Orioles minor league recap 6/3: Ryan Mountcastle has a hat trick

Louisville (Cincinnati) 5, Norfolk Tides 11

Ryan Mountcastle continues to make himself impossible to ignore. After Saturday’s walk-off solo shot, the Orioles’ No. 1 prospect cracked three home runs and drove in five runs as Norfolk trounced the Louisville Bats, 11-5. Mountcastle became the first Tide since 2005 to go long three times in a game, and the first to do it at Harbor Park, which opened in 1993.

Here, from Sunday’s game, is a montage of the Marvelous Mr. Mountcastle:

Mountcastle is now batting .328 with 11 homers, a triple, 13 doubles, 39 RBIs and 33 runs scored. Consider it a matter of time before his call-up to the big leagues. Tides 3B Zach Vincej (.275 BA/.726 OPS), no slouch today, either, chipped in four RBIs, a homer, and a diving stop to start a double play in the seventh.

The Orioles’ No. 18 prospect, righty Luis Ortiz, picked up the win, allowing four earned runs on four hits while striking out eight over six innings. He’s sitting at 2-5, with a 7.09 ERA on the year. Jay Flaa earned the save with three innings in which he scattered a run on two hits.

Hartford (Colorado) 2, Bowie Baysox 5

The Hartford Yard Goats (possibly my favorite team name, period) got to Bowie’s Alex Wells in the first inning, scoring two on an RBI single and a throwing error by Bowie 3B Jesmuel Valentin. But that was all the damage they’d do against the Aussie, who emerged with the win and a final line of 7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, and 3 SO. Wells is now 3-1 with a 1.62 ERA.

Austin Hays went deep twice on the day to help Bowie snap a 7-game losing streak. With his team down 2-0 in the bottom of the first, Austin Hays hit a two-run blast that scored Ryan McKenna (1-for-4 on the day). In the fourth catcher Brett Cumberland singled in T.J. Nichting to make it 3-2. Hays struck again in the fifth, and T.J. Nichting scored Ademar Rifaela with a single to put Bowie up 5-2.

Hays was 2-for-4 on the day, and is .293/.585/.926 with Bowie. Cumberland, the O’s No. 24 prospect, was 2-for-4 with an RBI, Mason McCoy went 0-for-4, and Rylan Bannon went 0-for-3 with a walk.

Carolina (Milwaukee) 2, Frederick Keys 0

Not much [offense] to see here, folks! The Keys outhit the Mudcats 7-5, but couldn’t drive in a run today, going 0-for-6 with RISP. In a bizarre fifth inning, the Keys hit three straight singles and failed to score, as Ryan Ripken was thrown out at the plate. The Keys wasted three doubles on the day by second baseman Willy Yahn and shortstop Sean Miller, who went 2-for-4 and 3-for-3, respectively.

Keys starter Michael Baumann (1-3, 3.30 ERA) had a shaky first inning, giving up a pair of walks and a two-run double. The Orioles’ third-round draft pick in 2017 pitched 4.2 innings and allowed just one hit after that, but the Mudcats had already done all the damage they needed. Relievers Cameron Ming and Diogenes Almengo pitched 2.1 and 1 scoreless innings between them.

Delmarva Shorebirds 3, Greenville (Red Sox) 4, F/10 innings

The Shorebirds were tanked by the inherited-runner-in-extra-innings rule as Greenville scored in the tenth off of Delmarva lefty Matt Hammonds (1-2, 2.08 ERA) on a sac bunt and a single. Starter Hector Guance (2-2, 4.41 ERA) gave up three runs in a no decision, striking out eight Greenville hitters and walking one in six innings. Reliever Jhon Peluffo (0-0, 4.12 ERA) pitched three clean innings in relief. Peluffo got himself into a sticky situation with the game tied in the bottom of the ninth, giving up a lead-off triple and a walk, but he wriggled out of it unscathed.

The Shorebirds had 11 hits in Sunday’s losing campaign. Seamus Curran went 2-for-4 with a homer, Doran Turchin was 3-for-5 with a double, and 2B Ryne Ogren, DH J.C. Encarnacion, and CF Nick Horvath all went 2-for-4.

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

Monday’s Scheduled Games

• Norfolk: at Durham (Rays) 7:05 p.m. Starter: Josh Rogers (2-5, 9.41 ERA)
• Frederick: at Carolina (Milwaukee), 7 p.m. Starter: Cody Sedlock (3-0, 1.44 ERA)
• Delmarva: vs Kannapolis (Chicago), 7 p.m. Starter: Ryan Wilson (0-1, 8.22 ERA)