GUERRA, Dominican Republic-The Kansas City Royals Dominican prospects scored four times in the seventh inning to break a 3-3 tie and held on for a 7-3 win as Dominican Summer League action continued.
The juniors had pulled even with the Royals in the top half of the seventh when pinch runner Royce Ando (Mississauga, ON) scored on a passed ball with the bases loaded, but reliever Matt Ianni (Ottawa, ON) got into trouble in the bottom of the inning loading the bases before unleashing a wild pitch to score one, while a fielder’s choice put the Royals in front by two.
Alexis Lavergne (Gatineau, QC) took over for Ianni with one out in the seventh and things didn’t get much better with another run coming in on a wild pitch before the fourth Royals run of the inning scored on an error at second base with two out.
Lavergne, who made his Junior National Team debut today, settled in for the eighth striking out one batter, getting a groundout before he allowed a single that saw the runner get thrown out at second trying to stretch it into a double.
The juniors had opened the scoring in the top of the first taking advantage of a pair of Royals errors to get runners on the corners for Mitch Robinson (Surrey, BC) who delivered a double to left field that scored two.
Robinson also singled in the fourth collecting two of the Junior National Team’s six hits on the afternoon.
In the bottom half of the first, the Royals answered right back hitting four singles off of starter Kyle Ross (Maple Ridge, BC) with runs scoring on two of them.
They added another run off Ross in the fourth coming after a double scored on a RBI single and he finished his five inning outing giving up three runs, scattering nine hits, walking one batter, while he also struck out one batter.
For the juniors, the chance to score runs when opportunities presented themselves haunted them on the afternoon as they left 11 runners on base and grounded into double-plays with one out and the bases loaded on two occasions.
In the eighth, JF Garon (Terrebonne, QC) led-off with a double that got to the fence in left field and moved to third base on a groundout, but the juniors were unable to cash him in.
Other JNT hits came off the bats of Andrew Yerzy (North York, ON), Demi Orimoloye (Orleans, ON) and Luke Horanski (Dugald, MB).
Up Next: Today’s loss puts the juniors’ record in the Dominican Summer League tour at 1-4 with seven games to go on the schedule…The DSL tour kicks into high gear tomorrow as the juniors face a doubleheader tomorrow with games scheduled for 10:30am ET and 2:30pm ET against DSL clubs from the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees…RHP Mike Soroka (Calgary, AB) is scheduled to start against the Rays in the morning, while JP Stevenson (Hunter River, PE) will get the ball for the afternoon contest against the Yankees… You can receive live updates from both games by following @Team_C_Updates on Twitter.
Twitter: @baseballcanada / @Team_C_Updates
