Orioles minor league recap 5/20: Mayo’s homers complement Aberdeen’s strong pitching

Triple-A: Charlotte (White Sox) 9, Norfolk Tides 6

Adley Rutschman—as in Still-Not-An-Oriole-Adley-Rutschman—finished 1-for-4 with a two-out RBI single in the sixth inning. Jacob Nottingham and Greg Cullen provided Norfolk’s first two runs with solo shots early in the game. Nottingham and and Cadyn Grenier both took RBI walks with the bases loaded, but Norfolk needed more than a couple free runs.

Denyi Reyes, a 40-man roster occupant, allowed seven runs (four earned) over five innings. Cody Sedlock allowed the other two runs over three innings of relief. Kyle Stowers finished 1-for-3 and walked twice while Rylan Bannon went 0-for-5.

Double-A: Hartford (Rockies) 5, Bowie Baysox 4

Jordan Westburg recorded two doubles and a pair of RBIs but Bowie still fell 5-4. Gunnar Henderson singled and worked a walk because that’s what he does when he’s not hitting dingers. No Baysox players went deep yesterday, but Hudson Haskin turned in a 2-for-5 performance. J.D. Mundy and Zach Watson recorded the two additional hits for Bowie.

Ryan Conroy sandwiched a scoreless frame between four innings from Conner Loeprich and Noah Denoyer. Loeprich allowed four earned but Denoyer took the loss after allowing the winning run in the top of the ninth.

High-A: Aberdeen IronBirds 5, Rome (Braves) 1

Connor Gillispie and Peter Van Loon combined for a beauty on the mound last night. Gillispie allowed the only Rome run on three hits and three walks. Van Loon gave up just one hit and walked two over four scoreless frames. Both pitchers struck out eight batters. Gillispie sits at 3-1 with a 3.30 ERA and Van Loon boasts a 4-0 record with a 3.86 ERA over seven games this year.

I wanted to reward the strong pitching performance by mentioning it first, but the game’s biggest takeaway featured another impressive night by Coby Mayo. Mayo blasted a pair of two-run homers to sure up a victory for Aberdeen. Mayo is up to nine homers on the year with an .811 OPS.

Shed Long Jr. finished 1-3 and Colton Cowser (0-for-3) scored a run after working a walk. Jacob Teter struck out three times in the game, drawing one walk along the way.

Low-A: Delmarva Shorebirds 4, Fredericksburg (Nationals) 3

Delmarva jumped ahead with four in the first and held on for the remained of the game. Ryan Higgins drove in a pair with a single to get the Shorebirds on the board and Josue Cruz added two more with a double to right field. Delmarva tallied only five hits and no Shorebird player recorded a multi-hit game.

Shane Davis limited Fredericksburg to two runs in four innings. Thomas Girard recorded two scoreless frames and Preston Price picked up a minor-league three-inning save.

Box scores from Thursday’s games can be found here.

Friday’s Scheduled Games

• Triple-A Norfolk: at Charlotte, 7:04. Starting pitcher: D.L. Hall (0-0, 4.50 ERA)
• Double-A Bowie: vs Hartford, 7:05. Starting pitcher: Griffin McLarty (0-1, 14.29 ERA)
• High-A Aberdeen: vs Rome, 7:05. Starting pitcher: Carlos Tavera (1-0, 3.47 ERA)
• Low-A Delmarva: vs Fredericksburg, 7:05. Starting pitcher: Daniel Federman (0-4, 7.11 ERA)