Royals vs. Iowa, 7:05 p.m. at Rosenblatt

TONIGHT: The Royals host the Iowa Cubs in a 7:05 p.m. game at Rosenblatt Stadium. It's game 2 of a crucial 5-game series in the battle for 1st place in the American North division. Omaha leads this series 1-0 and leads the season series 9-3. The Royals are 3-2 on this 13-game home stand. It's Teacher Appreciation Night and Thirsty Thursday, when fans enjoy $1 beers and Cokes, courtesy of 96.1 The Brew, Action 3 News and The Reader! Teacher Appreciation Night is presented by Oriental Trading Company, who is giving away over $2,700 in back-to-school prizes. The pre-game show is on the air at 6:45 p.m. on Omaha's KOIL AM-1180 and at www.oroyals.com.

LAST NIGHT: Omaha 1st baseman Scott Thorman smashed a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 11th inning to break a scoreless tie and lift the Royals to a 2-0 victory over Iowa. The dramatic win left the Royals within 1.5 games of 1st-place Iowa. Through 10.2 innings, Omaha batters managed only 3 hits off 5 Cubs pitchers. Iowa righty Jeff Stevens (0-2) walked Ed Lucas with 2 outs in the 11th. That brought up Thorman, who drove Stevens' 1-0 delivery over the right-center field wall for his 20th home run of the season. The walk-off shot made a winner of lefty Tim Collins (2-0), who allowed a 1-out walk and a 2-out single in the top of the 11th, but retired red-hot Iowa 3rd baseman Marquez Smith on a foul out to end the threat.

ROYALS REPORT: Omaha is still tied with Memphis for 2nd place in the division. The Redbirds downed Round Rock 3-1 last night at AutoZone Park in Memphis. *** The Royals have won 13 of 18 and 17 of the past 23 games. Meanwhile, in their last 16 contests, Iowa is 7-9. Omaha was 5.5 games out of 1st place prior to an August 3 win at Memphis and was in 4th place before winning at Portland on the 5th. *** The game-winning homer last night by Thorman was the 2nd walk-off shot this season by a Royals batter and both have come against the Cubs. On July 3, Rick Ankiel hit a game-winning home run with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th off Iowa righty Marco Carillo to give Omaha a 6-5 win in front of 23,657 fans. *** Prior to his dramatic homer Wednesday, Thorman had been 0-for-4 on the night, striking out twice. His 3rd round-tripper in the past 5 contests extended his hitting streak to 10 games. During the streak, his longest of the season, he's batting .341 (14-for-41) with 3 home runs and 12 RBI. He has driven in 17 runs in the last 15 tilts. *** Anthony Lerew last night logged his 4th straight dominant start for Omaha, tossing 7.0 shutout innings. He lowered his PCL-leading ERA to 2.72. In his last 4 outings he has allowed just 2 earned runs in 30.0 innings for a 0.60 ERA. *** Iowa batters collected 10 hits last night, but Cubs batters were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, leaving 14 men on base. Meanwhile, the Royals left 6 runners stranded and had 2 others thrown out at the plate in the 1st 4 innings. *** Mike Moustakas was named Wednesday as one of 5 finalists for the USA Today Minor League Players of the Year. The winner will be selected in an online vote at www.minorleagueplayers@usatoday and will be announced next month. The Royals 3rd baseman was 0-for-5 last night and is 1-for-12 in the past 3 games. That comes on the heels of a 12-game hitting streak, when he hit .370 (20-for-54) with 2 home runs and 9 RBI. *** Collins has picked up a win and 2 saves in his last 3 relief outings. In 10 games with Omaha, the 5-foot-7 prospect is 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA (1 ER in 16.0 IP) and 2 saves, notching 16 strikeouts in 16.0 innings. *** David Lough was 0-for-3 with a walk last night. He laid down his PCL-leading 16th sacrifice bunt in the 1st inning, following Jarrod Dyson's leadoff double. In 21 games this month, Lough is hitting .390 (32-for-82) with 5 doubles, 4 triples, 15 RBI and 14 runs. In his past 11 home contests, he's batting .523 (23-for-44) with 10 RBI and 11 runs. *** Ed Lucas and Lucas May both had hit strings snapped Wednesday. Lucas went 0-for-3 with 3 strikeouts and 2 walks ending a 7-gamer and May was 0-for-3 with a walk to halt his streak at 6. *** Louis Coleman pitched 3.0 scoreless innings last night. It was his 1st appearance vs. Iowa since he was roughed up by the Cubs in his Triple-A debut on July 2, when he gave up 3 runs on 4 hits in 1.0 inning. In 8 August outings, the former LSU star is 2-1 and owns a 1.84 ERA. *** Omaha has played in 18 extra-inning tilts this year, most in the PCL. The Royals are 9-9 in those games. Iowa is 5-5 in extra frames. *** Royals pitchers have posted 9 shutouts this season, 2nd most in the league to New Orleans, which has 10. Omaha has only been blanked 4 times, tied for 2nd-fewest in the PCL. The Royals have not been shutout since July 5 at New Orleans, a span of 50 games. *** Omaha last night improved to 18-16 in games decided in the last at-bat and 42-16 in games when the Royals play error-free.

