Final regular season minors recap

Triple-A Omaha won their season finale, beating Iowa, 7-3.

With two outs and nobody on base in the top of the first, the Storm Chasers scored four runs on four hits and a walk. Ruben Sosa capped the scoring with a two-run double. Leadoff hitter Billy Burns went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Frank Schwindel and Garin Cecchini each had two hits in the win. Schwindel drove in two runs, while Cecchini scored two runs.

That made a winner of starter Arnaldo Hernandez, who picked up his first Triple-A victory in his second start. He allowed a run on five hits and a walk over 5.2 innings. Hernandez struck out four. He left with two runners on base in the 6th inning in favor of Mark Peterson, who allowed an RBI double to the first batter he faced.

 

Double-A NW Arkansas lost their regular season finale, losing to Arkansas, 4-2. The Naturals try to defend their Texas League North Division title beginning Wednesday night against Tulsa (who won the second half).

The Travelers scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth off Naturals reliever Yunior Marte (2/3IP, 2H, 4R, 2BB, 2K) on a two out grand slam.

That came after starter Corey Ray allowed two hits and walked four over five scoreless innings. He struck out four. Walker Sheller followed with a scoreless sixth before lefty Tim Hill allowed a hit over the next 1.1 innings.

The Naturals offensive hero was Alfredo Escalera, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs.

 

High-A Wilmington lost their season finale, losing to Lynchburg, 4-3. The Blue Rocks lost all seven games on their final homestand of the season.

The Blue Rocks offense surprisingly came alive in the late innings, scoring one run in the seventh and two more in the 8th inning. Bad base running in the eighth squashed the rally. They had two on and two outs in the ninth, but Jecksson Flores (who went 2-for-5) lined out to center field to the end the game.

Leadoff hitter Nick Heath went 3-for-5. Brandon Downes went 2-for-5.

Starter Jared Ruxer took the loss, as he allowed four runs (one earned) on three hits and a walk over six innings. A solo home run to start the sixth proved to be the game winner for Lynchburg.

Justin Camp followed with two scoreless innings of relief (H, BB) before Franco Terrero struck out two of the three batters he faced in the ninth.

 

Low-A Lexington lost their season finale, losing 11-6 in Hagerstown. The two teams combined for 30 hits.

Every inning the Legends scored, the Suns came right back to score in the bottom half of the inning.

Starter Gerson Garabito took the loss, as he allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits and a walk over four innings. He struck out four. Collin Snider then allowed a run on three hits in the fifth. Tyler Zuber allowed two runs on three hits and two walks in the sixth. Matthew Wynne then allowed three runs on three hits in the seventh. Vance Tatum allowed two unearned runs in the eighth on two hits.

Third baseman Emmanuel Rivera held on to win the South Atlantic League batting title with a .310 average, as he went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI before being taken out. Rivera finished with 27 doubles and a SAL leading 144 hits.

Legends leadoff hitter Michael Gigliotti went 3-for-6 with a triple and two runs scored. Vance Vizcaino, Manny Olloque, and Max Bartlett all had two hits in the loss. Bartlett doubled twice.