The Wilmington Blue Rocks won their second consecutive game last night with a 3-2 walk off victory over the visiting Salem Red Sox. It started out as a beautiful night for baseball and once again turned into a chilly night at Frawley Stadium.

Third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert stepped to the plate with one out and nobody on base in the bottom of the 9th inning with the game tied at 2-2. Red Sox reliever Michael McCarthy was on the mound for his third inning of work (and was lights out). Until his 1-0 pitch.

Cuthbert turned on it and pulled it over the left field wall for the walk off homerun. The bench went nuts and were bouncing around home plate waiting for him to circle the bases. When he finally hit home, they mobbed him.

It got better for Cuthbert in the clubhouse area, where he took a pie to the face during his postgame interview. I have it all on video and it looks as though Jack Lopez was the culprit.

» Continue reading “Blue Rocks Win Again on Cuthbert Walk Off”

On Monday night, Brazil stunned Panama with a 1-0 victory (their second win over the host country) to claim the final spot in the World Baseball Classic that begins in March.

Over the course of the WBC Qualifier, KC Royals minor leaguers shined in the event.

In both of Brazil’s victories over Panama, centerfielder Paulo Orlando had big games. He was their leadoff hitter and went 2-for-4 in both games. In Game 1, he tripled and scored their first run in the 3rd inning. Orlando scored Brazil’s lone run on Monday night.

Sugar Ray Marimon (screen capped from the WBC game on MLB Network)

Columbia won their only game, which was their first game of the qualifier on Friday night. Sure they received some offense, as they won 8-1 over Nicaragua, but they also received great starting pitching. Getting the ball for the first time for the Columbians was Sugar Ray Marimon. He was a strike throwing machine. Over five innings, he allowed just one run on four hits. He struck out four and did not walk a batter. 41 of his 61 pitches were thrown for strikes.

Marimon‘s lone blip on the radar was a solo homerun he allowed in the 4th inning. That homerun went to Royals teammate Cheslor Cuthbert, who hit a good pitch just over the wall in left field. He was all smiles as he rounded the bases, especially at second base when he looked back at Marimon. Spring training conversation should be fun.

Even though Nicaragua did not win a game (0-2), Cuthbert impressed. He played pretty good defense at third base (he did make an error that cost them a run). He also hit well and batted 5th in both games. In the loss to Columbia, he went 2-for-4 with the homerun. In their 6-2 loss to Panama, Cuthbert went 2-for-4 with a run scored.

Luis Piterson was the other Royal in the WBC. Like during the regular season, he was a bench player for Columbia. He did get into their 7-1 loss to Brazil on Saturday. Piterson went 0-for-1, as he struck out as a pinch-hitter in the 8th inning. He then went in to play right field.

So congrats to Brazil and Paulo Orlando in advancing to the WBC (and shocking the world).

It was a good week to be a Kansas City Royal.

The big league Royals went 5-1 last week. They are currently in the midst of a three-game winning streak after sweeping Chicago out of Kauffman Stadium. They continue their stretch of playing playoff contenders, as they begin a three-game road series against Wild Card leading Tampa tonight.

The Royals moved into sole possession of third place in the American League Central, 11 games back.

Omaha clinched their second consecutive American Northern Division title on Saturday night and went 5-2 on the week. Currently, they have the best record in the Pacific Coast League (tied at 77-52). The Storm Chasers continue their long homestand against Nashville tonight.

NW Arkansas was eliminated from postseason competition this week, as they went 1-4. The Naturals are just 17-37 in the second half. They finish up their road trip in Frisco tonight.

Wilmington went 5-2 last week and continue to sit in first place in the Northern Division of the Carolina League (29-26). The Blue Rocks hold a 2.5 game lead over both Frederick and Lynchburg. They begin a BIG road trip tonight, with five in Frederick and three in Lynchburg.

