Chasers win a crazy one

Irving Falu hit his first home run of the season
(Photo: Minda Haas / Royal Blues)

It was a crazy night at Werner Park. With a stiff wind blowing out to left field and the heat index over 100 degrees at first pitch, home runs were sure to follow.

Boy did they – nine total.

The Chasers hit five and the Albuquerque Isotopes hit four. Kila Ka’aihue, Lorenzo Cain, Johnny Giavotella, Mike Aviles and Irving Falu each homered in front of 6,516 fans, enroot to an 18-13 win.

The big inning of the night was the bottom of the sixth, which began with Omaha trailing 12-8. The Chasers sent 12 men to the plate in the frame, with Aviles getting things started with a one out solo homer, his eighth long ball in 19 games with the Chasers. Eight batters later, No. 9 hitter Falu – without a home run to his credit all season – belted a three-run blast onto the right field berm to make it 16-12 Omaha.

The 18 runs, five homers and eight-run inning were all season highs for the Chasers, as were the 10 walks the Omaha pitching staff allowed. Starter Vin Mazzaro came away with a no-decision, despite allowing eight runs on eight hits with six walks in four-plus innings.

Three Storm Chasers headed to the All-Star Game

Luis Mendoza leads the PCL with a 2.75 ERA
(Photo: Gage Matthews / Kings of Kauffman)

Johnny Giavotella, Clinton Robinson and Luis Mendoza will represent the Omaha Storm Chasers and the Pacific Coast League at the 2011 Triple-A All-Star Game in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, July 13. They will play the International League All-Stars.

Giavotella, 23, is hitting .323 with 5 home runs and 53 RBIs. The second baseman has been hitting primarily out of the number two hole. He leads the team in hits with 105 and he has 22 doubles to go along with nine stolen bases. The only knock against him is his defense, but he does currently rank third in fielding percentage among second baseman in the league and manager Mike Jirschele has seen improvement from Giavotella.

Ka'aihue blast keeps Chasers in first place

Kila Ka'aihue smashed a grand slam home run
in the bottom of the ninth to win the game
(Photo: Minda Haas / Royal Blues)

Looking like their 65-day grip on first place was about to come loose, the Omaha Storm Chasers pulled together a late rally and stunned the second-place Memphis Redbirds 6-2 Tuesday afternoon at Werner Park.

Kila Ka’aihue delivered the knockout blow with a two out, bottom-of-the-ninth, grand slam home run on a 3-1 pitch. It was the first home plate celebration in Werner Park history.

The two-out rally in the bottom of the eighth was the catalyst to the comeback, sparked by an opposite field double by Clint Robinson. After Joaquin Arias pinch ran and Ka’aihue was walked intentionally, Lorenzo Cain laid off a couple tough pitches before dropping a single into shallow right field to tie the score at 2-2. Robinson and Cain each entered the game hitless in their last four contests, but had a pair of hits in this one.

Omaha and Memphis split twin bill

Manny Pina homered, doubled and walked in game one
(Photo: Gage Matthews, Kings of Kauffman)

The Omaha Storm Chasers and Memphis Redbirds split a sun-soaked doubleheader Monday afternoon at Werner Park, with the Chasers (42-37) taking game one 2-1 and Memphis (41-37) rallying to win game two 5-2. The seven-inning contests were played in front of 6,917 fans, the most-ever to watch day baseball at Werner Park.

Game one was a tidy 2-1 victory for the Storm Chasers, backed by yet another solid outing from veteran Jeff Suppan. The 36-year-old righthander improved his record to 7-4 on the season, with wins in each of his past three starts and 10-consecutive outings without a defeat. Jesse Chavez came on with a runner on in the seventh, retiring all three batters he faced to earn his ninth save.

The Royalman Report

Thanks goes out to Troy Olsen and Michael Engel at the Royalman Report for having me as a guest last night. I had a great time talking Omaha Storm Chasers baseball. If you missed it, you can listen to it below:



You can also download it here and listen to it later.

