Orioles minor league recap 6/22: T.J. Nichting and Jesmuel Valentin power Baysox to victory

Buffalo Bisons 2, Norfolk Tides 1

There was very little offense to speak of in this matchup. The Tides’ lone run came in the first inning on a Ryan Mountcastle single that drove home Cedric Mullins. Zach Vincej, Austin Wynns and Christopher Bostick were the only other Tides with a hit in the game.

Mountcastle is now hitting .304 on the year with a .837 OPS while Mullins is still struggling at Triple-A with a .229 average and .651 OPS.

The Bisons tallied a couple runs of their own in the bottom half of the first off of starter Jay Flaa, and that was the last time either team would score, all game. Norfolk only used two pitchers the entire contest — Flaa and left-hander Chris Lee.

Buffalo Bisons 1, Norfolk Tides 0

In a postponement makeup from May 11, the Tides served as the home team in this one. But regardless, Norfolk was shut out in seven innings. Zach Muckenhirn took the loss after allowing a single run in the seventh. He had come on in relief of Luis Ysla, who allowed three hits, three walks and four strikeouts over six innings.

Cedric Mullins had a pair of base hits and shortstop Jack Reinheimer had a pair of base knocks hitting out of the nine hole in the lineup. As a team, the Tides were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.

Bowie Baysox 6, Harrisburg Senators 2

The Baysox were humming on Friday, getting solid pitching and half a dozen runs from their offense. Aussie Alex Wells pitched 5.1 innings and allowed one run. Harrisburg managed five hits and two walks while striking out five times against the left-hander.

Bowie’s offense consisted of two hitters — in terms of RBI — on Friday night. T.J. Nichting hit an RBI single in the fifth and clocked a two-run home run in the seventh and Jesmuel Valentin had a two-run home run in the second and a sacrifice fly in the eighth. Yusniel Diaz returned to the Baysox lineup and went 2-for-5.

Delmarva Shorebirds 3, Greensboro Grasshoppers 0

The Shorebirds have now won two games in a row against the Grasshoppers since returning from the All-Star break. Last night they won by way of shutout, getting a strong performance from left-hander Ryan Wilson, who threw six scoreless innings. He lowered his ERA to 4.23. Tyler Joyner pitched three scoreless innings in relief to earn his seventh save of the season.

At the plate, Delmarva got a sacrifice fly from Cadyn Grenier, who went 1-for-3, and a two-RBI single from Adam Hall, who went 3-for-4. Grenier is now hitting .258/.366/.377 in 236 at-bats and Hall is hitting .329/.404/.425 in 228 at-bats on the year. Left-fielder Edison Lantigua went 2-for-5 from the leadoff spot to raise his average to .333.

Wilmington Blue Rocks 7, Frederick Keys 0

The Keys’ lineup was silenced for the night in a lopsided shutout. They only managed two hits against the Blue Rocks while earning four walks and striking out 10 times. Trevor Craport and Yeltsin Gudino each had a single in the game.

Brenan Hanifee had a rough night on the mound for the Keys, allowing seven earned runs on eight hits, three walks and one strikeout in six innings. His ERA rose to 4.76. He’s never been a strikeout guy in two-plus years in the minors, but so far in 2019 he’s allowed 35 walks and struck out only 38 in 62.1 innings.

Hudson Valley Renegades 5, Aberdeen Ironbirds 4

In the top of the first, Aberdeen’s Irving Ortega had an RBI triple and Ian Evans had a sac fly RBI to give the Ironbirds an early lead. They tacked another run on in the second with an RBI double off the bat of Andrew Fregia. Aberdeen would get shutout for the rest of the game until pushing across a single run in the ninth. Hudson Valley chipped away and eventually took the lead for good in the middle innings.

On the mound, Dallas Litscher allowed three runs in five innings and Felix Bautista gave up two in three innings. After scoring a run in the top of the ninth to make it 5-4, the Ironbirds left the tying run on third base and the go-ahead run on first to end the game against the Renegades.

Complete box scores from Friday night’s games can be found here.

Saturday’s Scheduled Games

• Norfolk at Buffalo, 6:05 PM ET. Starter: Chandler Shepherd (0-6, 8.12 ERA)
• Bowie at Harrisburg, 6:00 PM ET. Starter: Dean Kremer (1-4, 5.02 ERA)
• Frederick at Wilmington, 6:05 PM ET. Starter: Cameron Bishop (0-6, 5.90 ERA)
• Delmarva at Greensboro, 7:00 PM ET. Starter: Hector Guance (4-2, 3.96 ERA)
• Aberdeen at Hudson Valley, 6:05 PM ET. Starter: TBD