PCL1 Omaha Storm Chasers

Royals Game Notes

Published on April 22, 2008 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Omaha Storm Chasers News Release


HOME: 6-4 (45-27 in ‘07) AWAY: 4-3 (28-44 in '07) vs. New Orleans: 1-2 (8-6 in '07)

TODAY: The Royals host the Zephyrs at Rosenblatt Stadium in the finale of a 4-game series, which New Orleans led 2-1. It's the 9th annual Cox Home Run for Youth Day! Over 12,000 students from 67 area schools in Cox's service area have been invited to the game, courtesy of Cox. First pitch is 11:05 a.m., with the pre-game show on the air at 10:45 a.m. on News Talk 1420-AM KOTK and at www.oroyals.com.

LAST NIGHT: New Orleans starter Jose Diaz stifled the Royals' bats to lead the Z's to a 6-2 victory. Diaz (1-2), who pitched for Omaha and KC in 2006, allowed just 2 hits in 7 innings. The 28-year old right-hander lost his shutout bid in the 5th, when Chris Lubanski crushed a 2-run homer to right, cutting the Zephyrs lead to 4-2. Diaz walked 3 Royals, while striking out 7. Omaha starter Mike Maroth (0-1), just activated from the DL yesterday, took the loss. Maroth, who was on a 45-pitch limit, gave up 2 runs on 2 hits in 2.0 innings, walking 2 and hitting a batter, while fanning 1.

ROYALS REPORT: The 3 hits for Omaha last night was a season low. The 2 hits allowed by Diaz set a new season low for an opposing starter working at least 5.0 innings, while his 7 strikeouts are also a new season standard for an opponent. Also Monday, Royals pitchers chalked up 10 K's and Omaha batters whiffed 9 times, both equaling season highs. *** Lubanski's home run was his 3rd of the season and his 1st since April 6 vs. Albuquerque. He smacked 2 homers in 13 at-bats over Omaha's 1st 4 contests, and now has hit 1 in 44 AB's over the past 13 tilts. Lubanski is on a 5-game hitting streak, going 5-for-16 (.313) with 3 RBI over that span. *** Mike Aviles has also hit in 5 straight games - like Lubanski's streak it's Aviles' longest hit string of the year. He's batting .318 (7-for-22) with 3 doubles and 3 RBI during the streak. *** Shane Costa was 0-for-4 Monday night and did not reach base for the 1st time in the Royals 17 games this season. *** Matt Tupman, batting 5th in the order last night for the 1st time this season, went 0-for-3, halting his hitting streak at 4 games. *** Angel Berroa is 0-for-8 over the last 2 games. It marks the 1st time that he has gone hitless in back-to-back contests and it has dropped his average from .364 to .317. *** New Orleans right fielder Victor Mendez last night became just the 2nd batter to collect a 3-hit game vs. Omaha this season. In the 1st 3 games of this series Mendez is 6-for-10 with a home run and 2 RBI. *** Omaha starter Jorge De La Rosa was named yesterday as the PCL's Pitcher of the Week. He is the 1st Royals pitcher to earn that award since Brett Laxton did so on July 14, 2002. De La Rosa won both of his starts last week, posting a 0.81 ERA. In 3 starts this season, his 1.15 ERA ranks 2nd in the league.

STARTERS: RH Brian Stokes (2-1, 1.50) vs. RH Kyle Davies (1-1, 1.38)

Davies makes his 4th start of the season. The 24-year old right-hander's 1.38 ERA would rank 4th in the PCL, if he had pitched enough innings to qualify. Davies' last outing was last Wednesday at Nashville, when he took the loss in the Royals' 9-3 defeat - he gave up 6 runs, but all of them were unearned (5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR). Davies was acquired by KC from Atlanta in exchange for reliever Octavio Dotel on July 31, 2007. He began last season with the Braves and was 4-8 with a 5.76 ERA in 17 starts. Following the trade, he went 3-7 and posted a 6.66 ERA in 11 starts for KC. Davies made his KC debut August 4 at Yankee Stadium, allowing 5 runs on 6 hits in 3.0 innings and surrendering Alex Rodriguez' 500th career home run. He earned a win in his Kauffman Stadium debut vs. Minnesota, firing 6.2 shutout innings in a 1-0 victory. In 2006, he opened the season in the Braves starting rotation, but underwent surgery to repair a torn right groin on May 19 and missed 94 games before being activated from the 60-day DL on September 1. He began his big league career with Atlanta in 2005 by recording 14.0 straight scoreless innings, the most by a Braves rookie starter to open his career since Larry McWilliams (14.1) in 1978. In 2004, he was named the Phil Niekro Award Winner as the top pitcher in the Braves organization and was selected to Baseball America's minor league All-Star 2nd team. He was selected by Atlanta in the 4th round of the 2001 draft out of Stockbridge High School in Georgia. Kyle is his middle name - his given name is Hiram.

PROBABLES FOR SERIES VS. NASHVILLE:

Thur., 6:35: LH Lindsay Gulin (0-2, 3.77) vs. LH Tyler Lumsden (1-1, 6.39)

Fri., 7:05: RH Nic Ungs (1-2, 10.32) vs. RH Matt Wright (0-1, 5.14)

Sat., 7:05: LH Zach Jackson (1-3, 7.04) vs. LH Jorge De La Rosa (2-0, 1.15)

Sun., 1:35: LH Chris Narveson (0-3, 4.29) vs. LH Mike Maroth (0-1, 7.50)

Check out the Omaha Storm Chasers Statistics

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Pacific Coast League Stories from April 22, 2008


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