Kane County went 2-4 last week and fell to six games back in the Western Division of the Midwest League (a tie for third place at 28-27). The Cougars continue their road trip in Burlington tonight.

Hitters of the Week

Majors: Alcides Escobar is on FIRE. He went 12-for-25 last week (.480). He scored six runs and stole four bases.

Minors: It is a tie between the left side of the Wilmington infield. Third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert is in the midst of a six-game hitting streak. Last week, he went 11-for-25 (.440) with six runs scored and three RBIs.

Shortstop Orlando Calixte has a hit in five of his last six games, including the game winner on Saturday night. He went 9-for-27 (.333) with two runs scored and four RBIs.

Pitchers of the Week

Majors: Jeremy Guthrie wins this award again, and why not? He carried a no-hitter into the 7th inning on Sunday against the White Sox. In two starts last week (totaling 14.2 innings), he allowed just two unearned runs on six hits and three walks. He struck out 13.

Minors: This is a tie between two pitchers who helped their teams have winning records last week. Ryan Verdugo picked up the victory in Omaha‘s clinching game on Saturday. In two starts last week, he allowed four runs (three earned) on 11 hits and five walks over 13 innings. He struck out 11. Verdugo has won four straight starts.

Brooks Pounders has put together two straight dominant starts, one of which came with a pie in the face. In two starts last week (14 innings), he allowed just one unearned run on seven hits and one walk. He struck out 12.

Omaha out-hit Memphis 7-6, but scored just one run en route to their 5-1 loss. They were just 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and hit into three double plays.

Irving Falu and Jason Bourgeois each had two hits in the loss.

NW Arkansas won 3-1 over Frisco (for the sweep), as all the runs were scored late. The Naturals scored three runs in the top of the 9th inning.

Justin Marks pitched seven scoreless innings. He allowed seven hits and two walks while striking out six. Five of the Naturals ten hits came from the bottom two hitters in the lineup (Rey Navarro and Ryan Jenkins).

The Wilmington Blue Rocks won a rain-shortened game, the opener of their four-game home series versus Carolina. They played just 4 1/2 innings and won 2-0. A concern is that starter Santiago Garrido was taken out after a double play ball with two outs in the 3rd inning.

Cole White picked up the win with 2.1 hitless innings of relief. Cheslor Cuthbert went 2-for-2 in the win. The Blue Rocks are now 1.5 games back of first place Lynchburg, who lost in ten innings to Myrtle Beach.

Kane County lost a pitcher’s duel, 2-0 to Peoria. The Cougars were hurt by four errors. Brooks Pounders was the hard-luck loser, as he allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks over six innings. He struck out six.

The Cougars collected just three hits.

Omaha made an RBI ground out in the 2nd inning hold up, as they beat Memphis, 3-0. The Storm Chasers tacked on two runs in the bottom of the 8th inning on a Clint Robinson two-run double.

Jake Odorizzi made the start but lasted just five innings due to four walks (95 pitches). He allowed just two hits in his scoreless innings. Doug Davis pitched three shutout inning of relief behind Odorizzi.

On offense, David Lough picked up two of Omaha’s five hits.

NW Arkansas scored five runs in the top of the 10th inning en route to their 10-5 win. Julio Rodriguez drove in two runs with a single and Paulo Orlando followed with a three-run homerun (Rodriguez had three hits and Orlando finished with two hits).

Leading 5-3 heading into the bottom of the 9th inning, Patrick Keating allowed a two-run homerun to Mike Olt (his second of the game) to tie the game and send it to extra innings. Keating rebounded with a 1-2-3 bottom of the 10th inning.

The much-anticipated matchup between Wilmington’s Yordano Ventura and Frederick’s Dylan Bundy was just as advertised. Both had similar lines, but the Blue Rocks handed Bundy his first professional loss, 1-0.

Ventura pitched five shutout innings and allowed three hits and three walks while striking out six. Bundy allowed one run on three hits and a walk over five innings. He struck out seven. “Bundy looked incredible,” said Blue Rocks manager Vance Wilson following the game.

