PCL1 Omaha Storm Chasers

Royals Game Notes

Published on August 14, 2008 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Omaha Storm Chasers News Release


AUGUST 14, 2008, 7:05 p.m.: OMAHA ROYALS (53-72) vs. Albuquerque (56-68)

HOME: 24-37 (45-27 in ‘07) AWAY: 29-35 (28-44 in '07) vs. Albuquerque: 5-9 (5-11 in '07)

TONIGHT: The Royals host the Albuquerque Isotopes in a 7:05 p.m. game at Rosenblatt Stadium. It's game 3 of a 4-game home stand. Albuquerque leads this series 2-0 and has won 9 of the 14 meetings in the season series. 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! The pre-game show airs at 6:45 p.m. on News Talk 1420 KOTK and at www.oroyals.com.

LAST NIGHT: Leading 7-5 entering the 9th, the Royals let it slip away as the Isotopes rallied for 4 runs to win 9-7 and extend their winning streak to 6 games. Andrew Beattie drew a leadoff walk - his 3rd free pass of the night - to ignite the rally. Tagg Bozied tied the game with a 2-run double to left. With 1 out, runners at 2nd and 3rd and the Royals infield drawn in, Paul Lo Duca grounded a single up the middle and into center field to put Albuquerque on top. Jeff Fulchino (3-4), who had pitched a scoreless 8th inning, gave up the 4 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks in the 9th to take the loss. Taylor Tankersley (2-1) picked up the win with a scoreless stanza. Brandon Villafuerte walked the leadoff batter in the bottom of the 9th, but then recorded 3 straight outs to notch his 2nd save.

ROYALS REPORT: Following last night's defeat, the Royals are 41-8 this season when leading after 8 innings. Of the other 15 PCL teams, 10 of them have lost twice or less when leading after 8 innings. *** Omaha is 8-22 in games decided in the final at-bat in 2008. *** Fulchino's blown save last night was just his 2nd in 7 chances. However, it was the 15th blown save in 39 opportunities for Omaha's bullpen as a whole. The Royals bullpen converted 15 of 17 save opportunities the 1st 2 months of this season, but since June the ‘pen is just 9-for-22 in converting save chances. Since July 1, the Royals' bullpen has 4 saves out of 13 opportunities. *** The Isotopes' win last night clinched the season series for Albuquerque. Since the 2 teams split their 16-game season series in 2004, Albuquerque has won the series each of the past 4 seasons, taking 43 of the past 62 games. *** Ryan Shealy has homered in back-to-back games for the 2nd time in 9 contests since August 5. He went deep in 3 straight games April 28-30 at Sacramento. *** When Damon Hollins followed Shealy's 3-run homer in the 1st inning last night with a home run of his own, it marked just the 2nd time this season that Royals batters have hit back-to-back jacks. The 1st time was April 26 vs. Nashville, went Shealy and Matt Tupman did it in a 13-9 loss. In contrast, Omaha's opponents have hit back-to-back home runs 7 times in 2008. *** Hollins has smacked 4 homers in his last 11 games, after hitting just 1 round-tripper in his previous 25 contests. *** Gookie Dawkins had 2 hits last night and ran his hitting streak to 10 games, matching his season high. He has hit in 20 of his last 21 tilts. Over his last 26 games, Dawkins is batting .324 (36-for-111) with 4 homers and 11 RBI. *** Matt Tupman has hit in 5 straight, going 7-for-18 (.389) with 5 RBI. Tupman, who hit .209 in the season's 1st half, is batting .338 (22-for-65) since the All-Star break, including 6 doubles and 12 RBI. *** Joey Gathright played last night in the 3rd game of his rehab assignment for a right shoulder injury and picked up his 1st hit with Omaha, singling to lead off the bottom of the 1st. He also walked once and was hit by a pitch. *** The Isotopes stole 3 bases Wednesday night. Two of those came in the 9th inning, including Andrew Beattie's theft of 3rd when Brayan Pena went to the mound to talk with Fulchino, but failed to call time out. Beattie, who had 2 steals on the night, scored 4 runs in the game. He's the 1st opposing player to do that since Albuquerque's Paul Hoover scored 4 times in the opener of a doubleheader at Isotopes Park on May 18 of this season. In their 14 games vs. Omaha this year the ‘Topes have swiped 16 bases. *** Omaha has lost 17 of its last 22 and 34 of its last 47 games overall. The Royals have also dropped 24 of their last 33 home contests.

STARTERS: RH Frankie De La Cruz (11-7, 4.50) vs. RH Matt Wright (3-8, 5.65)

Wright makes his 22nd start (24th appearance) of the season. The 26-year old right-hander's last outing was a start at Nashville last Saturday in game 2 of a doubleheader. He took the loss in the Royals' 2-1 defeat (6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R-1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HR). Wright has started against Albuquerque 3 times this season, going 0-2 with a 10.13 ERA. On the season, Wright has surrendered 24 home runs, 2nd-most in the PCL. He's 0-3 with a 5.37 ERA at home this year, going 3-5 with a 5.86 ERA on the road. Wright 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 4 games (2 starts) vs. Albuquerque last season, Wright was 1-2 with a 6.98 ERA and surrendered 10 home runs in 19.1 innings. 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:

Fri., 7:05 p.m.: LH Chris Seddon (9-8, 4.87) vs. RH Roman Colon (3-5, 4.56)

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Pacific Coast League Stories from August 14, 2008


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