Orioles minor league recap 8/8: Blaine Knight kind of tosses a complete game

Norfolk Tides —, Indianapolis (Pirates) — PPD

Postponed due to rain

Bowie Baysox 2, Trenton 1 Suspended/5

Rain washed out the second half of this game. These two teams will pick up where they left off on Thursday.

Before the rain, Alex Wells had tossed 4.1 innings in which he had allowed just one run on four hits, four strikeouts and no walks. At the plate, the only Baysox hits were a Brett Cumberland double and a single each from Ryan McKenna and Jesmuel Valentin.

Game 1: Frederick Keys 3, Potomac (Nationals) 2 F/7

Cameron Bishop kicked off a long day of Keys baseball with six one-run innings, striking out two, walking two and allowing just three hits. The lefty lowered his season ERA to 4.43 in the process. Then it was up to Diogenes Almengo to close things down, which he ultimately did but not before allowing a run on a solo home run. He ran into no other trouble and went on to register his 11th save on the season.

Jomar Reyes and Cole Billingsley provided the offensive firepower. Each of them had a pair of hits, including a home run. Reyes’s long ball was of the two-run variety and came in the third inning. While Billingsley’s homer came with the bases empty in the fifth. Zach Jarrett went 1-for-3. Robert Neustrom was 0-for-3. And Cadyn Grenier was 1-for-2 with a walk.

Game 2: Potomac (Nationals) 5, Frederick Keys 3 F/7

Blaine Knight tossed an 87-pitch, seven-inning complete game, but wound up taking the loss anyway. The lanky right-hander’s struggles in the Carolina League continued. He allowed five runs on seven hits, two home runs no walks and three strikeouts. His ERA is back up to 5.63 with the Keys.

Both Will Robertson and J.C. Escarra went deep in the losing effort. Each of the home runs came without runners on base. Overall, the Keys’s 6-9 hitters went 5-for-12 with three RBI and no strikeouts in this game. The 1-5 hitters were 1-for-13 with five strikeouts. Grenier was 1-for-2.

Delmarva Shorebirds

OFF

Connecticut (Tigers) 3, Aberdeen IronBirds 0 F/5

There is no reason to panic, but Adley Rutschman is scuffling a bit with the IronBirds. His 0-for-3 performance in this game now has him with a .184 batting average on the year. Someone who is not struggling is Toby Welk, the former D-III third baseman went 1-for-2 and now has a .357 average. Beyond that, the IronBirds lineup was rather quiet in this shutout.

Jake Lyons started for Aberdeen, but would last only two-thirds of an inning after allowing three runs on five hits, no walks and one strikeout. Griffin McLarty was first out of the bullpen and managed to toss 2.1 perfect frames and strikeout three batters. Shelton Perkins was the final arm of the night, and he added a scoreless inning of work.

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

Thursday’s Scheduled Games

Norfolk: Game 1 vs Indianapolis, 12:05 p.m. Starter: Ty Blach (0-0, -.— ERA)
Game 2 vs Indianapolis, After Game 1, Starter: Chandler Shepherd (1-9, 7.68 ERA)

Bowie: Game 1: Resume suspended game from Wednesday
Game 2: at Trenton, 7 p.m. Starter: Michael Baumann (2-1, 1.83 ERA)

Frederick: vs Potomac, 7 p.m. Starter: DL Hall (3-4, 3.36 ERA)

Delmarva: vs Kannapolis (White Sox), 7:05 p.m. Starter: Nicki Vespi (7-5, 3.29 ERA)

Aberdeen: vs Staten Island (Yankees), 7:05 p.m. Starter: TBD