The Blue Rocks scored their lone run on a suicide squeeze by Alex McClure in the bottom of the 5th inning.

The Blue Rocks took the second game of the doubleheader, 2-1 with another solid pitching performance. Greg Billo followed up his Carolina League Pitcher of the Week performance with five innings. He allowed one run on four hits and a walk while striking out six.

Nick Rogers picked up his seventh save of the save with two 1-hit innings of relief.

Frederick had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the 4th inning, only to see the Blue Rocks score two runs in the bottom of the inning. Cheslor Cuthbert, who hadn’t played since May 29th, went 2-for-3. Geulin Beltre also went 2-for-3.

Kane County was pummeled 15-3 by Peoria. The Cougars runs were scored in the final two innings.

Jorge Bonifacio went 2-for-3 in the loss. The Cougars used five pitchers, including yesterday’s starter Angel Baez, who was ejected in the 9th inning (though I think someone typed in the wrong reliever). Michael Giovenco pitched two hitless innings of relief while striking out three.

Jake Odorizzi won his first Triple-A game, as Omaha beat Salt Lake, 5-2. He allowed just one run on six hits over six innings. He struck out seven.

The Storm Chasers hit three homeruns: Clint Robinson, Tony Abreu, and Wil Myers. Myers went 2-for-4 and Derrick Robsinon went 2-for-3 in the win.

Down 8-0 after the top of the second inning was a deficit NW Arkansas could never completely dig out of, as the Naturals lost to Midland, 9-8. Noel Arguelles lasted just 1.1 innings in the loss.

The Naturals out-hit the RockHounds, 12-8. Christian Colon, Sharlon Schoop, Eric Duncan, and Nick Van Stratten each had two hits. CC scored three runs and Schoop hit a three-run homerun.

The Wilmington Blue Rocks complete their first series sweep of the season, with a 3-0 victory over visiting Potomac with a day game. They held just a 1-0 lead until the 8th inning when Brett Eibner and Cheslor Cuthbert drove in runs (Cuthbert had two hits).

Tyler Sample and the Blue Rocks bullpen outdueled the P-Nats. Sample allowed just two hits (though he walked four) over five innings. He struck out six. Jon Keck followed Sample with three scoreless innings of relief. Sam Runion picked up his first save of the season with a perfect 9th inning.

Jose Bonilla, who was just added to the roster from extended spring training on Tuesday, went 3-for-4 in his first start of the season behind the plate.

Kane County scored two runs in the bottom of the 8th inning en route to their 4-3 victory at home over Burlington. Michael Antonio hit a two-run double in the 8th inning for the win.

Lane Adams and Antonio went 6-for-8, as Adams scored two runs in the win.

Jason Mitchell earned the win in relief of Edwin Carl (5IP, 6H, 3R, BB, 4K), as he pitched two shutout innings and allowed just one hit.

With a 7-5 lead in the 9th inning, Roman Colon allowed a game-tying two-run homerun to Justin Ruggiano. His Omaha teammates came back with a three-run bottom of the 9th inning to give him the 10-7 victory.

Cody Clark hit a walk-off three-run homerun with two outs. Omaha had just nine hits with Johnny Giavotella, Clint Robinson, and David Lough collecting two each. Gio scored three runs. Robinson scored three runs, drove in two, and walked three times. Lough had two RBIs.

Down 3-1 heading into the bottom of the 6th inning, NW Arkansas put up a three-spot en route to their 4-3 victory over Tulsa. Those three runs came on a Mario Lisson homerun.

That blast made a winner of Noel Arguelles, who allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks over 6.1 innings. Elisaul Pimentel followed up with two one-hit innings of relief.

On offense, Wil Myers went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. He hit his ninth homerun of the season. Christian Colon also went 2-for-4.

