PCL1 Omaha Storm Chasers

Royals Game Notes

Published on August 7, 2007 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Omaha Storm Chasers News Release


AUGUST 7, 2007, 7:05 p.m.: OMAHA ROYALS (58-59) vs. Tucson Sidewinders (61-54)

HOME: 37-20 (31-41 in ‘06) AWAY: 21-39 (22-50 in '06) vs. Tucson: 0-2 (1-3 in '06)

TONIGHT: The Royals host the Tucson Sidewinders in a 7:05 p.m. game at Rosenblatt Stadium. It's game 3 of a 4-game series, which Tucson leads 2-0. Omaha is 4-2 on the homestand. It's 2uesday - $22 gets you 2 tickets, 2 hot dogs, 2 Cokes and 2 programs. Say "O! What a Night" at the ticket windows for Buy-One, Get-One Free tickets for Field Box and Reserved seat tickets, courtesy of the Omaha Chamber of Commerce! Air-time is 6:45 p.m. on News Talk 1420 KOTK and at www.Oroyals.com.

LAST NIGHT: Game 2 of the series had the same script as the opener: Tucson grabs an early lead, before the Royals rally to tie the game, only to lose again 6-5. The Sidewinders batted around in the 2nd inning, scoring 5 runs - 4 earned - on 6 singles off Tyler Lumsden and an error by 1st baseman Ryan Shealy. Tucson starter Enrique Gonzalez, who had tossed 18.0 scoreless innings over his previous 3 starts, blanked the Royals over the 1st 4 frames until Omaha rallied for 5 runs in the 5th. Thad Markray (5-6) silenced the Sidewinders in the 4th through 6th innings, but he yielded 7th inning doubles to Jamie D'Antona and Matt Erickson - whose 2-out, 2-bagger decided the contest. Mike Schultz (3-3) fired 1.1 scoreless stanzas for the win, while Brandon Medders worked a scoreless 9th for his 2nd save.

ROYALS REPORT: An umpire's call last night that went Tucson's way in the bottom of the 7th helped the Sidewinders maintain their 6-5 lead. With Royals at 1st and 2nd and nobody out, Mitch Maier laid a sacrifice bunt down the 3rd base line. Erickson's throw to 1st base drew an out call from 1st base ump Steve Fritzoni, much to the chagrin of Maier, 1st base coach Terry Bradshaw and manager Mike Jirschele, who came out to argue the call. Tucson reliever Dustin Nippert got ahead of Matt Tupman in the count 0-and-2 before walking him to load the bases, but then got Fernando Cortez to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. *** Shane Costa plated the Royals' 1st run last night with an RBI single, which extended his reached-base streak to 44 games, now the longest such streak in the PCL this season. Costa has scored 19 runs over the past 20 games and is batting .354 (28-79) over that stretch. *** Shealy's 6-game hitting streak came to an end last night, although he knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly and walked twice. Over the past 7 contests, he's 11-for-27 (.407), smacking 4 home runs and driving in 13 runs. *** Craig Brazell has gone 62 at-bats since hitting his last home run, but he still leads the minors with 32 round-trippers. Brazell has hit in 7 of the past 8 games, going 12-for-30 (.400) with 4 doubles and 3 RBI. *** The Royals committed 3 errors in Monday night's game, after not making a miscue in the field over the previous 8 contests. Omaha is 40-17 this season when playing error-free. *** Prior to this series, the Royals had won 12 of 16 overall and 10 of their previous 12 home games. With the pair of 1-run losses to Tucson, Omaha has fallen to 14-18 in games decided by a run. In 2006, the Sidewinders won 3 of 4 from the Royals in Tucson. But, that series included Omaha losses by scores of 14-3 and 11-1 and a 12-2 victory for the Royals in a 7-inning contest. *** Cortez was activated from the disabled list yesterday and went 1-for-4 with a run scored last night. He had been designated for assignment by KC last month and cleared waivers, but went on Omaha's DL for headaches. In 8 games with KC, Cortez hit .286 (4-14) with 1 RBI. *** Justin Huber, who had the night off Monday, has hit 4 home runs in his past 5 games and is riding a season-long, 11-game hitting streak. He's batting .386 (17-44) with 5 homers and 14 RBI during the streak. *** Mike Aviles knocked in another run last night, giving him 21 RBI in the last 20 tilts. During that span, he's hitting .349 (29-83) and has smacked 6 home runs. *** Chris Lubanski has hit in 4 straight games, going 6-for-10 with an RBI and 5 runs scored. The hit string has raised his average from .184 to .233. *** Markray's 4.0 inning relief stint last night matched his longest of the season. Of the 61 pitches he threw, 43 were strikes and he did not walk a batter.

STARTERS: RH Casey Daigle (9-2, 5.79) vs. RH Matt Wright (7-3, 3.93) Wright makes his 17th start and 24th appearance of the season. The 25-year old right-hander's last start was last Thursday vs. Las Vegas, when he got the win in the Royals' 3-1 victory (7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K). Wright has won 4 consecutive decisions, although last Thursday's game marked the 1st time he had been involved in the decision in his last 6 outings. His 3.93 ERA ranks 8th in the PCL. In his 16 starts, he's 4-1 with a 3.81 ERA; he's 3-2 with a 4.32 ERA in his 7 relief outings. He's unbeaten at Rosenblatt, going 5-0 with a 3.51 ERA at home, compared with a 2-3 record and a 4.36 ERA on the road. Wright was signed by KC as a minor league free agent in the off-season after spending the 1st 7 campaigns of his professional career in the Atlanta Braves organization. In 2006, he opened the season pitching for Double-A Mississippi, posting a 7-3 record with a 2.22 ERA in 15 games (14 starts). He was promoted to Richmond in July and went 3-5 with a 5.77 ERA over 10 starts in his 1st action at the Triple-A level. Entering this season, his minor league totals included a 46-47 record, with a 3.68 ERA and 744 strikeouts in 743.2 innings. Wright was selected by the Braves in the 21st round of the 2000 draft out of Robinson High School in Waco, Texas.

PROBABLES FOR REMAINDER OF SERIES:

Wed., 12:05: RH Yusmeiro Petit (7-4, 4.09) vs. RH Billy Buckner (8-6, 4.07)

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