Appalachian League notebook
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Orioles went 1-4 with a postponement, losing two games to neighboring Princeton at the start of the week. Bluefield is in third place, 7.5 games behind front-running Danville in the East Division.
PACK YOUR BAGS: The Orioles are in a stretch of 10 consecutive road games.
HERE'S SOME RELIEF: LHP Robert Holloway pitched 8 1/3 innings of shutout relief over two outings. He struck out eight and walked one during that stretch. ... RHP David Walters had his first solid outing with the Orioles when he pitched 3 1/3 shutout innings of relief against Princeton on July 29.
Bristol Sox (Chicago White Sox)
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Sox went 1-2 in a three-game series against visiting Danville, scoring only one run in each game. Two of those games were part of a doubleheader as Bristol was rained out four straight nights. The Sox fell 12 games behind first-place Elizabethton in the West Division.
STARTING AGAIN: OF Brady Shoemaker's career-opening hitting streak ended at 28 games Saturday, when he went 0-for-3 against Danville lefty Chris Masters in the first game of a home doubleheader. Shoemaker was back at it in the nightcap, going 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.
GOOD TIMING: SS Kyle Davis went seven consecutive games without an RBI before his walk-off single in the ninth inning against Danville on Saturday.
STOPPING BY: RHP Freddy Garcia needed just 45 pitches to work five shutout innings in a rehab start against Danville.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Our pitching was outstanding. ... Plus, our defense played well. When you do that, you're going to be in ballgames. We were able to do that long enough to give us a chance to score, and it was outstanding." -- Sox manager Ryan Newman to the Bristol Herald Courier after a ninth-inning run gave Bristol a 1-0 victory over Danville.
Burlington Royals (Kansas City Royals)
WEEK IN REVIEW: Facing division leaders Danville and Elizabethton, the Royals went 1-5 on the week and fell 15.5 games behind the Braves in the East. Burlington snapped a six-game losing streak by beating Elizabethton on the road Saturday.
NEWS & NOTES: RHP Carlos Fortuna, who had barely pitched the past couple weeks because of rainouts and rain delays, limited Elizabethton to three hits while striking out seven in five innings Saturday. It was his longest outing in more than a month and snapped a personal streak of four straight losses. ... OF Jovan Pickett went 4-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base in a home loss to Danville. Though he often occupied the lead-off spot and batted .405 in his last 10 games, he scored only four runs during that span.
MAKING THE MOST: 3B Gerard Hall played two games with Burlington after signing as a free agent. In the second of those appearances, he fouled a ball off his right foot but, after receiving attention from the trainer, stayed in the game to complete the ninth-inning at-bat against Danville. He responded with a double, hobbling into second base before departing for a pinch-runner. After the game he learned he had a broken ankle and would miss the rest of the season.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "We need to look at ourselves and find the problem ... and turn the season around." -- RHP Jaeson Hudnall to the Burlington Times-News as the team copes with the distinction of owning the worst record in the league with a month to play.
Danville Braves (Atlanta Braves)
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Braves went 5-1 and hold a two-game lead on Princeton in the East Division.
KEEP IT SIMPLE: The Braves never gave up more than four runs during the week. In the final four of those games, the Braves held opponents to no more than one run.
ALMOST PERFECT: RHP Julio Teheran held a perfect game through two outs in the sixth inning against Burlington in an eight-inning outing that included 11 strikeouts. ... LHP Chris Masters worked into the ninth inning before giving up an unearned run in a 1-0 loss at Bristol, though he did put a halt to OF Brady Shoemaker's career-opening 28-game hitting streak.
ON THE BALL: OF L.V. Ware went 6-for-11 in a three-game road series against Bristol.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Julio Teheran has been a dominating pitcher all year. He had plus command and his stuff was phenomenal. He's becoming a polished pitcher. His mound presence is beyond his years." -- Braves manager Paul Runge.
Elizabethton Twins (Minnesota Twins)
WEEK IN REVIEW: The E-Twins went 2-1 in three games against visiting Burlington after a three-game home series with second-place Johnson City was rained out. The Twins lead the West Division by seven games.
