Orioles minor league recap 4/29: John Means looks ready with a 7 IP shutout for Norfolk

Three of four affiliates won close games on Sunday.

Triple-A: Norfolk Tides 2, Gwinnett Stripers (ATL) 0

Normally if I told you that the Tides only scored two runs on Sunday, you’d expect the result to be poor. But two runs were more than enough behind a superb John Means, who certainly looks ready to be done with his rehab stint: he threw seven scoreless innings, allowing just one hit (a single) and one walk, and he struck out eight. His fastball sat at 91-93 mph all game.

Two relievers with prior MLB experience, Tucker Davidson, a winter waiver pickup who spent parts of four seasons with Atlanta and LAA, and Bryan Baker, protected the shutout.

The Tides managed seven scattered hits, but two were of the noisy variety: in the fourth inning, the unstoppable Coby Mayo hit his eighth home run on the season, and catcher Maverick Handley homered in the seventh. Mayo (#3) is OPS’ing 1.018. Jackson Holliday (#1) hit a double, and Kyle Stowers doubled twice.

Box Score

Double-A: Bowie Baysox 4, Richmond Flying Squirrels (SFG) 2

On Saturday, the Baysox offense got blanked through seven innings, and on Sunday, they didn’t get on the board until the sixth—but that was enough. Samuel Basallo (#2) saved his team’s bacon with a 3-for-4, two-homer day: he launched a two-run jack in the sixth inning that traveled 410 feet, and then hit a game-sealing one in the eighth.

Overall, the pitching was overall very good on Sunday: Seth Johnson (#11) threw 63 pitches over four innings and allowed two runs on a walk and two singles. Even better was Carlos Tavera, a fifth-round pick in 2021 who threw five scoreless after Johnson. Tavera allowed just one hit, a single, and struck out six. Impressive outing for the 25-year-old righty out of Fort Worth, TX.

Frederick Bencosme (#25) also singled home a Bowie run. Catcher Silas Ardoin was 2-for-3 with a walk.

Box Score

High-A: Aberdeen IronBirds 7, Jersey Shore BlueClaws (PHI) 6

Down 6-3 in the eighth inning, the IronBirds pulled off a thrilling comeback, scoring two runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth to snatch a 7-6 win. It seems we must all start paying attention to Matt Etzel: the 2023 tenth-rounder went 3-for-5 on Sunday, homering in the eighth to kick off the rally and knocking in a two-run double with two outs in the ninth to give the ‘Birds their first walkoff win of the season. Etzel is OPS’ing .948 at High-A this season.

Also playing crucial roles in the comeback were DH Randy Fiorentino, who went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and OF Ryan Higgins, 2-for-4 with a double.

Simon Portes pitched well for three innings but unraveled with a four-run fifth inning. After him, Yaqui Rivera and Luis Sánchez were scoreless in their outings. Juan de los Santos walked two and allowed one run on a wild pitch. The Baltimore-born Dominic Freeberger, signed to a minor-league deal in January, got the win with a scoreless ninth in which he struck out two.

Box Score

Low-A: Fredericksburg Nationals 6, Delmarva Shorebirds 4, F/13

The bad news: The Shorebirds a heartbreaker in extras, the gigantic Jared Beck (0-3, 20.25 ERA) surrendering the losing runs. The good news: the Shorebirds got nine good innings from two starter candidates, Braxton Bragg (eighth-round selection, 2023) and Nestor German (eleventh-round pick, 2023). Bragg turned in four shutout innings with two hits and six strikeouts, and German five innings with one hit and seven strikeouts.

The Shorebirds were down 2-0 in the bottom of the seventh when Braylin Tavera (#15) broke for third base and scored on a throwing error. Douglas Hodo scored the tying run on another Fredericksburg error. Come the eleventh inning, both teams exchanged runs, Delmarva on an Anderson de los Santos single. In the thirteenth, Thomas Sosa (#27) singled home a fourth Shorebird run, but the 6-4 hole was too much to climb out of. Sosa had a nice 2-for-5 day, and De los Santos went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a walk.

Box Score

Tuesday’s Schedule

• Norfolk @ Nashville, 7:35 pm. Starter: TBD
• Erie @ Bowie, 6:05 pm. Starter: TBD
• Aberdeen @ Brooklyn, 7:00 pm. Starter: TBD
• Fayetteville @ Delmarva, 11:05 am. Starter: TBD