season has been an overall disappointment. Following a 2016 campaign in which he posted a 2.80 ERA over 138.1 innings between Frederick and Bowie, Grimes has a 5.40 ERA in 2017 and will turn 26 next month.

Seven hits, seven singles for the Keys on Saturday and there wasn’t a member of the lineup who posted a multi-hit game. The following players raised their season total by one in the RBI column — Jay Gonzalez, Ademar Rifaela (singled and walked) and Armando Araiza.

Lakewood BlueClaws 2, Delmarva Shorebirds 0

As the final score indicates, there wasn’t much drama in this one. Travis Seabrooke started and threw five innings of one-run ball, but he was overshadowed by Lakewood starter Felix Paulino’s seven scoreless. Delmarva only collected five hits on the night — all singles. With the loss, the ‘birds fall to 50-66 on the season.

Aberdeen Ironbirds 7, West Virginia Power 3

The pitching talent on this Aberdeen roster continues to impress; this time it was Zac Lowther’s turn. The former Xavier standout tossed five innings, allowing just one run, walking none and striking out six. He has a 1.08 ERA in 33.1 innings on the year.

With 16 hits on the night, you can probably pick your favorite Ironbird and be impressed at their Saturday performance. Among the highlights — Ryan Ripken’s 4-5 with three RBI, Mason McCoy and Trevor Craport’s two-hit games and Garrett Copeland collecting four singles. Overall, a good night for baseball at Ripken Stadium.

Today’s games

Norfolk at Rochester, 1:35 p.m. Starter: Gabriel Ynoa

Bowie vs. Portland, 2:05 p.m. Starter: Lucas Long

Frederick vs. Potomac, 2:00 p.m. Starter: Cody Sedlock

Delmarva vs. Lakewood, 5:05 p.m. Starter: Matthias Dietz

Aberdeen vs. West Virginia, 5:35 p.m. Starter: TBD