PCL1 Omaha Storm Chasers

Royals Game Notes

Published on July 11, 2008 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Omaha Storm Chasers News Release


TONIGHT: The Royals visit AutoZone Park, facing the Memphis Redbirds in a 7:05 p.m. game. It's the opener of a 4-game series. Memphis leads the season series 4-3. Omaha is coming off a 3-5 home stand, going 1-2 vs. the Redbirds and 2-3 vs. Nashville. The pre-game show airs at 6:45 p.m. on News Talk 1420 KOTK and at www.oroyals.com.

LAST NIGHT: After losing the lead in the top of the 9th, the Royals scored in the 10th to edge Nashville 6-5. Mike Stodolka led off the home half of the 10th with a single and took 3rd on a 1-out double by Chris Lubanski. With the Sounds infield playing in, David Matranga hit a tapper to short and Stodolka slid around the attempted tag of catcher Vinny Rottino with the winning run. Jason Smith had 4 hits on the night, including a triple in the 7th inning. Smith scored on a passed ball by Rottino to give Omaha its' 1st lead at 5-4. In the 9th, Nashville loaded the bases with 1 out to chase Devon Lowery. Brad Salmon gave up a game-tying sacrifice fly to the 1st batter he faced, Chris Woodward, but retired Ozzie Chavez on a grounder to 2nd to get out of the 9th tied. Salmon (6-4) got the win, after pitching a scoreless 10th. Ben Howard (2-5) took the loss for Nashville.

ROYALS REPORT: Prior to both coming up with key hits in the 10th inning last night, Stodolka had been 2-for-his-last-13 and Lubanski was hitless in 7 at-bats. *** Smith, who tied his season best with 4 hits last night, had been in a 5-for-40 (.125) slump at the plate over his previous 10 games. Among his hits last night was his 7th triple of the year, tied for 3rd-most in the PCL. *** Thursday night marked Omaha's 16th comeback win of the season and improved the Royals record to 6-13 in games decided in the final at-bat. It was only the 4th win in their last 15 contests and the 5th victory in their past 18 games at Rosenblatt. *** Mitch Maier, who had 3 more hits last night, has hit in 4 straight games (.533, 8-for-15). Over his last 13 tilts, Maier is batting .400 (20-for-50) and has scored 13 runs. He has also collected 12 walks in his past 15 games. *** Brian Buchanan drove in 2 more runs last night, giving him 10 RBI over his last 7 games. He's 8-for-23 (.348) with a home run over that span. *** Ryan Shealy has hit in 10 of the past 11 contests, batting at a .425 clip (17-for-40) with 2 home runs and 6 RBI. *** The Royals won last night despite going 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position and leaving 12 runners on base. 23 Omaha runners have been left stranded in the past 2 games. *** Over his last 8 contests, Matranga is 8-for-24 (.333) and has hit 2 home runs and knocked in 6 runs. *** A tale of 2 catchers: Brayan Pena is hitting .389 (14-for-36) over his last 10 games, drilling 5 doubles and a triple and driving in 9 runs. Meanwhile, Matt Tupman is in the throes of a 2-for-39 (.951) slump. *** Newman! The Kansas City Royals today claimed reliever Josh Newman off waivers from the Colorado Rockies and assigned him to Omaha. The 26-year old lefty has split this season between the Rockies and Colorado Springs. He had a 9.35 ERA in 8 appearances with the Major League club and was 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA and 1 save in 20 games with the Sky Sox.

STARTERS: RH Matt Wright (3-5, 6.06) vs. RH P.J. Walters (6-1, 4.78)

Wright makes his 18th start of the season, his 3rd vs. Memphis. The 26-year old right-hander's last outing was at home vs. the Redbirds last Sunday (6.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 4 K, 1 HR). Wright left that game with the Royals leading 7-4, but wound up with a no-decision as Memphis rallied late for an 8-7 win. In 2 starts vs. Memphis this season, he is 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA. Wright has given up 19 home runs this season, 2nd-most in the PCL, although he has allowed just 4 homers in his last 5 starts. He 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 3 starts vs. the Redbirds last year, going 1-0 with a 2.60 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 REMAINDER OF SERIES:

Sat., 12:05 p.m.: RH Roman Colon (2-3, 4.88) vs. RH Anthony Reyes (1-2, 3.02)

Sat., 6:05 p.m.: TBA vs. RH Tyler Norrick (NR)

Sun., 1:35 p.m.: RH Carlos Rosa (4-2, 4.32) vs. RH Mitchell Boggs (6-1, 3.14)

Check out the Omaha Storm Chasers Statistics

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Pacific Coast League Stories from July 11, 2008


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