Orioles minor league recap 6/4: Basallo goes yard twice in Norfolk win

The Tides, IronBirds and Shorebirds all picked up Ws on Tuesday, while the Baysox fell to the RubberDucks.

Triple-A: Norfolk Tides 8, Louisville Bats (Reds) 5

Homers from Samuel Basallo and Jud Fabian helped the Tides race out to 6-0 lead and the pitching did enough to hang on and deliver a win in Louisville.

Basallo got the scoring going in the top of the first, as the slugging catcher pounced on a high fastball and sent it 400 feet and over the right field fence, giving the Tides a 1-0 lead.

That was just the beginning of the offensive fireworks for Norfolk. Fabian led off the 2nd with a solo blast to center, kick-starting a five-run inning. Three batters later, Dylan Beavers sent a RBI triple center before scoring on a ground-rule double from Jordan Westburg. It was Westy’s only hit and RBI on Tuesday as he continues his rehab assignment at Triple-A. Vimael Machín doubled to bring home Westburg and later scored on a Bats throwing error.

Louisville cut the lead to 6-4 after a four-run 4th, but the Tides’ power gave them the insurance they needed. Luis Vázquez led off the fifth with another solo shot to center. An inning later, Basallo blasted a hanging sweeper over the wall in center field for his 12th homer of the year. Tuesday was Basallo’s second multi-homer game of the season, and the two long balls pumped his OPS to .937.

Box Score

Double-A: Akron RubberDucks (Guardians) 6, Chesapeake Baysox 3

The Baysox allowed five runs across the first four innings and fell into a hole they couldn’t dig themselves out of in a series-opening loss in Akron.

It was a rough outing for Chesapeake starter Peter Van Loon, who finished with a final line 2.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 3 BB and 1 K. The walks were especially a problem, never more so than in the 3rd when a walk of Jorge Borges preceded a two-run homer from Akron’s Joe Lampe. Van Loon failed to make it out of the 3rd after giving up a two-out double, and left with Akron up 4-1.

Reliever Daniel Lloyd didn’t get off to a great start either, as he allowed a solo HR to RubberDucks catcher Cooper Ingle, the third batter he faced. The Baysox would get a run back in the 5th when Anthony Servideo led off with a double and came around on an Enrique Bradfield Jr. single. It was Bradfield’s only hit of the game, but he followed it up with his seventh stolen base of the season.

Frederick Bencosme cut the lead to two in the 6th with a solo shot to right field. Bencosme led the way offensively for Chesapeake, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored. That homer was the closest the Baysox would get, though, as the RubberDucks added an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th and then ended the game with a double play in the top of the 9th.

Box Score

High-A: Aberdeen IronBirds 3, Hudson Valley Renegades (Yankees) 2

Brandon Young and Juan Rojas combined for 7.1 excellent innings as the IronBirds won a tightly contested opener over the Renegades. Young, after going on Norfolk’s IL on May 6th, made his first rehab appearance for the IronBirds. The 26-year-old dominated High-A competition, allowing only one hit over 2.2 innings while punching out six.

Rojas took over with one out in the 4th, and ended the inning on a 5-4-3 double play. The 21-year-old from Venezuela didn’t work many clean innings on Tuesday, allowing six hits and two walks over 4.2 innings. He excelled at getting ground balls and manged to guide the IronBirds into the 8th without allowing a run. He’d give up three hits and two runs in the 8th, but finished out the inning and did enough to earn the win.

Offensively, the IronBirds were buoyed by a run-scoring double play in the 1st and two runs in the 7th. Vance Honeycutt led off with a single, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. Austin Overn then reached on an error, allowing Honeycutt to race home in the process. Overn would later score on a throwing error, as Aberdeen scored three runs without an RBI hit.

Box Score

Low-A: Delmarva Shorebirds 5, Fredericksburg Nationals 3

Evan Yates and Ben Vespi combined for 7.1 innings of one-run ball and Yasmil Bucce continued his hot start to the season in Delmarva’s win over Fredericksburg.

Yates, the Orioles’ final pick in the 2024 draft, started off his day with a 1-2-3 1st inning, but ran into some trouble in the 2nd. After a strikeout to start the inning, Yates allowed a double to Sam Petersen, then moved Petersen to third on a balk before hitting a batter. The Nationals would score their first run on an RBI groundout, That’d be the only run they’d get off Yates, as he gave up just one hit the rest of the way to finish with 4.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB and 3 K.

The 22-year-old was replaced by Vespi, the younger brother of former Orioles reliever Nick Vespi. Ben Vespi was even more dominant than Yates, allowing only one hit and punching out four over three scoreless innings. The younger Vespi lowered his ERA to 2.03 in 26.2 innings for the Shorebirds.

The great pitching gave Delmarva the time to get the offense going. The Shorebirds tied the game at one in the 3rd after a pair of singles sandwiched an error on a pickoff attempt. They would then load the bases in the 5th thanks to two more singles and a walk. That set the stage for Bucce, who broke the tie on a two-run single bounced to right. The run-scoring hit gave him 27 RBIs on the season and the 20-year-old Venezuelan is hitting .292 with a .900 OPS.

Box Score

Wednesday’s Scheduled Games

Norfolk Tides at Louisville Bats, 6:35pm ET (Thaddeus Ward vs. Aaron Wilkerson)

Chesapeake Baysox at Akron RubberDucks, 6:35pm ET (Ryan Long vs. Carter Spivey)

Aberdeen IronBirds vs. Hudson Valley Renegades, 7:05pm ET (TBD vs. TBD)

Delmarva Shorebirds at Fredericksburg Nationals, 6:35pm ET (Michael Caldon vs. Yoel Tejada Jr.)