Orioles minor league recap 8/25: A bullpen tragedy kind of night

Triple-A: Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Marlins) 4, Norfolk Tides 3

The Tides took a 3-0 lead into the eighth inning. Dean Kremer singlehandedly gave that lead away when he gave up a three-run home run to Jacksonville’s Brian Miller. In a professional career dating back to 2017, that’s the fifth ever home run hit by Miller. That’s... not the guy you want to blow the game to. Alas. In the ninth, Dusten Knight allowed a solo dinger to Summer and Winter Olympic silver medalist Eddy Alvarez. That was the margin of defeat.

Earlier in the game, there was much better pitching. Mike Baumann blanked Jacksonville for five innings, scattering four hits and three walks while striking out five. The big righty has a 2.14 ERA in five Norfolk games. Rehabbing big leaguer Hunter Harvey added a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and getting a strikeout.

Though Norfolk only got four hits, they had their share of men on base as they also drew eight walks. Adley Rutschman and Robert Neustrom were the prospects with two walks apiece. Rylan Bannon hit his tenth home run in ten games, raising his season OPS to .745. Bannon’s still below the Mendoza Line, but man... ten home runs in ten games is a real hot streak. Fellow Manny Machado trade guy Yusniel Diaz was 0-4, including a ninth-inning GIDP. Tough night for the Machado trade.

Double-A: Erie SeaWolves (Tigers) 9, Bowie Baysox 7

The Baysox took a 7-5 lead into the ninth inning but saw it all melt away with a four run ninth for Erie. That sucks. An extra bummer for the Orioles prospect follower is that the runs were all given up by Drew Rom, a lefty with some fringe hopes of being a back end rotation guy. Rom had pitched three scoreless innings before giving up the four runs in the ninth. Rom now has a 5.73 ERA in five Bowie games.

Before Rom, Garrett Stallings gave up five runs, four earned, in five innings. He allowed five hits and four walks and only struck out three. This was only his second game since being promoted to the level.

The hitters who excite you the most were also mostly not the guys who helped Bowie score seven runs here. Terrin Vavra took an 0-5. Jordan Westburg was 1-5, now batting .148 through seven games with Bowie. One guy who did have a good night was outfielder Kyle Stowers, who reached base four times and cracked his 11th home run since joining Bowie and 19th of the season overall.

High-A: Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets) 9, Aberdeen IronBirds 6

The IronBirds took a 6-5 lead into the seventh inning and blew it by giving up four runs in that inning. You may have noticed a trend along with the previous two affiliates here. The silver lining, such as it is, is that unlike Kremer and Rom, you probably don’t have much invested in the success or lack of success of Adam Stauffer.

Aberdeen actually out-hit the Cyclones in this one, 10-7. They did not help their cause with three errors. One of the errors was charged to Gunnar Henderson, his 15th with Aberdeen and 27th of the season overall. At some point this could start to be a concern. Henderson did get himself on base three times, with a single, walk, and hit by pitch, and was thrown out trying to steal a base. A busy night! Fellow 2019 draft pick Hudson Haskin was also 1-3 with a walk in the game, adding a sacrifice bunt as well.

Low-A: Delmarva Shorebirds 9, Salem Red Sox 4

The Shorebirds are 7-0 since the mass promotion of 2021 draft picks to this roster. It went from a kind of boring, prospect-less team to a stuffed box score every night. They did not disappoint on Tuesday, raining down 14 hits on the Red Sox affiliate and drawing seven walks on top of that. They had 20 total at-bats with RISP! That’s the good stuff. They have scored 65 runs in these games including 9+ runs in five of the games.

Second rounder Connor Norby led the way with three hits, including a pair of doubles. First rounder Colton Cowser doubled in five at-bats and drew a walk. Another nice highlight was the one promoted guy who wasn’t a 2021 pick: That’s 2020 fourth rounder Coby Mayo, who smoked his second full-season home run in seven games. Mayo had a multi-hit game as well, and added a walk too. I like that guy. 13th rounder Jacob Teter and third rounder John Rhodes also had two hits apiece.

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Complete box scores from Tuesday’s games can be found here. The dedicated can find FCL Orioles scores here (two losses for Orioles Black yesterday) and DSL Orioles scores, with losses by Orioles 1 and Orioles 2, here.

Wednesday’s scheduled games

• Norfolk: vs. Jacksonville, 7:05. Starter: Kevin Smith
• Bowie: vs. Erie, 6:35. Starter: Mickey Jannis
• Aberdeen: at Brooklyn, 5:30 doubleheader. Starters: Zach Peek, Connor Gillispie
• Delmarva: at Salem, 7:05. Starter: Ty Blach (rehab)