Omaha Storm Chasers on Cox Cable today

Omaha (41-36) will play a double header today with Memphis (40-36) to make up for the game that was postponed between the two clubs yesterday. Omaha leads Memphis by a half a game in the PCL American North headed into play.

Pitching match ups:

Game 1: RHP P.J. Walters (6-3, 4.55) @ RHP Jeff Suppan (6-4, 5.11)
Game 2: RHP Brandon Dickson (3-7, 3.95) @ RHP Sean O’Sullivan (0-1, 15.43)

Time Warner Cable Metro Sports will broadcast today’s first game beginning at 12:05 p.m. The game can be found on Cox Cable channel 2 in Omaha, Time Warner Cable Ch. 310 Digital in Lincoln and Time Warner Cable HD 1310 and Digital 310 in Kansas City.

UPDATE: Time Warner Cable Metro Sports will televise GAME TWO of the doubleheader between the Omaha Storm Chasers and Memphis Redbirds today, beginning at 2:30 p.m. Originally, game one (12:05 p.m.) was to be aired.

Cleto outduels Davies in Redbirds win

Kyle Davies went 7 innings, allowing just 4 hits,
striking out nine. (File Photo: Lee Warren)

Memphis starter Maikel Cleto shook off a leadoff home run by Mike Aviles in the bottom of the first inning, flashing an upper-90s fastball and a devastating curveball in a 3-1 Memphis win in front of 8,658 fans Saturday night at Werner Park.

He out-dueled Omaha starter Kyle Davies, who matched the youngster pitch-for-pitch but suffered the loss thanks to a pair of Storm Chasers throwing errors.

Cleto (1-0) fired 7.1 excellent innings in his Triple-A debut – though he previously made two appearances in the big leagues with St. Louis this season. The 22-year-old Dominican allowed just one run on four hits, struck out nine and did not walk a batter. His dominating performance marked another key milestone in his time with the St. Louis organization after being acquired from Seattle for infielder Brendan Ryan in the offseason.

Three-run first is enough for Nashville

Kevin Pucetas had a rough first inning but he
recovered to toss four scoreless innings
(Photo: Lee Warren)

Chase Wright spun 7 2/3 solid innings and Mat Gamel homered to lead the Sounds to a 3-2 victory over Omaha Friday night in the last of a five-game set at Greer Stadium.

The Storm Chasers wound up going 4-5 on their road trip to Round Rock and Nashville and return home at 41-35 – still leading the PCL American North by 1.5 games.

Gamel's two-run homer capped a three-run first inning rally for the Sounds, who struck in their initial at-bat for the second time in the series. Storm Chasers starter Kevin Pucetas recovered from the rough opening frame to finish his night with four scoreless innings before departing the hill but did suffer the loss after yielding three runs on five hits.

Clint Robinson's fielder's choice grounder in the fourth got the visitors on the board before the Storm Chasers couldn't fully take advantage of a big opportunity in the sixth.

Three singles loaded the bases with nobody out for Robinson, who grounded into a force play at the plate. Kila Ka'aihue followed with a single that plated Mike Aviles to trim the lead to 3-2 but Johnny Giavotella was thrown out at the plate attempting to score the tying run.

Omaha powers past Nashville

Cody Clark (Photo: Lee Warren)

Cody Clark and Mike Aviles slugged solo home runs in a decisive four-run seventh inning to power Omaha past Nashville, 8-2, Thursday night in the fourth of a five-game set at Greer Stadium.

The Storm Chasers quieted the Sounds for a ninth time in 11 meetings to improve to 41-34 and increase their lead to 1 1/2 games over Memphis in the American Conference North Division. 

Lance Zawadzki smashed a two-run home run in the second to put the Chasers ahead 2-0 and extend his hitting streak to 14 games, the longest for any Omaha hitter this season.