Wilmington lost yet another pitcher’s duel, this time in Potomac, 3-1. Yordano Ventura took the loss, as he allowed two runs on six hits over six innings. He struck out six.

The Blue Rocks could do nothing against the Nationals bullpen. Over the final 2.2 innings, Nationals’ pitchers racked up six strikeouts.

The Blue Rocks’ lone run came via Cheslor Cuthbert‘s first homerun of the season (he went 2-for-4). Whit Merrifield and Roman Hernandez both went 2-for-4.

Just 297 fans showed up to watch Beloit beat Kane County, 5-3. All of the Cougars’ runs came over the final two innings.

Aaron Brooks took the loss, as he allowed two runs (two solo homeruns) on five hits over six innings. He struck out nine.

Two 3-run innings boosted Omaha over Nashville, 6-3. They pounded out 13 hits en route to the victory. Jarrod Dyson and Max Ramirez each had three hits. Johnny Giavotella hit a two-run homerun in the 4th inning.

The offense made a winner of Ryan Verdugo, who walked five but allowed just one run. He gave up three hits while striking out four.

NW Arkansas finally received a stellar starting outing, this one coming from Jake Odorizzi. He pitched seven shutout innings. He allowed just four hits and one walk while striking out a franchise best-11. The Naturals beat Springfield, 5-0.

Christian Colon, Kurt Mertins, and Julio Rodriguez each had two hits in the win. Rodriguez drove in two runs. In his second straight rehab outing, Lorenzo Cain went 0-for-5.

Just when the Wilmington Blue Rocks offense started to click (including the power), they had to travel to Salem to face Daisuke Matsuzaka on a rehab assignment (there were less than 2,000 fans in attendance). Well, the power continued, as they beat the Red Sox 7-2.

Whit Merrifield led off the game with a homerun (he went 3-for-5 with four runs scored). Geulin Beltre hit another homerun off Dice-K in the 2nd inning. Brett Eibner added a solo homerun in the 8th inning. Cheslor Cuthbert went 4-for-5 with three RBIs and Brian Fletcher went 2-for-5.

The burst of offense FINALLY made a winner of Jason Adam. He pitched five shutout innings to lower his ERA to 0.40. He allowed five hits and two walks while striking out five.

Lake County had a six-run and a four-run inning to beat Kane County, 11-8. The Cougars actually led 8-6 before the Captains put together their four-run 8th inning. Michael Giovenco took the loss, as he allowed two homeruns in that 8th inning (including the first to Cleveland Indians prospect Francisco Lindor).

Cougars leadoff hitter Justin Trapp went 3-for-4 with SIX RBIs.

Omaha received another stellar pitching performance from Nate Adcock, as the Storm Chasers beat Nashville, 2-1. Adcock allowed one run on five hits and one walk over eight innings. He struck out five. Brandon Sisk pitched a perfect 9th inning to pick up his first save of 2012.

Both teams scored single runs in the first inning. Omaha took the lead in the bottom of the 7th inning on a Jarrod Dyson RBI infield single (he went 2-for-3). Terry Evans also went 2-for-3 and scored the winning run.

Arkansas put together two big innings, a three run 4th inning and a four run 7th inning to beat NW Arkansas 8-4. Lorenzo Cain began his rehab assignment and went 1-for-3 while playing centerfield.

Carlo Testa went 1-for-3 with two RBIs. Chris Dwyer started for the Naturals and allowed four runs on six hits and three walks over 5.2 innings. He struck out three while dropping to 0-3 on the season.

After finally hitting the team’s first homerun of the 2012 season, Wilmington Blue Rocks first baseman Brian Fletcher hit another homerun on Sunday, a solo shot following Cheslor Cuthbert‘s first homerun of the season. However the rains came in the bottom of the first inning, halting the game. The two teams sat for a little over an hour before the game was suspended, with the continuation scheduled for June 8th. The Blue Rocks lead 3-1, as the Winston-Salem Dash have the bases loaded.

