Coby Mayo had a good day for Norfolk and Thomas Sosa had a good day for Delmarva. Almost no one else did.
Triple-A: Lehigh Valley (Phillies) 7, Norfolk Tides 3
There is a common trend with Norfolk this season and it is this: Their bullpen sucks. This is demonstrated regularly in the games they play, including this one, and it has ripple effects in that when the Orioles need help, there are basically no guys they want to count on.
Take this Friday night game. The Tides took a 3-1 lead into the eighth inning, a lead that they held thanks to Coby Mayo blasting his 15th AAA home run of the season – not bad for a guy who missed a while due to a fractured rib. Mayo had three hits and drove in two of the Tides three runs. They also had the lead thanks to starting pitcher Julio Teheran allowing just one run over six innings.
Then, the bullpen. Wandisson Charles was brought in for the eighth inning and he was only able to retire one batter. Mayo committing an error didn’t help him, but he didn’t help himself either with two hits and a walk allowed; Charles finished with three runs allowed, two earned. Matt Krook, who is on the 40-man roster, came in to try to clean up the mess and he was tagged for three runs himself. That’s a six-run eighth that flipped the 3-1 lead to a 7-3 loss. Sheesh.
Double-A: Altoona (Pirates) 5, Bowie Baysox 0
This one stunk. It started out bad from the first inning, when starting pitcher Seth Johnson walked four batters while recording just two outs. He was lifted from the game with 32 pitches thrown while getting those two outs. That’s a tough one.
Bowie’s batters had the misfortune of going up against a top Pirates prospect, their #3 guy, Bubba Chandler, who was the starting pitcher for the Curve. Chandler, who received a $3 million bonus in the draft three years ago, was just better than the Baysox. He gave up just two hits and one walk in a seven inning start where he struck out 10 men.
Dylan Beavers did not have any of the three Bowie hits. Neither did Matthew Etzel, or John Rhodes, or Max Wagner. Frederick Bencosme did get one hit out of the leadoff spot, as well as a walk. The team still managed seven at-bats with RISP and cashed in on zero of them.
High-A: Wilmington (Nationals) 6, Aberdeen IronBirds 3
One guy on the Blue Rocks did almost all of the damage to Aberdeen single-handedly. That is their right fielder, Jeremy De La Rosa, the #23 Nationals prospect according to MLB Pipeline. His three-run home run in the first inning plus his two-run homer in the third accounted for five of the six Wilmington runs with three of its six hits.
The IronBirds did not have many opportunities to strike back, since they only had four hits in the game. Enrique Bradfield Jr. went 1-4 out of the leadoff spot, striking out three times. Infield prospect Mac Horvath left the game after being hit by a pitch in the left wrist. Stop hitting our players! Horvath was one of three IronBirds to get hit in the game. Hopefully it was just a precautionary removal and not something that will grind him to a halt just as he was starting to launch in June.
Low-A: Delmarva Shorebirds 8, Fayetteville (Astros) 2
Hey, we finally got a winner here! Delmarva outfielder Thomas Sosa, a 19-year-old who’s done some interesting things lately, led off the game with a home run, his fourth of the year, and the Shorebirds never trailed from there. Sosa went on to have three hits in the game and score three of the eight Delmarva runs. This activity raised his season OPS to .724, which in the Low-A level this year is not bad for his age especially. He also stole a pair of bases, giving him 18 for the year.
This game marked a return to action for pitcher Carter Baumler, who’s been out for more than a month. He tossed a scoreless inning of relief. The Orioles will probably want to see a few more clean outings before they get him back to Aberdeen. He’s got work to do to show he belongs on the 40-man roster at season’s end; the team has to make a decision on him after the campaign because he’s Rule 5 draft eligible this year.
Bonus Florida Complex League
It’s not that much of a bonus, because the FCL Orioles affiliate lost to the Pirates, 5-4. However, a recently-debuted player, 17-year-old Joshua Liranzo, was on base three times in the game, with a single, double, and walk. Liranzo has played in just four games, so it’s a small sample size, but it’s a good one: .600/.667/.700.
**
Saturday’s Scheduled Games
- Norfolk: at Lehigh Valley, 6:35. Starter: Tucker Davidson
- Bowie: vs. Altoona, 6:35. Starter: Alex Pham
- Aberdeen: at Wilmington, 6:05. Starter: TBD
- Delmarva: at Fayetteville, 7:05. Starter: Braxton Bragg