Minors matters: Shorebirds still winning, Walker still hitting homers

The Orioles Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds affiliate is on a real hot streak right now. After a doubleheader sweep of first-place Hagerstown on Monday, the Shorebirds are now 29-21. The Shorebirds produced a pair of comeback victories in that doubleheader. Delmarva erased a 6-0 deficit, coming up with a 7-6 walkoff win with three runs in the seventh in the opener. In the nightcap, Drew Dosch launched a tie-breaking home run in the sixth. Jimmy Yacabonis shut the door for his league-leading 12th save. Delmarva has won six in a row and 10 of 12. On May 6 the Shorebirds had a 13-17 record, but they are 16-4 since to get to eight games over .500. Delmarva is 12-1 in its last 13 home games. They might be a first-place team except they play in the same division as Hagerstown which is 35-15 and that is even after losing Monday's doubleheader. Delmarva has not had a winning home record since 2009 and this team is 19-7 at Perdue Stadium. Delmarva is 17-8 this month behind a pitching staff that posted an ERA of 2.18 in May to lower its season mark to 2.88. That is the best in the O's organization and second best in the South Atlantic League. Several of Delmarva's young hitters that are playing their first year of full season ball, are having good months at the plate. Trey Mancini is batting .367 in May with Dosch hitting .348, Mike Yastrzemski at .319 and Chance Sisco at .306. Yacabonis, the club's 13th-round pick last June, is 11-for-11 in save chances and has not been scored on this season. Over 18 scoreless innings he has given up six hits with 11 walks and 23 strikeouts. Meanwhile, Double-A Bowie's Christian Walker continues to hit homers. He hit two in Bowie's 15-7 win at Harrisburg on Monday. On the year, Walker is batting .330 with 14 homers, 45 RBIs and a .979 OPS. Walker has now hit four homers over his last five games and seven in the last 12 games. Last season he hit 11 homers for the year in 393 at-bats. Now he has 14 in 197 at-bats. Walker's 14 homers are tied for the most in all of Double-A baseball and only four players in all of the minors have hit more in 2014. In 24 games this month, Walker is batting .326 with nine homers, 26 RBIs, a .663 slugging percentage and 1.078 OPS. In a minor league roster move today, Bowie lefty pitcher Jason Gurka is moving to Triple-A Norfolk. Gurka is 2-1 with a 3.03 ERA for the Baysox. Over 35 2/3 innings he has allowed 30 hits with nine walks, 31 strikeouts and a .224 average against.