Orioles minor league recap 6/30: Straily and Hess lead a Norfolk shutout

Norfolk Tides 2, Charlotte (White Sox) 0

Excitement was in short supply for those who watched this game, as the teams combined to reach base just ten times over the whole contest. Despite getting only four hits, the O’s affiliate came out on top, with a two-run home run hit by former Yankees prospect Mason Williams representing the whole of the scoring.

Tides pitchers struck out a combined 15 Knights batters. That included seven strikeouts in five innings from starter Dan Straily, three strikeouts in an inning from recently-claimed South African-born reliever Tayler Scott, and five strikeouts in three innings from David Hess. Any one of these guys could probably make his way into the Orioles pitching picture for the rest of the season if he strings together some success.

Austin Wynns had two of the four Tides hits. Ryan Mountcastle and Cedric Mullins both went hitless. For Mountcastle, this snapped a seven game hitting streak.

Bowie Baysox 8, Akron (Indians) 7

A rollercoaster of a game for the Baysox, who fell behind 7-0 by the middle of the third inning before scoring eight unanswered runs to pull off the victory. The Baysox have now won five in a row and are 20-6 for the month. They were really not good to begin the season and have now pulled to within a game of .500.

Center fielder Ryan McKenna dealt the biggest blow with a third inning grand slam, his sixth homer of the season. Right fielder Yusniel Diaz went back-to-back with McKenna, the seventh homer he’s hit this season. Diaz also walked in the game and has his season OPS up to .758 after some early slumping. Rylan Bannon, who like Diaz was in the Manny Machado trade last July, was also 1-3 with a walk.

Dillon Tate pitched the final three innings of the game and kept the RubberDucks off the board to pick up his second save. Tate struck out five and walked none. Tate is like Hess in that his relief conversion may be worth keeping an eye on. He’s thrown seven scoreless innings over his last four outings, with nine strikeouts and no walks.

Wilmington (Royals) 7, Frederick Keys 2

A third inning error ended up costing Keys starter Blaine Knight three unearned runs. Knight didn’t do a great job of helping his own cause by walking four batters in his five innings. He struck out three. Frederick batters combined for just three hits.

Hagerstown (Walgreens) 2, Delmarva Shorebirds 1

Delmarva played a game a lot like Norfolk did, except they lost. There wasn’t a whole lot of offense in the game, with the teams combining for only nine hits. A solo home run by Delmarva’s first baseman, Seamus Curran, represented their lone run. Curran has hit 13 home runs this season.

Shorebirds pitchers did well, as they have done many games this season. It’s just hard to win when the offense scores one run. Starter Nick Vespi held the Suns to a run in five innings, with four hits, no walks, and seven strikeouts. Reliever Jhon Peluffo took the loss after giving up a run in three innings, though he gave up just a hit and a walk and struck out three batters.

Adam Hall drew a walk out of the leadoff spot, while shortstop Cadyn Grenier went 0-4.

Tri-City (Astros) 4, Aberdeen IronBirds 3 (10 innings)

The IronBirds had the lead heading to the bottom of the ninth, gave up the tying run, then lost it in the tenth after the ValleyCats plated their free runner when Aberdeen could not.

Aberdeen’s starter, Leonardo Rodriguez, was solid to start out the game. I’m mentioning him mostly because he’s a 6’7” righty, which certainly makes him stand out from the crowd even if the Dominican 21-year-old isn’t on any prospect list. He gave up two runs on five hits and a walk over five innings in this game, picking up five strikeouts along the way.

The IronBirds were held to just two hits as the team’s early offensive standouts did little in this game. Seventh round pick Johnny Rizer still has a .988 OPS even with an 0-5 in this game. 21st rounder Toby Welk was 1-2 with a walk and now sports an .878 OPS in his pro career. This team will be more interesting when Adley Rutschman reports for duty.

Complete box scores from Saturday’s games, including the adventures of both Orioles Dominican Summer League teams, can be found here.

Sunday’s Scheduled Games

• Norfolk: vs. Charlotte, 1:05. Starter: Tom Eshelman
• Bowie: vs. Akron, 1:35. Starter: Zac Lowther
• Frederick: vs. Wilmington, 1:00. Starter: Cody Sedlock
• Delmarva: at Hagerstown, 2:05. Starter: Drew Rom
• Aberdeen: at Tri-City, 5:00. Starter: TBD