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Matt Wright (courtesy Eldon Lindsay/Omaha Royals)
Omaha continued it’s mostly manic play, as they split a four game series with PCL American North leading Nashville.
The Royals opened the series with a Friday night victory, complete with good pitching from Lenny DiNardo and timely hitting from the likes of Irving Falu, who went 3-4 with a triple, and three RBI.
Game two of the series was almost a mirror opposite of the first game. Matt Wright got the ball for the first game of a double header, and was hammered all over the ball field. Wright lasted just 4.2 innings, surrendered four hits, three runs, two walks, and two home runs.
Two runs in the second inning were all the Royals could muster against the Sounds’ Matt Ginter who improved to 2-1, and lowered his ERA to 2.59 for the season. Tim Hamulack wasn’t much better than Wright in relief for the Royals, as he allowed four hits, and three runs, in just an inning and two thirds.
The second game of the double header saw the Royals offense continue to struggle, but the bullpen combined to allow just one run in the seven inning affair. Dusty Hughes made a spot start and went four innings allowing three hits and one run. Yasuhiko Yabuta got the win after pitching two innings of shutout ball, and Greg Atencio recorded his second save of the season.
Scott Thorman provided all the offense the Royals would need when he hit a two run homer in the fifth inning. This was on the heels of the Sounds only run of the game, scored in the bottom of the fourth.
The final game of the series, and short road trip saw Heath Phillips follow up his complete game a week ago by getting shelled for six runs over six innings, including three home runs. Brendan Katin continued his hot start to the season for Nashville with two of those three homers.
Scott Thorman continued his prodigious power display since joining Omaha, with two solo home runs in a losing cause. Over his last ten games, Thorman has hit .314 with six home runs and 10 RBI after starting his stint with the Royals on a zero for eight slide.
Mario Lisson also hit his first home run as a Royal, but is still struggling since being called up, hitting over .185 at the AAA level.
Nashville’s Tim Dillard wasn’t dominant, but pitched well enough to pick up his seventh win of the season, against just two losses.
Most of the Royals struggled at the plate during the series, including Kila Ka’aihue, who was just 2-13 with a double, no home runs, and no RBI. Cory Aldridge also continued his struggles, going 1-8 in the series, and is hitting just .194 over his last 10 games.
Omaha returns home for a seven day, eight game stint against the Round Rock Express, and the Nashville Sounds. The four game set against Nashville will feature yet another double header, the fourth double header the two teams will already have played against each other this season.
Omaha is 7-5 against Nashville, but still sits 4.5 games behind the in the standings after a difficult month of May which saw the Royals go 12-19. There are few teams in the PCL happier to be turning the calendar over.
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