Orioles prospects 8/26: Farm teams come up just short

Durham (Rays) 3, Norfolk Tides 2

The Tides only gave up six hits, which is pretty good, but unfortunately, one of those hits was a three-run home run off of starter Jayson Aquino. Due to an error earlier in the inning, all three runs were unearned against Aquino, so he finished with a six inning “scoreless” outing, holding the Bulls to three hits and a walk while striking out three.

For their part, the Tides hitters only collected five hits, so that’s a tough way to win. They picked up two runs in the ninth inning and could get no closer. Rehabbing big leaguer J.J. Hardy was 0-2 in the game and drew a walk.

Altoona (Pirates) 4, Bowie Baysox 3

Bowie out-hit the Curve, 11-10, but the Baysox were just 1-10 with runners in scoring position and they left a total of 11 men on base. They made it close in the ninth inning when Cedric Mullins hit a two-run homer, his 13th homer in 67 Bowie games, but much like Norfolk, it just wasn’t enough.

Starter John Means left the game in the fifth inning, having already thrown 99 pitches while going just 4.2 innings. Means allowed seven hits and a walk while in the game, but just one run. He was relieved by Jason Garcia, who managed the impressive trick of giving up three runs in one inning, while allowing just one hit, one walk, and hitting one batter.

If you want some good news other than the Mullins homer, Austin Hays had a 2-5 night, while third baseman Ryan Mountcastle was 2-4, bringing his batting average with Bowie up over the Mendoza line after 30 games.

Potomac (Walgreens) 4, Frederick Keys 2 (Game 1 - 7 innings)

A second consecutive day for a doubleheader between the Keys and P-Nats. Minor league baseball is weird. The Keys managed to commit three errors in this game, despite it being only seven innings. The two sixth inning runs that sent them into the loss column both were unearned.

Starting pitcher Ofelky Peralta continued his 2017 pattern by walking a lot of dudes. He pitched for 4.1 innings and still found time to give up three hits and walk four batters. That’s now 84 walks in 98 innings for the 20-year-old Dominican righty. Keys batters got just two hits.

Frederick Keys 2, Potomac (Walgreens) 0 (Game 2 - 7 innings)

The Keys only got six hits in this game, and no hits with runners in scoring position, but they were able to make two first inning runs stick the whole rest of the way. They actually knocked the P-Nats starter out of the game in the first inning, with two hits and three walks in the inning.

For Frederick, starter Brian Gonzalez kept Potomac off the board for the first five innings, allowing just one hit and two walks. Jefri Hernandez finished the seven inning shutout.

Charleston (Yankees) 5, Delmarva Shorebirds 4

The game ended with the Shorebirds having the tying run on base, but they just couldn’t get one last clutch hit to tie or take the lead. With a total of 12 baserunners in the game, including three hits by Preston Palmeiro, son of Rafael, the Shorebirds did have their share of chances.

Starter Max MacNabb, who as far as I can tell, Dan Duquette dug up from exile to the Australian Baseball League, held the RiverDogs to two runs on five hits in five innings of work. MacNabb did not walk a batter and struck out three while throwing 72 pitches.

Aberdeen IronBirds 2, Vermont (Athletics) 1

IronBirds starter Brenan Hanifee is one of the players most worth watching this season. The 19-year-old, drafted in the fourth round out of the high school ranks last season, gave up just a run on three hits and a walk in six innings of work. Hanifee now has a 2.73 ERA in 11 starts for Aberdeen. This strong start proved to be enough for a modest lead to stick - the IronBirds had just five hits in the game. They made them count.

Complete box scores from Saturday’s games, including the adventures of the DSL Orioles, but not the GCL Orioles, who were rained out, check out here.

Sunday’s Scheduled Games

• Norfolk: at Durham, 5:05. Starter: TBD
• Bowie: at Altoona, 6:00. Starter: Yefry Ramirez
• Frederick: at Potomac, 1:05. Starter: Matthew Grimes
• Delmarva: vs. Charleston, 5:05. Starter: Alex Wells
• Aberdeen: at Vermont, 5:05. Starter: A different TBD