With a knuckleballer, sometimes the baseball does strange things and that was the case last night for Albuquerque pitcher Charlie Haeger. The LA Dodger on rehab assignment walked eight batters and gave up seven runs in the first five innings as the Omaha Royals jumped out to an 11-3 lead and held on for an 11-8 win. Omaha drew 12 walks in all and moved to within one game of Memphis at the top of their division.
Kansas City Royals outfielder Rick Ankiel, with Omaha on a rehab assignment, led the Royals offense with three hits and three RBIs. Ankiel hit his second homer in as many nights, a two-run shot off Haeger (0-1) to give the Royals a 4-1 lead in the fourth inning.
Haeger, set a franchise record by walking eight Royals batters in just 4.2 innings. Kila Ka’aihue and Alex Gordon combined to walk seven times.
Royals starter Bryan Bullington pitched six innings, allowing three runs to improve to 3-0 on the season.