The Kane County Cougars and Lake County Captains were scoreless until the bottom of the 7th inning when the Cougars scored a run on Daniel Mateo‘s RBI double. The Cougars held on for the 1-0 win.

The Cougars collected seven hits, five coming from Lane Adams (2-for-3) and Mateo (3-for-4) at the top of the order. Edwin Carl earned the win, as he pitched seven shutout innings. He allowed five hits and one walk while striking out three. Nick Graffeo earned his fourth save with two shutout innings of relief.

I apologize for not updating for Friday night’s minor league games. Reality hasn’t been too kind as of late, so I’m combining Friday and Saturday night’s recaps.

Omaha scored a run in the top of the 5th inning, only to see Round Rock score two runs in the bottom of the inning en route to their 2-1 victory on Friday night. Will Smith took the loss, as he allowed two runs on four hits over seven innings. He struck out five. Jeremy Jeffress followed with a shutout inning of relief and was called up to the big leagues to take the place of the injured Greg Holland.

On offense for the Storm Chasers, Irving Falu went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases.

Francisley Bueno was in his third inning of work for the Storm Chasers in the 9th inning Saturday night, when he allowed a two-run homerun to tie the game at 5-5. The game went into extra innings. Make that the 13th inning to be exact.

The Storm Chasers loaded the bases on an error with nobody out. Jarrod Dyson came to the plate and provided the heroics with a walk-off single and the 6-5 win. They pounded out 16 hits, as five players had two hits.

Tommy Hottovy earned the victory with three hitless innings of relief. He struck out five.

NW Arkansas was rained out in Little Rock on Friday so the two teams played a doubleheader on Saturday. In Game 1, the Travelers used two 3-run innings en route to their 7-1 victory. The Naturals lone run came via a Wil Myers homerun.

In the loss, Ben Theriot went 2-for-2. Elisaul Pimentel put together his first good relief outing for the Naturals, as he allowed one hit and a walk over 1.1 innings. He even left an inherited runner stranded.

The second game was ugly for the Naturals, as starter Tim Melville lasted just 1.2 innings. He allowed eight runs on eight hits and two walks, as the Naturals lost 10-3. The Naturals did not get on the board until they were already losing 10-0.

So was there any good in this game? Well…yes. Reliever Bryan Paukovits threw two scoreless innings while striking out two. John Whittleman went 2-for-3 with a two-run homerun. Kurt Mertins also went 2-for-3.

Wilmington Blue Rocks starter Greg Billo put together a start on Friday night similar to the one’s he put together last year in Kane County. He pitched five shutout innings en route to his first High-A victory. The Blue Rocks beat Winston-Salem, 6-0.

Billo allowed four hits and two walks while striking out four. Angel Franco so far has played his way into the struggling Blue Rocks lineup. As the DH on Friday, he went 3-for-3 with a run scored, an RBI, a walk, and a stolen base to raise his batting average to .343. Catcher Kevin David went 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

The Blue Rocks won Saturday’s wild affair, 9-6. They had taken a 6-2 lead in the top of the 6th inning only to see Winston-Salem score four in the bottom of the inning to tie that game at 6-6. In the top of the 9th inning, the Blue Rocks scored three runs, capped by a Cheslor Cuthbert two-run single.

Brian Fletcher finally hit his first homerun, while also going 2-for-5. Jake Kuebler also hit a homerun, while driving in four runs.

There wasn’t a whole lot of good that came out of Kane County’s loss on Friday night. They lost to Fort Wayne, 12-1. They allowed 6 hits and committed three errors. The Cougars’ pitchers issued seven walks.

On Saturday, Fort Wayne put up five runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back, as they won 7-2. Orlando Calixte accounted for both runs, as he went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

Three errors for the Cougars cost starter Jason Mitchell three runs (4IP, 5H, 6R, 3ER, 0BB, 2K). Scott Alexander followed with 2.2 perfect innings of relief. He struck out three.