Comparing some Triple-A numbers for Alvarez and Lake, Aberdeen's All-Stars and more

Some fans have asked why the Orioles added outfielder Junior Lake on Friday and not Dariel Alvarez instead from Triple-A Norfolk. I am not certain exactly what the O's thinking was on this, but Lake has had a better year overall on the stat sheet than Alvarez. However, Lake has had just 197 at-bats this year at Triple-A to 443 for Alvarez.

Here is a comparison of the players this year in the minors:

Lake: .315/.404/.472 with seven homers, 31 RBIs and .876 OPS
Alvarez: .269/.297/.418 with 14 homers, 64 RBIs and .715 OPS.

Lake this year hit .303 with an OPS of .842 versus lefty pitchers and .321/.894 against right-handers. Alvarez has hit .288/.781 versus lefties and is at .261/.688 against right-handers.

Alvarez had a huge month of June, when his slash line was .340/.360/.594. In July, those numbers were .291/.310/.400. Alvarez is 4-for-30 in August. It was of course going to be hard for him to keep up that torrid June pace.

I would expect we see Alvarez this year in the majors, perhaps as a September call-up, maybe earlier, but I can also see why the team promoted Lake on Friday.

In the minors last night: Indianapolis beat Triple-A Norfolk 6-5 for the second night in a row. And for the second straight night Norfolk scored three in the ninth, but came up a run short.

Terry Doyle gave up four runs in 5 1/3 to take the loss. Julio Borbon and Rey Navarro had three hits each, and Henry Urrutia hit a solo homer. With the loss, Norfolk (65-47) now trails Indianapolis (67-48) by one game for the best record in the International League. The setback also clinched a series loss for the Tides - their first series defeat since the All-Star break.

Double-A Bowie blanked New Hampshire 2-0 to go to 63-49. Winning pitcher Joe Gunkel gave up three hits over 6 2/3 innings with two walks and seven strikeouts. He is 8-3 with an ERA of 2.89 and the Baysox are 9-3 in his starts. Mychal Givens, in his first outing since returning from Baltimore, pitched two perfect innings on 29 pitches with two strikeouts. He lowered his Bowie ERA to 1.73 and picked up his 15th save. Trey Mancini had two more hits, going 2-for-4, and is batting .362 with an eight-game hitting streak.

Single-A Frederick won 2-1 at Myrtle Beach as right-hander David Hess won again. The Orioles' fifth-round draft pick in 2014, Hess allowed five hits and one run over six innings to improve to 7-4 with a 3.86 ERA. Garrett Cortright pitched two scoreless and Donnie Hart pitched the ninth to record his first save with Frederick.

Hess has been on a nine-start roll for the Keys. In that span, he is 5-0 with a 1.42 ERA, and the Keys have won eight of those nine Hess starts.

Single-A Delmarva was held to two hits in a 5-0 loss at Hagerstown. Brian Gonzalez allowed four runs in five innings to fall to 4-8 with an ERA of 5.47.

Short season Single-A Aberdeen lost 5-1 to Tri-City. DJ Stewart and Alejandro Juvier went 2-for-4 each for the IronBirds. The rookie level Gulf Coast League Orioles beat the Rays 6-3. Outfielder Jaylen Ferguson went 2-for-4 with a triple, a homer and four RBIs.

Aberdeen shortstop Ricardo Andujar and right-handed reliever Ryan Meisinger have been selected to play in the New York-Penn League All-Star Game. Aberdeen will host the contest on Aug. 18 at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium.

Andujar is batting .283 with two homers and 15 RBIs in 36 games. Meisinger, the Orioles' 11th-round pick this year out of Radford, is 0-0 with six saves and a 1.50 ERA. Meisinger is from Dunkirk, Md. and played at Northern High School. He led the college ranks with 17 saves this season while pitching for Radford.

O's are 3-2 on the trip: Ubaldo Jimenez provided the Orioles with a big effort last night, throwing eight scoreless innings in the 5-0 win over the Angels. The win, the Orioles' 10th in 14 games, moved them to within five games of the American League East lead and two games of the second wild card spot, currently held by the Angels.

The Orioles are 3-2 on this west coast trip, outscoring their opponents 25-18 with a .301 batting average and seven home runs. Today, they look for another series win on this trip as Miguel Gonzalez (9-8, 4.32 ERA) pitches against Los Angeles right-hander Jered Weaver (4-8, 4.75 ERA).