Orioles minor league recap 4/17: Aberdeen’s Donta’ Williams a home run shy of the cycle

Triple-A: Norfolk Tides at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Yankees)

Postponed: Rain. Makeup on Apr 17

Double-A: Bowie Baysox at Binghamton Rumble Ponies (Mets)

Postponed: Inclement Weather

High-A: Aberdeen IronBirds 5, Wilmington Blue Rocks (Nationals) 4

Aberdeen came from behind to win on Saturday night by a razor thin margin. Three runs behind Wilmington in the bottom of the seventh, the Ironbirds four-run outburst proved to be the difference in the game.

Leadoff man Connor Norby was 1-for-5 with a double and a run scored. He’s hitting .310 with a .917 OPS on the season. Left fielder Donta’ Williams was a home run shy of the cycle. He went 3-for-4 with a walk, double, triple, single, two steals, two RBI, and a run scored. He’s carrying a .435 average and 1.215 OPS in the early going. Shortstop Collin Burns also swiped a pair of bags, and he knocked in a run too. John Rhodes was responsible for an RBI single late in the game as well.

Colton Cowser, batting third and playing center field, was hitless in four at-bats. But he did contribute a sacrifice fly in that pivotal seventh inning for Aberdeen. At the moment, his batting average stands at .258 and his OPS is below .800.

Ironbirds’ starting pitcher Justin Armbruester tossed five innings and allowed three hits and three runs, including one homer, with six strikeouts. Noah Denoyer was the first reliever out of Aberdeen’s bullpen, and he earned the win with two innings of one-run ball. Wes Robertson pitched the final two innings to earn the save.

Box score

Low-A: Delmarva Shorebirds 8, Lynchburg Hillcats (Guardians) 3

With 14 hits and seven walks, the Shorebirds offense tallied eight runs against Lynchburg. It was more than enough to earn the victory last night.

Juan De Los Santos started against the Hillcats, pitching five strong innings while the Shorebirds’ offense staked him to an early six run lead. Santos’ final pitching line included two hits, three walks, and two strikeouts. He lowered his ERA to 1.04 on the year.

Relievers Alejandro Mendez, Hector Lopez, and Hugo Beltran combined to allow three runs (two earned) over the final four innings of the game. Delmarva got a couple insurance runs courtesy of left fielder Isaac Bellony in the eighth, which helped minimize Lynchburg’s late flurry of runs.

At the plate, shortstop Darell Hernaiz (.429 AVG, 1.181 OPS) was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer and three RBI total. Bellony (.375 AVG, 1.111 OPS) went 3-for-4 with a two-run shot of his own. Moises Ramirez, Davis Tavarez, and Luis Valdez also had multi-hit performances.

Box score

Sunday’s scheduled games:

• Norfolk: at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 12:05 PM. Starter: Kyle Bradish (0-0, 0.00)
• Norfolk: at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Game 2. Starter: TBD
• Bowie: at Binghamton, 1:05 PM. Starter: Antonio Velez (0-0, 0.00)
• Aberdeen: vs. Wilmington, 2:05 PM. Starter: Carlos Tavera (0-0, 3.86)
• Delmarva: at Lynchburg, 2:00 PM. Starter: Dan Hammer (0-0, 0.00)