Orioles minors recap 8/29: Offenses silent except for Aberdeen

Gwinnett Stripers (Braves) 5, Norfolk Tides 2

The Tides’ playoff hopes continued to slip away with their third loss in their last four games, dropping them 2.5 games back of wild card-leading Columbus with seven games left to play. Including Columbus, the Tides have four teams they would need to pass to claim the wild card spot, so it’s going to take a multi-team collapse in the final week for Norfolk to make the postseason.

In this game, starter Luis Ysla gave up five runs and nine hits in four innings, including a double by ex-Oriole Ryan Flaherty, who’s now toiling for the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate. On the offensive end, Mike Yastrzemski had another good night at the plate, reaching base all four times with two hits and two walks. Garabez Rosa was 3-for-4 with an RBI. The rest of the lineup was a combined 3-for-27.

Akron RubberDucks (Indians) 7, Bowie Baysox 3

The RubberDucks clinched an Eastern League playoff spot at Bowie’s expense in a 7-3 decision. Lefty Bruce Zimmermann, one of the players acquired in the Kevin Gausman trade with Atlanta, suffered his worst outing in four Bowie starts, giving up five runs (four earned) and in four innings. It was the first time he’d allowed more than one earned run. Among the nine hits he allowed were four doubles and a home run.

Running through the many hitting prospects on the Baysox, Austin Hays was 1-for-4 with an RBI, Yusniel Diaz had two hits, and Ryan McKenna and Rylan Bannon each had two walks and an RBI. It was a horrific night for Ryan Mountcastle, though. The Orioles’ top prospect was 0-for-5 with four strikeouts, donning the golden sombrero.

Potomac Nationals 3, Frederick Keys 2

The Keys failed to take advantage of their 12 hits, turning them into only two runs and stranding 12 runners on base. Four Frederick batters had multi-hit games, including Randolph Gassaway, who was 2-for-4 with a double. The lack of runs ruined a quality start by Cristian Alvarado, who gave up three runs in seven innings but was saddled with the loss.

Looking at the box score, Potomac has a bunch of players whose names look like they were randomly generated by a computer program. Nick Raquet. Jacob Condra-Bogan. Tres Barrera. Telmito Agustin. And my favorite, Aldrem Corredor.

Hickory Crawdads (Rangers) 4, Delmarva Shorebirds 2

The Shorebirds managed to score two runs despite managing just three hits and zero RBIs. Neat trick. One run scored on a throwing error and the other on a wild pitch. The offense needed the help because it was otherwise inept, aside from 2018 competitive balance pick Cadyn Grenier, who was 2-for-4. It was Grenier’s sixth multi-hit game in his last 10, though he’s still hitting just .218 in his professional debut.

Delmarva blew a late lead by allowing the game-tying run in the eighth and two more in the ninth. Second baseman Mason McCoy committed a costly error to start the ninth that set up Hickory’s go-ahead, unearned runs.

Aberdeen Ironbirds 10, Tri-City Valley Cats (Astros) 1

What has gotten into Adam Hall of late? The Orioles’ 2017 second-round pick is one of the most scorching hot hitters in the New York-Penn League, if not all of minor league baseball. He racked up a 4-for-5 night that featured a triple and two runs scored, plus his 21st stolen base in 25 attempts. Hall is now posting an unbelievable .431/.500/.583 batting line in 20 games in August, including 15 steals. Since his OPS bottomed out to .589 on Aug. 2, he has since raised it to .774.

Elsewhere, 2018 fifth-round pick (and No. 29 Orioles prospect on MLB Pipeline) Robert Neustrom was 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Center fielder Nick Horvath, another 2018 draftee (25th round), hit two home runs.

I’m not sure if 2015 seventh-rounder Gray Fenter is still considered a prospect, but the right-hander had a whale of an outing tonight. He allowed just two baserunners in six innings, retiring 14 batters in a row at one point before getting tagged for a solo homer in the sixth.

Complete box scores can be found here.

Wednesday’s scheduled games:

• Norfolk at Gwinnett, 7:05 PM. Starter: TBD
• Bowie at Akron, 7:05 PM. Starter: Keegan Akin (14-7, 2.98)
• Frederick at Potomac, 7:05 PM. Starter: Alex Wells (7-7, 3.47)
• Delmarva vs. Hickory, 7:05 PM. Starter: Brenan Hanifee (8-5, 2.91)
• Aberdeen vs. Connecticut, 5:35 PM (doubleheader). Starters: TBD