PCL1 Omaha Storm Chasers

Royals Game Notes

Published on June 20, 2008 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Omaha Storm Chasers News Release


HOME: 15-19 (45-27 in ‘07) AWAY: 19-19 (28-44 in '07) vs. Round Rock: 7-3 (9-9 in '07)

TONIGHT: The Royals visit the Dell Diamond in Round Rock, Texas for the finale of a 4-game series. The Express lead this series 2-1, while the Royals lead the season series 7-3. Omaha is 5-6 on this 16-game road trip. 1st pitch is 7:05 p.m., with the pre-game show on the air at 6:45 p.m. on News Talk 1420 KOTK and at www.oroyals.com.

LAST NIGHT: Ryan Shealy corked a 2-run homer in the top of the 9th, snapping a 1-1 tie, and the Royals hung on for a 3-2 win to snap their 5-game losing streak. Shealy connected for his 10th home run of the season with 1 out in the 9th off Jorge Sosa (1-1), who took the loss. Omaha had tied the game at 1-all in the 7th, on Shane Costa's 10th round-tripper of the year, for the only run allowed in 7.0 innings by Express starter Ron Chiavacci. Matt Wright (2-4) fired 8.0 innings of 1-run ball, giving up 6 hits and a walk, while striking out 3. Brad Salmon gave up a run in the bottom of the 9th, but earned his 2nd save.

ROYALS REPORT: With last night's victory, Omaha is now 3-10 this season in games decided in the final at-bat. The Royals also improved to 8-9 in one-run games and posted their 12th come-from-behind win. *** In 2 starts vs. Round Rock, Wright is 2-0 and has a 1.93 ERA. In his 12 starts vs. the rest of the PCL, he's 0-4 with a 6.18 ERA. His 8.0-inning effort Thursday night was the longest by a Royals starter this year. *** Shealy's home run was his 2nd in the past 4 games. Prior to that stretch, he had gone 18 contests without going deep. *** Costa's homer was his 1st since May 18. It was his 1st tater in his past 18 tilts, after he had smacked 9 in his 1st 39 games. In the 1st 3 games of this series, Costa is 8-for-13 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. *** Jason Smith had 2 hits last night, collecting his 17th multi-hit game of the year. Over the past 4 games, Smith is 7-for-15 (.467) with a home run and 2 RBI. In 38 road games this season, he's batting .293 with 10 homers and 29 RBI. In 32 contests at home, he's hitting .232 with just 5 dingers and 16 RBI. *** Omaha batters struck out 11 times in Thursday night's affair, 1 shy of the team's season high. *** Billy Butler is 0-for-7 the past 2 nights. However, over his last 16 games, he's still hitting at a .377 clip (23-for-61) with 3 home runs and 10 RBI. *** Last night's win snapped the Royals losing streak at 5 games. It matched the longest skid overall and was the longest road losing streak for Omaha so far in 2008.

STARTERS: RH Brandon Duckworth (3-6, 4.93) vs. RH Runelvys Hernandez (6-3, 3.82)

Duckworth makes his 10th consecutive 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 on April 30 after going 0-2 with a 12.91 ERA in 3 starts. His last outing was last Sunday at Albuquerque, where he took the loss in the Royals' 7-1 defeat (5.0 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 2 BB, 9 K, 3 HR). That start followed his June 10 outing at New Orleans, when he fired 7.0 hitless frames and was part of a combined 1-hitter in Omaha's 13-0 victory. In 2 appearances (1 start) vs. Round Rock this season, Duckworth is 1-1 with a 2.00 ERA. The sinkerballer has surrendered 13 home runs in 69.1 innings this season, after allowing just 3 homers in 46.2 innings for KC last year. In 2007, Duckworth made KC's Opening Day roster after being a non-roster invitee at Spring Training, and was 3-5 with a 4.63 ERA and 1 save in 26 games (3 starts). He tore his left oblique last June 13 vs. St. Louis and was placed on the D.L. the next day. In rehab stints with Wilmington and Omaha, he combined for 20 strikeouts and 3 walks in 19.0 innings. One of his 3 rehab starts for Omaha was on August 26 vs. the Express at Rosenblatt; he pitched 7.0 scoreless innings (4 H, 0 BB, 6 K), but was not around for the decision as the Royals needed 13 innings to win, 2-1. He was activated by KC 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, 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. On August 5, 2002 vs. the Dodgers, he struck out the 1st 6 batters of the game, 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. He 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 SERIES AT NEW ORLEANS:

Sat., 6:00 p.m.: LH Tyler Lumsden (2-7, 6.88) vs. RH Brian Stokes (7-5, 4.00)

Sun., 2:00 p.m.: RH Roman Colon (2-4, 4.88) vs. RH Nelson Figueroa (3-1, 3.18)

Mon.,: 7:00 p.m.: LH Horacio Ramirez (1-1, 1.42) vs. RH Tony Armas (5-6, 2.47)

Tue., 12:00 p.m.: RH Matt Wright (2-4, 5.38) vs. LH Willie Collazo (4-4, 3.96)

Check out the Omaha Storm Chasers Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Pacific Coast League Stories from June 20, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central