Orioles minor league recap 4/18: Blaine Knight impresses for Delmarva

Durham (Rays) 5, Norfolk Tides 4

Norfolk’s three-game winning streak came to an end on Wednesday night at Harbor Park. Luis Ortiz started for the O’s Triple-A affiliate and lasted just 4.1 innings. The righty gave up three runs on four hits, four walks and two strikeouts, but only one of the runs was earned due to a fielding error by third baseman Zach Vincej. Luis Ysla delivered 3.2 scoreless innings of relief while striking out seven. Fellow southpaw Luis Gonzalez was not as effective, allowing two runs in the top of the ninth, which resulted in both a blown save and a loss.

Ryan Mountcastle and Chance Sisco both went hitless in this game. D.J. Stewart had a 1-for-4 night; as did Anthony Santander. The Tides’ leader on offense was Anderson Feliz and his 3-for-4, one RBI performance.

In related news, catcher Austin Wynns has finished up his rehab and will be reporting to Norfolk soon, according to the Orioles Twitter feed.

Erie (Tigers) 7, Bowie Baysox 3

Ademar Rifaela was the only Baysox hitter with an extra base hit in this loss. The right fielder notched two doubles. Yusniel Diaz, Jesmuel Valentin and Preston Palmeiro each had one single. On the flip side, Ryan McKenna, Rylan Bannon and Martin Cervenka combined to go 0-for-12 with nine strikeouts between them.

Marcos Molina started on the mound for Bowie and turned in a solid outing. The big righty went five innings while giving up just two runs on three hits, three walks and four strikeouts. The bullpen was unable to contain the Erie offensive in the same way. Zach Muckenhirn was saddled with the loss after allowing three runs in two innings. Cristian Alvarado followed with two innings of his own and three more runs allowed, only one of which was earned.

Myrtle Beach (Cubs) 5, Frederick Keys 3

The Keys had plenty of baserunners (eight hits, four walks), but they could never get the big hit to break this game open. Zach Jarrett went 1-for-4 with a double, but left five men on base himself. Jomar Reyes and Ryan Ripken each added two hits and one RBI. The other hits came from Mason McCoy, J.C. Escarra and Stuart Levy. Levy and Kirvin Moesquit also had a stolen base each.

Michael Baumann could not follow up his impressive season debut. In this game, he tossed just 3.2 innings while allowing three runs on five hits, a walk and six strikeouts. Luis Perez and Steven Klimek then combined for 4.1 innings and two runs allowed to finish up the staff’s work for the day.

Delmarva Shorebirds 2, Kannapolis (White Sox) 1 F/11

The Shorebirds cannot stop winning! The O’s single-A affiliate now owns an 11-1 record, the best mark in all of minor league baseball. On Wednesday, they made it happen on the back of some impressive pitching performances.

Blaine Knight started and tossed five scoreless, one-hit frames while striking out nine batters and walking just one. Jalen Miller, Matt De La Rosa, Jhon Peluffo and Tyler Joyner combined for six one-run innings out of the bullpen. Peluffo was the only one to struggle, serving up that lone run over two innings and blowing the save in the process.

Andrew Fregia drove in the game-winning run with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th inning. Before that, Adam Hall was leading the line with two hits and a walk. Branden Becker also had two hits with one of them being a double. Cadyn Grenier went 1-for-5. Robert Neustrom turned in an 0-for-4 game.

Complete box scores from Wednesday’s set of games can be found here.

Thursday’s Scheduled Games

• Norfolk: at Durham (Rays) 12:05 p.m. Starter: Keegan Akin (0-3, 3.00 ERA)
• Bowie: at Akron (Indians), 6:35 p.m. Starter: Hunter Harvey (0-1, 8.31)
• Frederick: at Salem (Red Sox), 7 p.m. Starter: Cameron Bishop (0-0, 4.00)
• Delmarva: vs Greensboro (Pirates), 7 p.m. Starter: Grayson Rodriguez (2-0, 0.00)