Four games were played on the Orioles farm yesterday and the O’s affiliate won only one of them.
Triple-A: Worcester Red Sox 6, Norfolk Tides 3
This one was not nearly as close as it looks. Worcester out-hit the Tides by an 18-5 margin. If they hadn’t left 14 men on base, it would have been a real blowout. Bruce Zimmermann was on the wrong end of the hit parade, allowing 11 hits and five runs, all earned, in a five inning outing. Seems safe to say that results like that aren’t likely to help him get back into an Orioles uniform.
On-base machine Terrin Vavra continued his recent strong run of performance, reaching base three times: A double and two walks. Vavra is batting .316/.433/.446 in 47 games for the Tides this season. Have to wonder how much longer before we see one of these Tides infielders if they keep doing so well. Jordan Westburg and Kyle Stowers each took an 0-4 here.
Double-A: Bowie Baysox postponed by rain
High-A: Aberdeen IronBirds 6, Jersey Shore (Phillies) 0 – Game 1 / 7 innings
Aberdeen’s pitchers, starting with rehabbing MLBer Denyi Reyes, held the BlueClaws to just two hits in the seven-inning game. The IronBirds were able to score six runs on seven hits, in part because last year’s sixth round pick Collin Burns cracked a three-run home run in the fourth inning. Burns drove in four of the six Aberdeen runs here.
Among prospects of interest, Heston Kjerstad was hitless in two at-bats but added a walk to his High-A tally. John Rhodes had a double and drove in two runs. Infielder Darell Hernaiz was the lone Aberdeen hitter with multiple hits. Hernaiz is now batting .306/.377/.463 in 31 games at this level. He doesn’t turn 21 until next month. Though he started the season by repeating the Low-A level, things have gone well for him and hopefully will continue to do so.
High-A: Jersey Shore (Phillies) 4, Aberdeen IronBirds 1 – Game 2 / 7 innings
Sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug. The IronBirds were the team to get only two hits in the second game of the doubleheader. Kjerstad reached base twice in the second game, picking up a hit and being hit by a pitch. Five games into his Aberdeen tenure, he’s hitting only .133 but has a .316 OBP. Hernaiz had the second game off.
Starting pitcher Connor Gillispie took the loss, though he only gave up one run in a four-inning outing. The 24-year-old righty has a 3.06 ERA in 17 games for the IronBirds.
Low-A: Carolina (Brewers) 10, Delmarva Shorebirds 2
This isn’t a prospect-laden team and most days results show it. Starting pitcher Juan De Los Santos has had some intriguing outings this year. Just 20 years old, the righty has struck out 72 batters in 65.1 innings. He didn’t strike out anyone on Saturday though, and walked four guys in three innings. That’s a tough one. He was charged with three runs, but only one was earned after a throwing error committed by Frederick Bencosme.
Bencosme was at the center of a lot of the action for the Shorebirds in this one. He added three more hits. The 19-year-old lefty-batting infielder is hitting .366/.427/.438 in 31 games for the Shorebirds, and has the same number of walks and strikeouts (11). The dude’s going to need to find some power to get anywhere, but this isn’t a bad full-season affiliate debut. Bencosme was also caught stealing once. Whoops.
Bonus GUNNAR HENDERSON note
The AL Futures Game All-Stars beat the NL team, 6-4. The lone Orioles prospect to play in the game was GUNNAR HENDERSON. He led off the game with a walk and used his speed to go first to third on the same wild pitch. Henderson later reached base on an error – he scored two runs.
Sunday’s Scheduled Games
- Norfolk: vs. Worcester, 4:05. Starter: D.L. Hall
- Bowie: vs. Akron, 1:05. Starter: Ryan Watson
- Aberdeen: vs. Jersey Shore, 2:05. Starter: Carlos Tavera
- Delmarva: at Carolina, 1:00. Starter: Conor Grady