Orioles minor league recap 8/1: Drew Rom pitches a gem in his first Double-A start, Zimmermann rehabs for Aberdeen

Triple-A: Norfolk Tides 6, Durham Bulls 12

With 12 runs allowed on Saturday, it was a crappy night for a number of Norfolk pitchers. Ofelky Peralta, who got the start, allowed five runs in 4.2 innings on a pair of home runs. Dusten Knight got the loss with an ineffective outing in the eighth inning where he got one out while allowing two runs. Nick Vespi gave up three home runs while getting just two outs in the ninth. Dean Kremer and Evan Phillips had decent nights, with a run and a shutout, respectively.

It was a great night for several Tides hitters, though: Jahmai Jones hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning. Tyler Nevin and Kelvin Gutierrez each went 2-for-5. J.C. Escarra was 2-for-4. Meanwhile, outfielder Robert Neustrom is on fire in the 12 games since his promotion to Norfolk: he drove in three on Saturday on two hits and a fielder’s choice, and he’s OPSing 1.022.

Meanwhile, Durham’s Shawn Armstrong pitched an effective seventh inning to get the win. (Yeah, I’m not too torn up about it, either.)

Double-A: Bowie Baysox 2, Richmond Flying Squirrels 1

Bowie only had two hits but they made them count: in the third, Malquin Canelo reached on a walk before the rehabbing Richie Martin homered to put Bowie ahead 2-1. (Kyle Stowers hit the other one.) That was it for Baysox scoring in this one.

Which was OK because a tag team of Drew Rom, Logan Gillaspie, Tim Naughton, and Diogenes combined to allow just one run. Rom, in his first start since getting promoted to Bowie, kept right on doing what he’d been doing before getting promoted to Bowie: striking people out and not giving up runs. Rom’s final line: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 SO.

High-A: Aberdeen IronBirds 3, Bowling Green Hot Rods 9

Bruce Zimmermann started this one as part of his rehab assignment from bicep tendinitis. It went OK: he pitched three innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits and two walks. He also struck out four. The game went down the tubes after a bad inning from Kevin Magee, who gave up five runs on two home runs in the fourth. Connor Gillispie threw four innings of relief with one solo run allowed and Xavier Moore allowed a run in the ninth on a hit and a walk.

Aberdeen notched 10 hits but wasn’t effective at scoring. One of those hits was a run-scoring triple from catcher Hudson Haskin (2-for-4 on Saturday), and another was J.D. Mundy’s double in the seventh. Otherwise, Jordan Westburg went 1-for-5 and Shayne Fontana was 2-for-4.

Low-A: Delmarva Shorebirds 1, Fredericksburg Nationals 2

Delmarva led this one 1-0 for seven-and-a-half innings on a Cristopher Cespedes home run, but 2019 draftee Nick Roth had a weird inning, allowing two runs to score on a walk, triple and a balk! Otherwise it was a very well-pitched game: Griffin McLarty threw 4.2 scoreless and Jonathan Pendergast struck out three in 2.1 innings.

Other than Cespedes’ solo blow, the only other hits were two off the bat of TT Bowens, who is leading Delmarva right now with an .817 OPS.

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

Sunday’s scheduled games:

Norfolk at Durham, 4:05 PM. Starter: Konner Wade (3-1, 2.63 ERA)

Bowie vs. Richmond, 5:05 PM. Starter: Cody Sedlock (3-2, 4.41 ERA)

Aberdeen vs. Bowling Green, 2:05 PM. Starter: Ignacio Feliz (0-1, 12.00 ERA)

Delmarva vs. Fredericksburg, 6:05 PM. Starter: Jake Lyons (2-1, 3.48 ERA)