Orioles minor league recap 7/20: Holliday homers twice, Aberdeen throws a no-hitter

It was an eventful night on the Orioles’ farm, to say the least.

Triple-A: Norfolk Tides 12, Nashville Sounds (MIL) 11

A lot of stuff happened in this game, as the 23 runs will attest, but the story of the night was Jackson Holliday, the best prospect in baseball. Holliday started the second half of the year with authority, launching a dinger on the first pitch he saw.

But what’s better than a Jackson Holliday home run? How about two Jackson Holliday home runs? He stepped to the plate again in the second inning and did the same dang thing, mashing one out to nearly the same spot. Both blasts came off of a legitimate major leaguer, seven-year veteran Joe Ross, who was making a rehab appearance.

Attention to the Tigers, White Sox, or any other teams that might try to ask for Holliday in potential trade talks: the Orioles aren’t dealing him. Move on. In other encouraging Holliday news, he played second base for the first time since June 12 as he takes the next step in progressing from his elbow injury. He played a spotless game defensively before being removed for Terrin Vavra in the sixth.

Speaking of Vavra, he did his best Holliday impression by lacing a three-run, bases-clearing triple to break a nine-all tie in the seventh. Coby Mayo went 2-for-5 with a double and Connor Norby reached base three times, though each committed an error (Mayo at third base, Norby in left field).

The O’s announced before the game that prospects Chayce McDermott and Cade Povich, along with several other Norfolk pitchers, would make planned shorter outings coming out of the All-Star break. Indeed, McDermott and Povich each worked just one inning in this game, with very different results. Povich worked a scoreless frame in his first appearance since being optioned down from the Orioles, but McDermott struggled, giving up four runs on four hits in the first. The four relievers that followed them each were scored upon, but the ample run support gave them just enough breathing room to muddle through.

Box score

Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats (COL) 4, Bowie Baysox 0

This game was a scoreless tie entering the ninth, but Hartford rallied for four runs on five hits against reliever Wandisson Charles to win decisively. It’s been a rough year for Charles, who in spring training was considered a dark-horse candidate for the Orioles’ bullpen as a late-bloomer Yennier Cano type. Instead, he struggled so badly at Triple-A (8.42 ERA) that he was demoted to Bowie, where he continues to get hit hard.

There was better pitching news for Bowie, namely Seth Johnson, who fired four scoreless innings of one-hit ball. The O’s pitching prospect lowered his ERA to 2.66. He also walked only one batter, a good sign for a pitcher who has struggled with control. Peter Van Loon was stupendous in long relief, striking out seven batters in four scoreless, hitless frames. Van Loon has yet to allow a run in 12.1 innings for the Baysox this year.

As the final score indicates, though, the Baysox offense was a whole lot of nothing. They managed just three hits, with Dylan Beavers’s double the only one for extra bases. They also drew only one walk. Catcher Samuel Basallo was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts but threw out two attempted basestealers.

Box score

High-A: Aberdeen IronBirds 4, Wilmington Blue Rocks (WAS) 0

No-hitter alert! No-hitter alert! A quartet of IronBirds pitchers made history with a dominant performance against the Blue Rocks, striking out 11 and walking just three while keeping them out of the H column.

Starter Zach Fruit worked the first half of the game, pitching into the fifth inning and retiring 14 of the 15 batters he faced. Fruit recorded more than half of those outs on ground balls, inducing eight of them in all. Deivy Cruz relieved him with two outs in the fifth and went the next 1.1 innings hitless, working past two walks.

Preston Johnson came next and was dominant, retiring all six batters he faced, five of them on strikeouts. And Kyle Virbitsky, once part of the Cole Irvin/Darell Hernaiz trade, finished things off with a perfect ninth inning to seal the second no-hitter thrown by the IronBirds in their history. They previously pulled off the feat on Aug. 12, 2019, when they were a short-season A-ball affiliate, with Jake Lyons, James Ryan, and Kyle Martin doing the honors.

The top of the Aberdeen lineup provided the offense as 1-3 hitters Enrique Bradfield Jr., Tavian Josenberger, and Mac Horvath combined for five of the club’s seven hits. Bradfield and Horvath each had RBI singles, and Bradfield also picked up his 46th stolen base.

Box score

Low-A: Delmarva Shorebirds 5, Down East Wood Ducks (TEX) 3

The Shorebirds rallied back from a late 3-2 deficit by scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh, thanks to four straight hits with two outs. The top two hitters in the lineup, Braylin Tavera and Aron Estrada, each went 2-for-4 with a double, but Delmarva also got production from the bottom of the order, including catcher Aneudis Mordán, who hit his 13th homer.

Riley Cooper earned the win with his 3.2 innings of long relief, while starter Eccel Correa scattered four baserunners for two scoreless innings, seven-foot lefty Jared Beck gave up a run in two innings, and Issac Solano notched a four-out save.

Box score

Saturday’s scheduled games:

• Norfolk: vs. Nashville, 6:35 PM. Starter: Brandon Young (2-1, 3.86)
• Bowie: vs. Hartford, 6:35 PM. Starter: Alex Pham (3-2, 5.38)
• Aberdeen: vs. Wilmington, 7:05 PM. Starter: Michael Forret (2-2, 4.67)
• Delmarva: vs. Down East, 7:05 PM. Starter: Jacob Cravey (0-7, 5.44)