STARTERS: RH Jeff Samardzija (10-2, 3.14) vs. RH Matt Herges (7-3, 4.38)

Herges makes his 4th consecutive start for Omaha, after making 37 relief appearances earlier this season. The 40-year old righty's last outing was last Saturday vs. Memphis, when he had a rocky start but got the win in a 12-7 victory (5.0 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR). He is 2-0 with a 5.79 ERA in the 3 starts, which are his 1st since the 2000 season, when Herges made 4 starts for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He took the rotation spot of Federico Castaneda, as the KC organization looks to limit his innings down the stretch. Herges is 3-0 with a 3.64 ERA in 10 games since the All-Star break, after going 4-3 with a 4.86 ERA in 30 games through July 11. He has no record and a 3.00 ERA in 3 relief appearances vs. Iowa, allowing 1 earned run in 3.0 innings. In 2009, Herges pitched for both the Cleveland Indians and Colorado Rockies at the big league and Triple-A levels for each organization. He was 3-1 with a 3.38 ERA in 30 Major League appearances, while going 4-4 with a 3.18 ERA in 24 Triple-A games. He has yet to pitch in the Majors this year for the 1st time in 12 seasons. Herges has posted a 43-35 record and a 3.91 ERA in 567 career big league games (4 starts). The 43 wins as a relief pitcher are tied for 9th with Eddie Guardado among all active pitchers. Herges became the 9th Giants pitcher to post 20 saves in a season in 2004, when he closed out 23 wins for San Francisco. In 2000, he tied former Royal Rick Ankiel, pitching for St. Louis at the time, for most wins among N.L. rookies with 11. This is the 19th season in professional baseball for Herges, who was signed by the Dodgers as a non-drafted free agent in 1992. He was signed out of Illinois State University, where he ranks 2nd on the school's all-time list in complete games (10). His brother-in-law is former Major League outfielder Todd Hollandsworth.

PROBABLES FOR REMAINDER OF SERIES:

Thur., 7:05 p.m.: RH Jeff Samardzija (10-2, 3.14) vs. RH Matt Herges (7-3, 4.38)

Fri., 7:05 p.m.: RH Jay Jackson (10-8, 4.27) vs. RH Brian Bannister (0-0, 0.00)

Sat., 7:05 p.m.: RH Austin Bibens-Dirkx (5-2, 3.98) vs. RH Luke Hochevar (0-0, --)

Sun., 1:35 p.m.: RH Chris Carpenter (0-0, 9.00) vs. LH Blaine Hardy (2-4, 3.12)