Even without Machado, Delmarva Shorebirds are still winning

Even without Manny Machado, the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds are still winning. They are 3-0 since a knee injury last Thursday sent him to the disabled list. Catcher Michael Ohlman led the Shorebirds to their latest win on Sunday at Asheville going 4-for-4 with Delmarva's first grand slam since August 2008 when Tyler Henson hit one. Ohlman connected in the sixth inning as part of a career-best, five-RBI day. Over his last six games, the 20-year-old Ohlman, an 11th-round pick in 2009 out of Bradenton, Fla., is 10-for-21 with two homers and nine RBIs. Since starting the year at 5-9, Delmarva has won 14 of 16 games and is one game out of first place. Delmarva has won four straight series for the first time since 2007. Outfielder Kipp Schutz has maintained his fast start and is second in the league in RBIs (25) and fourth in batting (.377). The Shorebirds begin a series tonight in Hagerstown versus the Bryce Harper-led Suns, who are 9-1 over their last 10 games. After winning in 13 innings Sunday, Single-A Frederick is another hot club. The Keys have won six in a row and are in first place at 16-13. They are off today and begin a road trip at Lynchburg on Tuesday. After another good outing yesterday, Keys right-hander Oliver Drake is 2-0 with a 1.14 ERA that is first in the Carolina League. Ryan O'Shea is 2-1 with a 1.95 ERA that is fourth best in the league. Double-A Bowie is 15-15 and tied for first in a bunched-up division where six teams are seperated by one game from first to last place. The Baysox host Richmond tonight to start a seven-game homestand. Outfielder Xavier Avery went seven games without a stolen base until getting one Sunday. His 16 steals still lead the league. He is on a pace to steal 71 bases, which would break the club record of 59 set by Curtis Goodwin in 1994. Second baseman Greg Miclat is 8-for-21 during a five-game hitting streak for Bowie and outfielder Kyle Hudson is 5-for-15 with a pair of doubles since moving up from Frederick. Norfolk is 12-18 so far. But since a 3-13 start, the Tides have won nine of 14 games. Norfolk is batting .243 as a team with a club ERA of 4.67. Nolan Reimold homered Saturday and his bat seems to be slowly heating up. He's hitting .245-4-15 over 28 games. Ryan Adams is batting .304 but is crushing left-handed pitching. Adams is batting .552 (16-for-29) versus southpaws.