Orioles minor league recap 7/21: Fabian and Costes go yard, Beavers steals home

Triple-A: Gwinnett Stripers (Braves) v. Norfolk Tides PPD (rain) – makeup doubleheader on Jul. 21

Double-A: Harrisburg Senators (Nationals) 10, Bowie Baysox 3

It was an ugly day for Bowie pitchers. A day after Thursday’s starter Carlos Tavera threw a scoreless five innings, Ryan Long couldn’t deliver the same kind of quality starting pitching. Long (1-1, 6.14 ERA) did go five, but he allowed five runs, two in the first on a two-run triple, and a three-run homer in the second. At least he gutted out three more scoreless innings after that. Kade Strowd threw three innings in relief, giving up one run in the seventh. And the last arm out of the Bowie bullpen, Xavier Moore (6.53 ERA) had an ugly ninth inning: he faced nine batters and allowed four runs.

Despite the lopsided score, every Baysox hitter reached once, courtesy of four hits and nine walks allowed by Harrisburg pitching, but they also left nine runners on. Jud Fabian (#13 on CC’s composite prospects list) showed off a cannon on Wednesday night, and on Thursday he launched a rocket, his 15^th home run of the year. Tim Susnara doubled. Shayne Fontana and Greg Cullen each walked twice. Jackson Holliday (#3) walked once.

Box Score

High-A: Aberdeen IronBirds 5, Bowling Green Hot Rods (Rays) 2

Aberdeen jumped out to a 2-0 lead, watched Bowling Green even the score in the fourth, then seized the lead right back with a three-run Maxwell Costes home run in the bottom half of the inning. No late surprises: both Ironbirds pitchers, Cameron Weston and Daniel Lloyd, cleaned house.

Aberdeen ran wild in the first inning—literally—as Ryan Higgins walked and stole second before Dylan Beavers (#11) singled, took an extra base on a bad throw, got to third on a Creed Willems RBI groundout, and then stole home! Bowling Green’s JJ Goss might want to work on his pickoff move.

For the second day in a row, Maxwell Costes hit a three-run home run. Watch out for the former Maryland Terp: he’s OPS’ing .945 at this level.

Cameron Weston, an eighth-rounder out of Michigan in 2022, threw a strong five innings. His only blemish was a pair of runs in the fourth on two singles and a double. But then he came out in the fifth and struck out the side. In fact, Weston (2-1, 1.93 ERA) had nine K’s in five innings. A great look for him. If anything, Daniel Lloyd (S, 2, 3.19 ERA), who followed Weston, was even stronger, striking out seven in the last four innings.

Box Score

Low-A: Delmarva Shorebirds v. Charleston RiverDogs PPD (rain) – makeup doubleheader on Jul. 22

Friday’s Schedule

• Norfolk: at Gwinnett [Doubleheader – makeup of Jul 20]
• Game 1: 5:05, SP: Chayce McDermott (0-0, 6.00 ERA)
• Game 2: TBD, SP: TBD
• Bowie: vs Harrisburg, 7:05. SP: TBD
• Aberdeen: vs Bowling Green, 7:05, SP: Kyle Brnovich (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
• Delmarva: vs Charleston, 7:05, SP: Edgar Portes (4-2, 4.02 ERA)
• DSL Orange, DSL Black, and FCL teams also play today