KEEPING IT CLOSE: Both of the E-Twins' victories came by a margin of one run. They've won four straight one-run games and are 7-5 overall in that situation.
WHO'S HOT: 3B Anderson Hidalgo played in two of the team's three games during the past week, racking up two hits, four RBIs and four walks. In four games against Burlington this season, Hidalgo has at least one RBI in each contest and seven overall.
Greeneville Astros (Houston Astros)
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Astros went 0-3, losing three games to visiting Kingsport by an average of nearly seven runs per contest. This came after a three-game series at Bristol was rained out. Greeneville sits 11 games behind first-place Elizabethton in the West Division.
WHO'S HOT: RHP Joan Belliard pitched three shutout innings of relief against Kingsport. He had five strikeouts, three more than he had in any of his previous nine outings.
SETTLING IN: Greeneville is in a stretch of 12 home games in a 10-day period, in part because of a rained-out series at Bristol.
Johnson City Cardinals (St. Louis Cardinals)
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Cardinals went 2-1 in a home series with Bluefield, putting them in second place and seven games behind Elizabethton in the West Division. Before the Bluefield series, Johnson City was rained out on five of six nights.
WHO'S HOT: 3B Richard Racobaldo has built a 15-game hitting streak. During the stretch, he had four consecutive two-hit games.
GETTING IT DONE: RHP Jesse Simpson has won his last two outings, including five shutout innings against Bluefield on Sunday. He has notched two of the team's three victories over a two-week period.
Kingsport Mets (New York Mets)
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Mets went 3-0, sweeping Greeneville on the road after three rainouts. They remain in last place, 13.5 games behind first-place Elizabethton in the West Division.
WHO'S HOT: 3B Richard Lucas batted .400 in a 10-game stretch. He went 5-for-10 with six runs scored in the Greeneville series. ... C John Freeman went 7-for-10 with three doubles in the first two games and finished 8-for-15 in the series. He had only 10 hits in his previous 74 at-bats this season.
AWAY FROM HOME-WORK: The Mets have won six games at Greeneville this season, two more victories than they have at home all season. Kingsport completed Saturday night's 17-7 victory at Greeneville with the benefit of only one home run.
WAITING HIS TURN: With a series of rainouts wreaking havoc on the rotation, LHP Chris Hilliard went more than a week between appearances. He must have been rusty, because he turned in his worst outing Saturday, surrendering three runs over three innings in a no-decision at Greeneville. "He has been our most consistent pitcher from day one, getting out there and challenging hitters." -- Mets manager Mike DiFelice to the Kingsport Times-News. Hilliard is 2-2 with a 2.90 ERA.
Princeton Rays (Tampa Bay Rays)
WEEK IN REVIEW: A perfect 5-0 week pulled the Rays within two games of East Division leader Danville. Princeton has won seven in a row, including a three-game sweep at Pulaski.
WHO'S HOT: 1B Ryan Wiegand batted 12-for-21 during the week, raising his average to .374. The recent surge included a two-homer game at Pulaski. ... 3B Julio Cedeno had a four-hit and a three-hit game during the week. ... RHP Joey Callender tossed 5 1/3 shutout innings across two outings.
HIT 'EM WHEN THEY COUNT: OF Ty Morrison had a 3-for-17 week, but one of those hits was a decisive three-run homer in the eighth inning Sunday at Pulaski.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Our pitching staff really picked us up when we were not hitting well. We played a lot of low-scoring, one-run games. Our pitching kept us in it and is what got us to this point in the season." -- Rays manager Jared Sandberg to the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. His team holds a league-best 3.09 ERA.
Pulaski Mariners (Seattle Mariners)
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Mariners lost three straight games to visiting Princeton, including a doubleheader, after four rainouts. The fourth-place Mariners fell nine games behind Danville in the East Division.
HITTING HAVEMEN: OF Brandon Haveman had a nine-game hitting streak stopped Sunday against Princeton. He had multi-hit performances in four of those games.
CALL HIM CONSISTENT: 3B Vincent Catricala leads the Mariners with 23 RBIs, shares the team lead with six home runs and tops the club with 12 walks.
Bob Sutton is a contributor to MLB.com.