Orioles minor league recap 7/20: Hays continues his hot-hitting ways in Norfolk

Norfolk Tides 9, Lehigh Valley IronPigs 7

The Tides overcame some adversity to out-slug the IronPigs by a score of 9-7 on Friday night. Starter Luis Ysla gave up seven runs on 10 hits and one walk in only three innings. His ERA ballooned to 6.25 in the process. But Sean Gilmartin and Taylor Scott pitched a combined six scoreless innings behind him, and Ysla’s offense did the rest of the work to bail him out.

Batting from the leadoff spot, Austin Hays went 2-for-5 with his fourth home run of the year — a two-run shot in the third. He’s now hitting .282 with an .876 OPS with the Tides. In four trips to the plate, first baseman Ryan Mountcastle had one hit — a two-run double in the sixth. Center fielder Mason Williams was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Jace Peterson and Jack Reinheimer also contributed home runs.

Bowie Baysox 11, Altoona Curve 3

The Baysox had their way with the Curve in the matchup last night and it wasn’t even close. Rylan Bannon hit his seventh home run of the year, a solo shot in the second. Interestingly enough, that was the only extra base hit the Baysox had out of 12 hits on the night. Cedric Mullins was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI and Yusniel Diaz was 1-for-4 with three RBI. Ryan McKenna had a pair of hits and an RBI while TJ Nichting and Preston Palmiero both went 2-for-4. Bowie even had three stolen bases in the game, credited to Mason McCoy, Jesmuel Valentin and Rylan Bannon.

Starting pitcher Zac Lowther improved his record on the year to 11-5. He only allowed three runs in seven innings with four hits, two walks and six strikeouts. He now owns a tidy 2.64 ERA in 99 innings pitched. Pedro Araujo pitched a scoreless inning in relief, lowering his ERA to 3.58, and Zach Muckenhirn finished things up with a scoreless ninth.

Potomac Nationals 4, Frederick Keys 2

Young left-hander DL Hall took the loss on Friday night while throwing a total of 91 pitches (59 strikes) in five innings. His three earned runs came on a solo home run, a double and a sacrifice fly. Hall also walked one batter and struck out eight. He now has 45 walks and 95 strikeouts in 63 innings on the year.

On the night, Frederick was 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base. They tallied nine hits and three walks but only managed to score two runs. Zach Jarrett had an RBI ground out in the fifth and Patrick Dorrian had an RBI ground out in the ninth. Center fielder Cole Billingsley had two hits from the leadoff spot and second baseman Sean Miller went 3-for-3 out of the nine-hole in the lineup.

Delmarva Shorebirds 9, West Virginia Power 5

The Shorebirds erupted for 14 hits last night on the way to improving their record to 68-30. Right fielder Robert Neustrom was 4-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored. Shortstop Adam Hall was 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles, two runs and an RBI. Seamus Curran went 2-for-5 with three RBI. Others players with two hits included Ryne Ogren and JC Encarnacion. The team was 5-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

Shorebirds starter Drew Rom allowed four runs on seven hits in 4.1 innings. On the plus side, he did strikeout nine batters and his ERA is still only 2.20. Ruben Garcia got the win for Delmarva while allowing an unearned run in 2.2 innings and Felix Bautista pitched two scoreless innings to end the game.

Connecticut Tigers 2, Aberdeen Ironbirds 1

In the first game of Friday’s doubleheader — a makeup of July 17 — the Ironbirds lost a pitching duel, 2-1. Leonardo Rodriguez pitched five innings of one-run ball for Aberdeen, but the Connecticut starter matched him. Rodriguez also had one walk and five strikeouts. A fielding error by second baseman Andrew Fregia in the sixth inning would lead to an unearned run that proved to be the winning run for the Tigers.

Not much to see in this one as far as offense goes. The Ironbirds’ lineup was 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left four on base. Aberdeen batters struck out 10 times while only walking once. Andrew Fregia stole his third base of the year while going 1-for-3 at the plate. Designated hitter Toby Welk was hitless but had an RBI. He’s still hitting .364 with an .888 OPS on the year.

Aberdeen Ironbirds 1, Connecticut Tigers 0

The Ironbirds silenced the Tigers on three hits in seven innings to split the doubleheader. Three pitchers combined on the shutout: James Ryan started and pitched four innings, Brian Gonzalez two and Shelton Perkins one. Ryan and Gonzalez each walked a batter and struck out three, while Perkins got a pop-up and a couple fly outs in his only inning pitched.

For Aberdeen, Andrew Fregia had a sacrifice fly and Toby Welk, Johnny Rizer and Joseph Ortiz all had RBI singles. Welk, Rizer and Ortiz all had two hits on the night. Right fielder and recent draft pick out of Stanford Kyle Stowers went 1-for-4 with a run scored. He’s got a .279 average and .753 OPS in 64 at-bats so far in the New York Penn League.

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

Saturday’s Scheduled Games

• Norfolk vs. Lehigh Valley, 7:05 PM ET. Starter: David Hess (1-1. 3.07 ERA)
• Bowie vs. Altoona, 6:35 PM ET. Starter: Alex Wells (8-1, 1.95 ERA)
• Frederick at Lynchburg, 6:00 PM ET. Starter: Ofelky Peralta (0-0, 5.91 ERA)
• Delmarva at West Virginia, 6:05 PM ET. Starter: Grayson Rodriguez (7-2, 2.15 ERA)
• Aberdeen at Staten Island, 7:00 PM ET. Starter: TBD