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AAA Omaha (22-22): L 2-4
Former Royal Mike Minor pretty well had his way with the Storm Chasers lineup last night, allowing just 1 run while striking out 9 in 6 innings. Vinnie Pasquantino singled off of the lefty in his first at bat, which is pretty funny, and JaCoby Jones took him deep, but that’s about all the offense Omaha could muster. On the mound, Kris Bubic made it 6 innings while walking just 1 batter, but he got hit around a little bit and gave up 4 runs early. Omaha plays in a double header tonight starting at 4:05 pm.
Box Score:
– Nick Pratto: 0-4, 3 K
– Nate Eaton: 0-3, BB
– Vinnie Pasquantino: 1-4, K
– Jimmy Govern: 1-3, K
– Clay Dungan: 0-2
– John Rave: 0-3, 2 K
– Kris Bubic: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 6 K, 4 ER
AA Northwest Arkansas (21-21): W 14-6
If you don’t bring your A-game on the mound, the Naturals are going to hang a crooked number on you. NWA tallied 17 total hits last night including 6 for extra bases and added 8 walks to the box score. Will Klein struggled out of the gate, but the bullpen held it down and the Naturals cruised to a nice easy victory over Midland. They’re back at it tonight at 7:00 pm with Anthony Veneziano on the mound. Veneziano has seen a semi-significant drop in his velocity early on this season, so I’ll be curious to see how he looks tonight.
Box Score:
– Maikel Garcia: 1-6, K
– Nick Loftin: 3-6, HR
– Michael Massey: 3-5, 2 2B, BB, SB, K
– Robbie Glendinning: 2-4, 2 BB, SB, K
– Logan Porter: 2-5, 2 2B, BB
– Seuly Matias: 2-6, 2B
– Tucker Bradley: 0-4, BB, K
– Will Klein: 1 IP, 1 H, 4 BB, 1 K, 1 ER
A+ Quad Cities (16-26): PPD, Rain
Quad Cities was rained out for the fourth time in nine games last night. They’ll make it up as part of a double header tonight beginning at 4:35 pm.
A- Columbia (13-30): W 3-1
The offense still hasn’t found a way to breakout just yet, but the pitching staff got some much needed reinforcements and the Fireflies are appointment television all of a sudden.
Ben Kudrna is a certified STUD. To quote Rany Jazayerli on Twitter, I am “gobsmacked” by how impressive the big righty has looked in his first two starts. His fastball is consistently 93-94 and touches 95-96 semi-regularly. His changeup is a legitimate weapon, the likes of which you will RARELY see from a RHP in A-ball. His slider was much better in this start than it was last week and has the makings of a legitimate putaway pitch against RHH. I cannot say enough about this kid. I know we were excited about him preseason but that excitement is off the rails right now. We’ll see what Kudrna looks like when he doesn’t have his A-stuff (it happens to everyone from time to time), but the version we’ve seen so far is a certified top-100 prospect.
Box Score:
– River Town: 1-4
– Darryl Collins: 0-1, BB, K
– Erick Pena: 0-2, BB
– Omar Florentino: 0-3, K
– Ben Kudrna: 4 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 5 K, 0 R
Photo Credits: Columbia Fireflies
Royals Farm Report 