Orioles minors recap 5/6: Schoop goes on rehab

Norfolk Tides 8, Louisville (Reds) 3

The Tides were able to capitalize with an extra four runs thanks to five errors committed by the opposition. Minor league baseball can get pretty weird sometimes. The game featured rehabbing Oriole Jonathan Schoop, who got to play alongside brother Sharlon in the game. A Schoop homered, but it was Sharlon. The big league brother was 1-5 on the night.

Elsewhere in the lineup, Joey Rickard took an 0-4, while DJ Stewart turned in a 2-4 performance and also drew a walk.

40-man pitcher Yefry Ramirez had a decent start for Norfolk, giving up two runs on four hits and two walks in 5.1 innings. Ramirez struck out nine batters and has now struck out 33 in 29 innings for the season.

Akron (Indians) 4, Bowie Baysox 2

Let’s start with the good news. Hopeful future Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins was 2-4 with his fifth home run of the season, raising his season batting line to .267/.319/.514 in 26 games. The bad news is that the rest of the Baysox combined for five hits, so they lost.

Starting pitcher John Means gave up all four runs on eight hits in 6.1 innings. A pair of seventh inning solo home runs were what ultimately did him in. It wasn’t a bad night for Means until that, as he walked none and struck out six.

Frederick Keys 12, Wilmington (Royals) 9

This game was certainly action-packed, with the two teams combining for 27 hits and 18 walks. The Keys themselves had 15 hits and 12 walks, which is kind of ridiculous, you know? But they won, which hasn’t happened a lot for the 11-18 Keys.

My current favorite less-heralded prospect, leadoff man/center fielder Ryan McKenna, was 3-5 in the game with a pair of doubles. He also drew a walk. Through 28 games the 2015 fourth rounder is batting .343 with an OBP well above .400. Another standout in the game was Randolph Gassaway, who was 2-3 and drew three walks. Yes, three!

Augusta (Giants) 8, Delmarva Shorebirds 7

The Shorebirds had just two hits and trailed 8-0 heading into their half of the seventh inning. Things got interesting from there as they stormed back with six runs in the seventh and another in the ninth. They had the tying run on first base with just one out in the ninth, but that was as close as things got.

Ryan Ripken, nephew of Billy, was 2-5 in the game, one of three Shorebirds to have a multi-hit game.

The game was the first start of the year for pitcher Gray Fenter, who had been piggybacking before now. Fenter did not complete the first inning, allowing three runs on four hits and a walk. Though the outing can’t be erased from his stats, hopefully he can bounce back for next time.

Box scores from Saturday’s games can be found here.

Sunday’s Scheduled Games

• Norfolk: vs. Louisville, 1:05. Starter: Tim Melville
• Bowie: vs. Akron, 1:35. Starter: Keegan Akin
• Frederick: at Wilmington, 1:35. Starter: Alex Wells
• Delmarva: vs. Augusta, 2:05. Starter: DL Hall

Akin struck out twelve batters in six innings his last time out. Let’s see some more of that today!