Orioles minor league recap 9/2: Norfolk romps; Bowie clinches

Charlotte (White Sox) 2, Norfolk Tides 11

Everybody get excited -- Tom Eshelman had a good start! Well, he may never be a front-end major league starter, but this was nice to see. Eshelman tossed seven innings, giving up two runs on one homer, and striking out eight. Sean Gilmartin closed this one out with two shutout innings.

The Tides offense bounced back in a big way from an anemic Saturday. How big? Not only did every Tides batter log a hit, but all but one had an RBI. That is a well-balanced offense. A few standouts include Ryan Mountcastle, who went 2-for-5, Chris Bostick, 1-for-4 with an RBI triple and two runs scored, Austin Hays, who doubled twice en route to a 3-for-5 day, Zach Vincej, 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, and Ademar Rifaela, 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

Richmond (Giants) 2, Bowie Baysox 1

Bowie didn’t win this one, but neither did Erie, so… Bowie is headed to the playoffs! Take a look at your Eastern League Western Division champs!

This one was a pitchers’ duel all the way. Zac Lowther struck out nine batters in six beautiful shutout, four-hit innings. The teams took a 0-0 tie into the eighth, but the Richmond Squirrels scored two against reliever Francisco Jiménez. The Baysox got one back in the top of the ninth on a Cedric Mullins walk + run-scoring error, but that was it. In addition to scoring Bowie’s only run, Mullins (.271 BA) also had a hit. So did Ryan McKenna, Jesmuel Valentin and Preston Palmeiro. Yusniel Diaz (.258 BA) had two.

Potomac (Walgreens) 2, Frederick Keys 0

Although the Keys couldn’t score on Sunday, they got a much better start from Blaine Knight, who’s been shaky this season at Frederick. Knight pitched five innings and allowed two runs on five hits and three walks. One run came on a wild pitch in the first; the other on a single in the third. Jhon Peluffo came in and pitched four impressive no-hit innings.

Frederick managed six hits all game, but alas, no runs. NASCAR scion Zach Jarrett went 2-for-4, Cole Billingsley and Robbie Thorburn had a double apiece, and Sean Miller and Chris Clare each singled.

Delmarva Shorebirds 2, Kannapolis (White Sox) 5

The Shorebirds were shut down by Kannapolis righty Johan Dominguez over six innings, picking up just four scattered hits. It wasn’t all bad, though: in the bottom of the eighth, they finally got on the board when Adley Rutschman hit a two-run home run. Yayyyy. He also singled. The batting average at Delmarva remains a work in progress (.154) but it’s climbing.

Dallas Litscher had a pretty mediocre day on the mound for Delmarva. He allowed four runs on six hits, including a two-run home run and a double. Nick Vespi pitched a scoreless inning in relief, Nick Roth allowed one run in two innings and Ruben Garcia pitched a scoreless ninth.

Hudson Valley (Rays) 3, Aberdeen IronBirds 2 (F/10 innings)

The IronBirds went through six pitchers in ten innings on Sunday. The starter, Kevin Magee (2.04 ERA), pitched four scoreless. In the fifth, Griffin McLarty gave up two runs on a couple of extra-base hits. That was all the scoring that this game would see until the eighth, when Aberdeen plated a couple on three singles and a fielder’s choice. Jake Prizina, Morgan McSweeney, and Connor Gillispie all had scoreless appearances before Marlon Constante got an unfortunate loss: a wild pitch and a sac fly were enough to score the inherited runner in the tenth.

Jaylen Ferguson went 2-for-5 with a stolen base. DH Harris Yett (good name), a 32nd round pick from last year, went 2-for-5. Joe Ortiz, a fourth-round pick from last year, went 3-for-5, and Mason Janvrin went 2-for-5.

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

Monday’s Scheduled Games

• Norfolk: vs. Charlotte, 1:05. Starter: Dean Kremer (0-2, 10.05 ERA)

• Bowie: at Richmond, 1:05. Starter: TBD

• Frederick: vs. Potomac, 12:00. Starter: Ofelky Peralta (3-2, 4.84 ERA)

• Delmarva: vs. Kannapolis, 5:05. Starter: Adam Stauffer (0-0, 1.15 ERA)

• Aberdeen: at Hudson Valley, 4:35. Starter: Jake Lyons (2-5, 3.21 ERA)