PCL1 Omaha Storm Chasers

Royals Host Cubs In Doubleheader

Published on June 6, 2008 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Omaha Storm Chasers News Release


TONIGHT: The Omaha Royals host the Iowa Cubs in a 5:05 p.m. doubleheader at Rosenblatt Stadium. The twinbill is being played to make up for last night's game, which was postponed by rain. Select cans of beer will be sold for $1, while supplies last, courtesy of 96.1 The Brew, Action 3 News and The City Weekly. NAIFA Fireworks follow the doubleheader, plus the world-renowned Bucket Boys perform during the twinbill, presented by infoUSA. The evening is also brought to you by KAT 103 and KETV. The pre-game show is on the air at 4:45 p.m. on News Talk 1420 KOTK and at www.oroyals.com.

ROYALS REPORT: Last night marked the 6th home game for the Royals that has been postponed due to bad weather, with 4 of those happening on Thursday nights, beginning with the scheduled 2008 season and home opener on April 3. Those 6 games do not include last Wednesday's game that was suspended after 4 innings due to a hydrochloric acid spill in the vicinity of Rosenblatt. *** Omaha is tied for 2nd place in the PCL's American Conference North, trailing Iowa by 1.5 games. The Royals have won 10 of their last 14 games, starting with 2 wins over the Cubs on May 21-22 at Rosenblatt. Omaha has also won 7 of its past 9 road games. *** Damon Hollins has homered in back-to-back games and was 5-for-7 with 6 RBI and 3 runs scored in those 2 contests. Prior to that outburst, he was mired in a 3-for-35 (.086) slump. *** In the just-completed, 4-game series at Bricktown Ballpark, Chris Lubanski was 6-for-16 (.375) with 2 home runs and 7 RBI. He had knocked in 20 runs over his 1st 41 games this season. He also scored 4 runs in the series. *** In Tuesday's series finale, Jason Smith collected his 5th 3-hit game of the year, 2nd-most on the team to Mike Aviles' eight 3-hit efforts. Smith has a 5-game hit streak, going 9-for-19 (.474) with 5 doubles, a triple and 7 RBI. He's hitting .342 (26-for-76) over his last 20 games, with 4 home runs and 19 RBI. *** Tuesday night marked the 1st time that Brad Salmon had worked as many as 3.0 innings without giving up a run since his 1st relief appearance on April 5 vs. Albuquerque, when he fired 3.0 innings of hitless relief and picked up a win. *** Roman Colon made a spot start for Omaha Tuesday night, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits over 4.0 innings, striking out 2. He yielded back-to-back jacks in the 2nd inning to German Duran and Taylor Teagarden, as the RedHawks rallied to tie the game at 3-3. Colon owns a 1.42 ERA in 4 outings at Rosenblatt, but has an 11.57 ERA in 2 away games. *** Neal Musser surrendered a home run to Jason Botts in the 8th inning Tuesday. It was the 6th gopher ball allowed by him in 33.1 innings this season. He gave up 1 tater in 55.1 innings in 2007. *** Brian Buchanan has hit in 6 straight games. During the streak, which is his longest of the campaign, he's batting .350 (7-for-20) with 3 RBI and 4 runs scored. *** Angel Berroa has hit in 4 consecutive contests, going 4-for-14 (.286) with a homer and 4 RBI. *** Roberto Giron finished off Tuesday's tilt with a hitless inning of relief, striking out 1 batter. It was the 1st appearance of June for Giron, who struggled in May, posting a 10.32 ERA.

GAME 1 STARTERS: LH Rich Hill (1-2, 4.41) vs. RH Brandon Duckworth (2-4, 4.82)

Duckworth makes his 7th 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 after going 0-2 with a 12.91 ERA in 3 starts for Omaha. Duckworth's last outing was last Friday in the nightcap of a doubleheader vs. Oklahoma, when he took the loss in the Royals' 3-2 defeat (5.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 2 K). He faced the Cubs May 20 at Rosenblatt, taking the loss in an 8-2 defeat (6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 3 HR). The sinkerballer has surrendered 8 home runs in 52.1 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. Duckworth had rehab stints with Wilmington and Omaha, combining for 20 strikeouts and 3 walks in 19.0 innings. His 1st rehab start for Omaha was on August 15 vs. Iowa, when he took the loss in the Royals' 6-3 setback (2.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HR). 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, but his ERA jumped from 4.85 to 6.11 in his final 2 appearances, both in relief, 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. He struck out the 1st 6 batters of the game in his start for the Phillies on August 5, 2002 vs. the Dodgers, 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. Duckworth was originally signed by the Phillies as a non-drafted free agent on Aug. 13, 1997, after pitching collegiately at Cal State Fullerton.

GAME 2 STARTERS: RH Randy Wells (4-1, 2.35) vs. LH Tyler Lumsden (2-6, 6.58)

Lumsden makes his 11th start of the season. The 25-year old lefty lost for the 5th time in his last 6 starts in his last outing vs. Oklahoma last Friday, when the Royals lost 6-1 in game 1 of a doubleheader (5.2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 2 K, 1 HR). He faced Iowa at Rosenblatt on May 19, taking the loss in the Royals' 5-4 defeat (7.0 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 HR). Lumsden is 0-3 with an 8.06 ERA in 5 starts at home, while going 2-3 with a 5.13 ERA in 5 starts on the road. He was acquired by KC along with right-hander Daniel Cortes from the White Sox in exchange for Mike MacDougal in July 2006. He spent all of last season with Omaha, going 9-6 with a 5.88 ERA in 25 games (24 starts) during his 1st year at the Triple-A level. In 2 starts vs. Iowa last year, he was 1-0 with an 2.77 ERA. Following the season, Lumsden pitched for Surprise in the Arizona Fall League and was 1-0 with a 6.00 ERA in 7 relief appearances. He was ranked by Baseball America as KC's #13 prospect entering 2008, after being rated #5 prior to 2007. The same publication named him as having the Best Slider in the White Sox organization entering the 2006 season. In '06, he was 9-4 with a 2.69 ERA in 20 starts for the White Sox Double-A club, Birmingham. Following the trade to KC, he finished the '06 campaign at Wichita, going 2-1 with a 3.06 ERA in 7 games (6 starts). He missed the entire 2005 season after undergoing surgery on his left elbow. Lumsden was selected by the Chisox as a sandwich pick between the 1st and 2nd rounds (34th overall) of the 2004 draft after compiling a 17-7 record in 3 seasons at Clemson. He graduated from Cave Spring High School in Roanoke, Virginia, where he lettered all 4 years in baseball and basketball and was a hoops teammate of J.J. Redick, who went on to star at Duke. Out of high school, Lumsden was selected in the 5th round of the 2001 draft by the Marlins, but did not sign.

PROBABLES FOR REMAINDER OF SERIES:

Sat., 7:05 p.m.: RH Justin Berg (1-2, 6.31) vs. RH Carlos Rosa (2-1, 4.71)

Sun., 1:35 p.m.: LH J.R. Mathes (2-3, 2.86) vs. RH Matt Wright (1-2, 4.85)

Check out the Omaha Storm Chasers Statistics

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



Pacific Coast League Stories from June 6, 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