Omaha Royals Game Notes 5/8
May 8, 2008 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Omaha Storm Chasers News Release
MAY 8, 2008, 6:35 p.m.: OMAHA ROYALS (16-15) vs. Portland Beavers (16-15)
HOME: 10-6 (45-27 in â07) AWAY: 6-9 (28-44 in '07) vs. Portland: 1-1 (2-2 in '07)
TONIGHT: The Royals host the Portland Beavers at Rosenblatt Stadium in game 3 of a 4-game series, which is tied 1-1. It's also the 3rd game of an 8-game home stand. It's Thirsty Thursday with $1 beer and Cokes during the game, courtesy of 96.1 The Brew, Action 3 News and The City Weekly! Following the contest, enjoy live music with the Whipkey Three in concert, presented by Two Fine Irishmen! 1st pitch is 6:35 p.m., with the pre-game show on the air at 6:15 p.m. on News Talk 1420 KOTK and at www.oroyals.com.
LAST NIGHT: The Royals held Portland to just 4 hits in a 7-1 victory, snapping Omaha's 3-game losing skid and the Beavers' 6-game winning streak. In his 2nd start for the Royals, Jeff Fulchino (1-0) picked up the win with 5.2 scoreless innings, allowing just 2 hits and 3 walks, while striking out 4. Ryan Shealy had 3 hits, an RBI and a run scored, Mike Aviles doubled and scored 3 runs, and Mitch Maier smacked a solo homer for the Royals. The Beavers avoided being Omaha's 1st shutout victim of the season, scoring an unearned run in the 8th inning off Devon Lowery. Neal Musser finished with a perfect 9th inning. Portland starter Josh Geer (2-3) took the loss, after giving up 6 runs on 7 hits, 4 walks and 2 costly wild pitches that each allowed a run to score.
ROYALS REPORT: Portland's 4 hits yesterday equaled the season low for a Royals opponent; it was the 3rd time this year Omaha pitchers have combined on a 4-hitter. The 2 hits off Fulchino also matched a season-best for a Royals starter who pitched at least 5.0 innings in a game. *** Meanwhile, the 4 walks issued by Geer equaled a season-high for an opposing pitcher in a game. The Portland starter had allowed only 6 walks in 34.0 innings over his 1st 6 starts before Wednesday's contest. *** Maier's 5th inning homer off Geer yesterday extended his hitting streak to 11 games. During the streak, which began on April 26 after Maier had missed almost 3 weeks with a sore left wrist, he's batting .380 (19-for-50) with 3 home runs and 7 RBI. *** Aviles' double in the 7th inning yesterday was his 15th 2-bagger of the season (2nd in the PCL) and his league-leading 27th extra-base hit (5 more than any other PCL batter has collected). Aviles, who was batting 3rd in the order yesterday after spending the 1st 30 games of the campaign in the #2 spot, ranks 4th in the loop in slugging percentage at .687. He has hit in 18 of the past 19 tilts, batting .369 (31-for-84) with 9 doubles, 4 triples, 4 homers, 15 RBI and 21 runs. *** Dave Matranga, who moved into the 2nd spot in the batting order, went 1-for-4 with a run scored and is 4-for-9 with a double and a home run in the 1st 2 games of the series. *** Shealy posted his 1st 3-hit game of the season on Wednesday. He's 5-for-8 in the 1st 2 games vs. Portland, after going 2-for-20 in the previous 5 contests. *** After going 0-for-10 in his 1st 3 games with Omaha, Ken Huckaby ran his hitting streak to 7 games yesterday. He's hitting .308 (8-for-26) during the streak. *** Yesterday's win improved the Royals record at Rosenblatt vs. Portland to 4-14, since the Beavers rejoined the PCL in 2001. Omaha is 12-8 at PGE Park in Oregon. *** Reliever Roman Colon has been promoted to Omaha from Double-A Northwest Arkansas. In 10 relief outings for the Naturals this season, the 27-year old right-hander from the Dominican Republic was 2-0 with a 5.29 ERA and 1 save. Colon was acquired by KC in a trade with Detroit last July, but made just 1 relief appearance with Omaha before missing the rest of the season due to a neck injury. In other roster moves, reliever Chin-Hui Tsao has been placed on the D.L. with a sore right elbow and outfielder Brian Buchanan was activated from the disabled list. *** Reliever Brad Salmon is expected to rejoin the team today. Salmon hasn't pitched since last Wednesday at Sacramento, after leaving to be with his wife in Florida for the birth of a child.
STARTERS: RH Josh Banks (1-0, 11.57) vs. RH Brandon Duckworth (2-1, 5.13)
Duckworth makes his 2nd start, after opening the season in Omaha's bullpen and making 6 relief appearances. The 32-year old right-hander took the rotation spot of Mike Maroth, who was released by KC after going 0-2 with a 12.91 ERA in 3 starts for Omaha. Duckworth's 1st start was last Saturday at Fresno, when he got the win in the Royals' 13-7 victory (5.2 IP, 7 H, 7 R-6 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 1 HR). In 2007, Duckworth made KC's Opening Day roster after being a non-roster invitee at Spring Training, and went 3-5 with a 4.63 ERA and 1 save in 26 games (3 starts). The sinkerballer allowed just 3 home runs in 46.2 innings. Duckworth tore his left oblique on June 13 vs. St. Louis and was placed on the D.L. the next day. He made rehab stints with Wilmington and Omaha, combining for 20 strikeouts and 3 walks in 19.0 frames. He was activated by KC on September 1. After opening the 2006 season with the Pirates' Triple-A club, Indianapolis, Duckworth was acquired by KC in exchange for cash on June 10. He went 1-5 with a 6.11 ERA in 10 games (8 starts) for KC, but his ERA jumped from 4.85 to 6.11 in his final 2 appearances, both in relief, before he underwent season-ending elbow surgery on August 15. Duckworth has spent at least parts of the last 7 seasons in the Majors with the Phillies, Astros and Royals. He struck out the 1st 6 batters of the game in his start for the Phillies on August 5, 2002 vs. the Dodgers, becoming the 1st big league pitcher to fan that many batters to begin a game since Jim Deshaies struck out a Major League record 8 in a row on Sept. 23, 1986, also vs. the Dodgers. Duckworth was originally signed by the Phillies as a non-drafted free agent on Aug. 13, 1997, after pitching collegiately at Cal State Fullerton.
PROBABLES FOR REMAINDER OF SERIES:
Fri., 7:05 p.m.: LH Cesar Ramos (3-2, 5.53) vs. RH Kyle Davies (3-2, 2.61)
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