Royals Game Notes
August 27, 2008 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Omaha Storm Chasers News Release
TONIGHT: The Royals host the New Orleans Zephyrs in a 7:05 p.m. game at Rosenblatt Stadium. It's game 3 of a 4-game series - the final home series of the season. This series is tied 1-1, while Omaha leads the season series 10-4. The Royals are 4-3 on the home stand. Kids eat free! All kids 12-and-under will receive a voucher for a SUBWAY pizza and soda, or a meal voucher from the Omaha Royals, courtesy of SUBWAY, Star 104.5 and The Omaha Newspapers! The pre-game show airs at 6:45 p.m. on News Talk 1420 KOTK and at www.oroyals.com.
LAST NIGHT: Tied 2-2 entering the 6th, New Orleans batted around in both the 6th and 7th innings to score 10 runs and pull away for a 14-4 victory. The Zephyrs scored 3 runs off Brad Salmon (8-7) in the 6th and 4 unearned runs off the right-hander in the 7th. New Orleans tacked on 3 more runs in the 7th off Brett Richardson, who was making his Triple-A debut after being promoted from the rookie-level Arizona League Royals. Valentino Pascucci drove in 3 runs for New Orleans, coming on an RBI single in the 6th and a 2-run double in the 7th. Anderson Machado had 3 hits, including a pair of RBI doubles in the 6th and 7th innings. Bobby Parnell (2-2) got the win, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits over 6.0 stanzas.
ROYALS REPORT: Royals pitchers issued 10 walks last night, 1 shy of their season high. Omaha pitchers gave up 11 walks in a 13-9 loss to Nashville at Rosenblatt on April 26. Of the 10 Z's who received a free pass Tuesday night, only 1 wound up scoring. *** New Orleans' batters last night fell 1 shy of several other season highs for an opposing club, including: runs in a game (14), runs in an inning (7), hits (19) and runners left on base (16). *** Brian Buchanan, the Royals DH who had tossed a perfect inning in each of 2 relief outings over the past month, mopped up last night and allowed 2 runs on 6 hits over 2.0 innings. *** With the win last night, New Orleans snapped an 8-game losing streak to the Royals. *** Besides Richardson, 2 other players who were added to Omaha's roster recently, made their Triple-A debut last night. Shortstop Jorge Gutierrez , promoted from rookie-level Burlington (NC) entered the game in the top of the 8th and popped up to 1st base in the bottom of the inning. Catcher Todd Balduf, who played both with high-A Wilmington and low-A Burlington (IA), entered the contest in the top of the 9th and struck out in the bottom of the inning. *** Ryan Shealy has homered in the 1st 2 games of this series. It marks the 5th time this season that Shealy has homered in at least 2 consecutive contests, including a home run streak of 3 straight games April 28-30. He has homered in back-to-back games 3 times in his last 20 tilts. Shealy is on a 6-game hit string, going 7-for-21 (.333) with 2 homers, 4 RBI and 5 runs scored. He struck out 4 times last night, which matched a team season high. *** Brayan Pena, who was 2-for-3 last night, is riding a season-best, 10-game hitting streak. During the streak, he's batting .400 (14-for-35) with 2 home runs and 6 RBI. *** Chris Lubanski legged out his team-leading 8th triple of the season Tuesday night. He had been tied for the club lead with Jason Smith. Lubanski's 8 triples are tied for 5th-most in the league. Lubanski, who came into this home stand in a 4-for-45 (.089) slide, is hitting .435 (10-for-23) on the home stand, with 3 doubles, 2 triples, a home run and 4 RBI. *** After going 0-for-4 with 3 K's in his Triple-A debut, Brett Bigler is hitting .400 (12-for-30) in 10 games since that 1st game. Over that span, he has 4 RBI, 5 runs scored and only 5 strikeouts. *** Royals opponents had batted around 21 times in the 1st 137 games of the season, before the Z's turned the trick last night in back-to-back innings. Omaha has batted around 17 times this year.
STARTERS: LH Willie Collazo (4-8, 4.03) vs. LH John Bale (0-2, 10.38)
Bale makes his 6th rehab assignment start (9th appearance) with Omaha, pitching for the 2nd time since his original rehab stint was shut down following his August 4 start vs. Colorado Springs. The 34-year old lefty's last outing was last Sunday vs. Memphis; he was not involved in the decision as the Royals won 5-4 in 10 innings (1.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 HR). Bale began the rehab assignment on July 15 with Northwest Arkansas, making 2 appearances (1 start) for the Naturals; he was 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA. He opened this season in KC's rotation, going 0-3 with a 7.63 ERA in 3 starts before being placed on the disabled list April 17 with left shoulder fatigue. While on the DL, he broke his left hand May 2, after punching a door at KC's team hotel in Cleveland. In 2007, Bale's 1st season in the Royals' organization was also marred by injuries. He spent the 1st 89 games of KC's '07 season on the DL, initially sidelined in Spring Training with a tight left shoulder. He began a rehab assignment with Wichita last April 30, but was shut down after 3 starts due to a recurrence of the injury. Bale began a 2nd rehab assignment on May 27 with Omaha and compiled 6.0 scoreless innings over 4 games (2 starts) through June 5, before suffering a torn glute while long tossing in the outfield. He began a 3rd rehab stint for KC - his 2nd with Omaha - on June 29 and made 4 appearances (2 starts) before finally being recalled by KC and reinstated from the DL on July 14. He wound up making 26 relief appearances for KC last year, going 1-1 with a 4.05 ERA. Bale was signed by KC as a minor league free agent prior to the 2007 season after pitching in Japan for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp from 2004-2006. Besides KC, he has pitched in the big leagues for Toronto, Baltimore and Cincinnati. Bale attended Jefferson Davis Community College in Alabama and the University of Southern Mississippi. He was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 12th round of the 1994 draft, but did not sign. He signed with Toronto after being selected in the 5th round of the 1996 draft.
PROBABLES FOR REMAINDER OF SERIES:
Thur., 7:05 p.m.: RH Nelson Figueroa (4-7, 4.43) vs. LH Tyler Lumsden (3-12, 6.88)
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