Orioles minor league recap 5/7: Jordan Westburg continues to rake for Norfolk

Triple-A: Norfolk Tides 5, Durham Bulls (Rays) 0

The trio of Ryan Watson, Nick Vespi, and Chris Vallimont held the Bulls to just five hits in the shutout. Watson lasted four innings as the starter, Vespi vultured the win with one scoreless inning, and Vallimont picked up the save by pitching the final four.

Jordan Westburg (CC’s #6 prospect) hit his 8th home run as part of a two-hit night. His OPS is now 1.019. Connor Norby singled in four plate appearances and the other two big prospects, Colton Cowser (#5) and Joey Ortiz (#7), went hitless. Cowser did pick up a walk. The recently demoted Ryan O’Hearn reached twice via single and walk.

Box Score

Double-A: Erie Seawolves (DET) 10, Bowie Baysox 4

Things got off to a good start for the Baysox in first inning when they scored two runs on five hits, including a home run from Zach Watson. But it was pretty much all downhill from there. Garrett Stallings gave up six runs in just 0.2 innings to put the game out of reach.

The offense did have 10 hits, including two apiece from Heston Kjerstad (#10), Coby Mayo (#8), Cesar Prieto, and Billy Cook. Cook knocked in three of the team’s four runs on an RBI single and a two-run homer.

Rehabbing Dillon Tate made an appearance. He faced three batters. He walked one, got a groundout, and then intentionally walked one before being pulled from the game. Why would a rehabbing pitcher be instructed to intentionally walk someone? Your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps they didn’t want him throwing any more pitches and he had to face three batters.

Box Score

High-A: Aberdeen IronBirds 7, Brooklyn Cyclones (NYM) 2

The player of the game on offense this win was leadoff batter Max Wagner (#16). After being hit by a pitch and scoring on a balk in the first inning, he followed up with a triple and a home run. He and Jackson Holliday (#3) were the only players to have multi-hit games. Holliday added two singles and a walk to his already impressive time in high-A.

Jud Fabian (#13) was hitless, but walked and scored twice. Frederick Bencosme (#20) doubled and walked and finally got his batting average up over .200. Isaac De Leon had a tough day with four strikeouts, but he made up for it with a home run in his final AB.

Starting pitcher Alex Pham pitched five scoreless innings with three walks and six strikeouts. He gave up just one hit.

Box Score

Low-A: Delmarva Shorebirds 5, Carolina Mudcats (MIL) 2

The Mudcats jumped out to an early lead against Birds’ starting pitcher Bradley Brehmer. Brehmer gave up two runs on four hits in the first, but Brehmer recovered nicely and allowed just one hit and two walks over the following three innings. The bullpen allowed just one hit over the final five innings (though they did walk eight - ouch) to give the offense time to come back.

After a few days off, Samuel Basallo (#14) was back at it with a 2-for-5 day. He singled, tripled, and knocked in three of the team’s five runs. Basallo was the only player with more than one hit, but five batters took multiple walks, which is impressive. Carter Young, Stiven Acevedo, Creed Willems, Elio Prado, and Roberto Martinez each had two walks in the game. Our guys have patience!

Box Score

Today’s Schedule

• Norfolk vs Durham, 1:05 pm. Starter: Bruce Zimmermann
• Bowie vs Erie, 1:05. Starter: Chayce McDermott (#18-T)
• Aberdeen @ Brooklyn, 2:00 pm. Starter: Cooper Chandler
• Delmarva vs Carolina, 2:05. Starter: Edgar Portes