The Baysox and IronBirds both had excellent pitching in their wins, while the Tides and Shorebirds each suffered lopsided losses.
Triple-A: Memphis Redbirds (Cardinals) 10, Norfolk Tides 4
Cade Povich struggled in his latest rehab start and a Ryan Mountcastle three-run home run wasn’t enough to help the Tides overcome the Redbirds as they lost the series opener.
Povich’s outing started off as badly as possible, with Cardinals’ top prospect JJ Wetherholt taking him deep on the second pitch of the game after Povich left a sinker up an over the plate. The Redbirds’ next two batters after Wetherholt reached on catcher’s interference and a single before an RBI groundout doubled Memphis’ lead to 2-0.
Norfolk would take a brief lead thanks to the red hot Jeremiah Jackson and the RMC long ball. Jackson led off the 2nd with a double and then scored on a Vimael Machín single. Then, in the 3rd, Carter Young walked and Dylan Beavers singled to set the table for Mountcastle. After working a full count, Mounty got a slider over the plate and lined it over the left field wall to give Norfolk a 4-2 lead.
That lead was short lived, as Povich allowed five singles and a sac fly in the top of the 4th, allowing Memphis to take a 5-4 lead. The lefty would finish with a final line of 4.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R (4 ER), 0 BB and 3 K—by far the worst of his four rehab appearances.
Samuel Basallo had an uncharacteristically quite day for Norfolk, going 0-for-4 with 3 Ks. This 0-for came after Basallo went 6-for-10 over the weekend with a home run and two doubles.
Double-A: Chesapeake Baysox 6, New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Blue Jays) 1
Kyle Bradish pitched 3.2 shutout innings for the Baysox and the Chesapeake pitching staff shut down the Fisher Cats to earn a win in the series opener.
Win or lose Tuesday, the story out of Bowie was going to be about the second rehab start of the Orioles’ former ace and Bradish did not disappoint. After giving up one run over two innings last Thursday in Aberdeen, Bradish looked even sharper on Tuesday with the Baysox. He only threw one more pitch against the Fisher Cats (38 this week vs. 37 last week), but he pitched almost twice as many innings and only allowed one base runner.
Fastball velocity was a little down, sitting at 94-95 most of the night as opposed to being more in the 96-97 range last week with the IronBirds. The lower velocity may have been an attempt by Bradish to focus on control and it showed in his increased efficiency. Those at the game also reported his curveball looked sharp, as he used the big breaking ball to pick up both of his strikeouts.
Offensively, the Baysox were buoyed by No. 9 hitter Jalen Vasquez. The infielder got Chesapeake on the board first in the 2nd, blasting a two-run homer to center field. Vasquez would help Chesapeake double that advantage in the 4th, doubling home Douglas Hodo III before scoring on a Jordyn Adams single.
The final big blow from the Baysox came via the recently promoted Aron Estrada. The Orioles No. 19 prospect made his Double-A debut Tuesday and announced his presence by blasting a solo home run in the 5th to give Chesapeake a 6-0 lead.
High-A: Aberdeen IronBirds 9, Bowling Green Hot Rods (Rays) 1
The IronBirds scored eight runs in the 8th inning to break open a pitchers duel and take Game 1 against the Hot Rods.
Early on, the story of the game for Aberdeen was the dominance of starter Michael Forret and the IronBirds bullpen. Forret, the Orioles’ No. 6 prospect, set down the first five batters he faced and punched out three over 2.1 innings of work.
The IronBrids continue to be cautious with Forret, only pitching him once per week and often only asking him to pitch three innings, but the results are hard to ignore. The 2.1 scoreless innings lowered his season ERA to 1.78 and has 65 Ks in 50.2 IP.
Aberdeen took an early lead thanks to some small ball in the 2nd. Anderson De Los Santos and the recently promoted Yasmil Bucce hit back-to-back singles and De Los Santos scored on an Elis Cuevas single. Bowling Green would tie the game at 1-1 thanks to a trio of singles in the 4th, setting the stage for Aberdeen’s explosive rally in the 8th.
Cuevas started the top of the 8th by singling to left, stealing second and then moving to third on a sac bunt. Griff O’Ferrall singled home Cuevas to give Aberdeen a 2-1 lead, and then immediately scored on an Austin Overn two-run homer to but Aberdeen up 4-1.
De Los Santos almost ended the rally on a grounder to short, but reached thanks to a fielding error. Bucce then walked to load the bases and give the IronBirds the perfect opportunity for some insurance runs. Similar to the start of the inning, Jake Cunningham singled to score two more runs, before Cuevas batted for the second time in the inning and blasted a three-run homer to break the game open.
Low-A: Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (White Sox) 11, Delmarva Shorebirds 2
The Cannon Ballers jumped on the Shorebirds pitching staff early and often, and the Delmarva bats couldn’t help them climb out of the hole in Tuesday’s loss.
It was a rough series opener for Keeler Morfe, the Orioles’ No. 9 prospect, and first man out of the bullpen, Carlos Tavera. Morfe, the 5’8” flamethrower from Venezuela, struggled mightily with his command and finished with a final line of 2.0 IP, 2 H, 5 ER, 5 BB and 1 K. Tavera wasn’t any better, going 1.1 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 1 BB and 2 K.
Jack Crowder was the only bright spot for the Delmarva pitching staff on Tuesday. The O’s 9th round pick from the 2024 draft took got mop up duty, and performed admirably, lasting 4.1 innings, with 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB and 7 K. It continues a breakout month for Crowder in July, as the 23-year-old right-hander out of Illinois has a 3.06 ERA this month with 29 Ks in 17.2 IP.
Offensively, the Shorebirds only runs came via a Raylin Ramos RBI single in the 2nd and a double steal of second base and home in the 3rd. The Shorebirds finished the game with no extra-base hits, just four singles and went 2-for-10 with RISP.
Wednesday’s Scheduled Games
Norfolk Tides vs. Memphis Redbirds, 6:35pm ET (Cameron Weston vs. Aaron Wilkerson)
Chesapeake Baysox vs. New Hampshire Fisher Cats, 12:05pm ET (Tyler Wells vs. Grant Rogers)
Aberdeen IronBirds at Bowling Green Hot Rods, 7:35pm ET (Sebastian Gongora vs. Gary Gill Hill)
Delmarva Shorebirds at Kannapolis Cannon Ballers, 7:00pm ET (Wellington Aracena vs. Juston Sinibaldi)