PCL1 Omaha Storm Chasers

Omaha Royals (38-38) @ New Orleans (38-41)

Published on June 24, 2008 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Omaha Storm Chasers News Release


TODAY: The Royals visit Zephyr Field for the finale of a 4-game series vs. New Orleans. Omaha leads this series 3-0 and is 8-3 vs. the Zephyrs on the season. The Royals are 9-6 on this 16-game road trip, which began with a 3-1 series win at New Orleans. 1st pitch is 12:00 p.m., with the pre-game show on the air at 11:40 a.m. on News Talk 1420 KOTK and at www.oroyals.com.

LAST NIGHT: Shane Costa's RBI double in the 10th inning scored the deciding run in the Royals' 3-2 victory. David Matranga drew a leadoff walk in the 10th and, after being bunted over to 2nd, scored on Costa's 2nd double of the game. The Zephyrs had tied the contest twice on solo homers - at 1-all in the 3rd courtesy of Anderson Hernandez and at 2-2 in the 6th when Valentino Pascucci went deep. Those were the only runs allowed by Omaha starter Roman Colon in 6.0 innings. Neal Musser (2-4) got the win with 4.0 innings of scoreless relief. Carlos Muniz (2-4) blanked the Royals in the 9th, but gave up the winning run in the 10th.

ROYALS REPORT: The Royals have won 5 straight games. It's Omaha's longest winning streak of the year on the road and equals the club's longest win string overall, set April 6-11. The Royals have won 6 consecutive contests at Zephyr Field. *** Of the Royals' 5 straight wins, 3 have come in their final at-bat. Prior to this streak, Omaha was just 2-10 this season in games decided in the last at-bat. *** Costa is riding a 7-game hitting streak, during which he's batting .419 (13-for-31) with a home run and 6 RBI. *** Like Costa, Ryan Shealy had 2 hits last night. Shealy has hit in 5 straight games, going 10-for-21 (.476) with a homer and 2 RBI. *** In just his 3rd start with Omaha Monday night, Colon turned in the 25th quality start of the season by a Royals pitcher. He allowed just 4 hits, walking 2 and fanning 2. *** Musser's 4.0-inning stint last night was his longest of the year. He has hurled 5.2 scoreless innings over his last 2 appearances, shaving his ERA from 3.99 to 3.48. Monday night, Musser was able to work around 4 walks. On the season, he has issued 25 walks in 44.0 innings with Omaha. *** The Royals had a season-high 3 stolen bases in last night's win. Catcher Brayan Pena, in his 9th game with Omaha, collected his 1st 2 steals of the year. He's just the 2nd Royal to swipe 2 bags in 1 game in 2008, with Jason Smith being the other. *** Smith was 0-for-3 last night, halting a 4-game hit streak. Over his last 8 tilts, Smith is still hitting .367 (11-for-30). He has smacked 2 home runs and knocked in 4 runs over that stretch. *** Billy Butler is 0-for-8 over the past 2 games. However, in his last 20 contests, he's hitting at a .363 pace (29-for-80) with 5 homers and 13 RBI. *** Matranga singled in the 3rd inning last night, snapping an 0-for-13 slump at the plate. *** Omaha is now 10-9 in 1-run games and 3-2 in extra-inning affairs this season. *** Reliever Joel Peralta was recalled by KC last night, with right-hander Jeff Fulchino optioned back to Omaha. In 2 stints with the O-Royals this year, Peralta fired 18.2 scoreless innings, going 1-0 with 2 saves. He's 0-2 with a 5.64 ERA in 18 games with KC. In 5 appearances with KC, Fulchino had no record and a 9.00 ERA, allowing 6 earned runs in 6.0 stanzas. With Omaha, he is 2-1 with a 3.99 ERA and 3 saves in 12 games, including 5 starts. *** Horacio Ramirez made his KC debut last night in the Royals' 8-4 win vs. Colorado. He pitched the 8th inning, allowing a run on 2 hits, striking out 1. The 28-year old lefty made 3 starts with Omaha, going 1-1 and posting a 1.42 ERA. *** The last time Omaha swept a 4-game series was August 1-4, 2007 at Rosenblatt Stadium vs. the Las Vegas 51s.

STARTERS: RH Matt Wright (2-4, 5.38) vs. LH Willie Collazo (4-4, 3.96)

Wright makes his 15th start of the season, his 3rd vs. New Orleans. The 26-year old right-hander's last outing was at Round Rock last Thursday, when he got the win in the Royals' 3-2 victory (8.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K). In 2 starts vs. New Orleans this year, Wright is 0-2 with a 9.28 ERA. He has surrendered 15 home runs this season, tied for 2nd-most in the PCL. Wright was signed by KC as a minor league free agent prior to 2007 and spent the entire campaign with Omaha, going 10-5 and ranking 7th in the PCL with a 4.06 ERA. In 21 starts last season, he was 7-3 with a 4.01 ERA; he went 3-2 with a 4.32 ERA in 7 relief appearances. He made 4 starts vs. the Zephyrs last year, going 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA. Wright won 6 of 7 decisions at Rosenblatt last year, although his ERA was actually better on the road than at home (3.89 to 4.24). He pitched well in tight spots in 2007, holding batters to a .216 average with runners in scoring position and .193 with runners in scoring position and 2 outs. Following the season, he was a member of the gold-medal winning USA Baseball Team at the World Cup in Chinese Taipei, going 1-0 with a 1.00 ERA in 2 games (1 start). Prior to 2007, Wright spent his 1st 7 professional seasons in the Braves organization. He was named to the Carolina League All-Star team in 2004, when he ranked 6th in Atlanta's system with 133 strikeouts for Myrtle Beach. Wright was selected by the Braves in the 21st round of the 2000 draft out of Robinson High School in Texas.

PROBABLES FOR SERIES VS. OKLAHOMA:

Fri., 7:05 p.m.: TBA vs. RH Carlos Rosa (2-1, 3.96)

Sat., 12:05 p.m.: TBA vs. LH Tyler Lumsden (3-7, 6.53)

Sat., 7:05 p.m.: TBA vs. RH Brandon Duckworth (3-6, 4.82)

Sun., 1:35 p.m.: TBA vs. LH Dusty Hughes (1-0, 0.00)

Check out the Omaha Storm Chasers Statistics

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Pacific Coast League Stories from June 24, 2008


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