Checking in on the minors

The Orioles four minor league affiliates are off to a combined 21 and 10 start. That is tied with Cleveland for the best combined minor league record in baseball right now. Norfolk: The Tides are 4-4 and have scored 15 runs in winning two in a row. Troy Patton pitches tonight at Durham. Josh Bell is hitting .214 and Brandon Snyder is at .200. Rhyne Hughes is 10 for 25 during a seven-game hitting streak. He's batting .400, 4th best in the league. Norfolk starters ERA is 2.97. Tides catchers have thrown out just three of 13 stealing bases. Bowie: The Baysox are 7-1 which ties the 1997 team (Sidney Ponson and David Delucci were on that club) for their best eight-game record ever. No Baysox team has ever been 8-1. Tonight, Ryhoei Tanaka pitches for the Sox at Akron. Baysox pitching has allowed just nine runs during a six-game win streak. Robbie Widlansky is batting .500 with a five-game hit streak. Frederick: Joe Mahoney has a league-leading 12 RBI as the Keys are 4-3. The Keys have outscored their opponents 18-1 from the 7th inning on. Nate Nery pitches for Frederick at home tonight vs. Lynchburg. Delmarva: The Shorebirds are 6-2 and play their home opener tonight vs. Hagerstown. Delmarva is plating seven runs per game and has 43 extra-base hits on the season. Steven Bumbry is 10 for 23 during a six-game hitting streak and Garabez Rosa is 8 for 16 during a four-gamer. Birds' starters have worked to an ERA of 2.61 and reliever James Brandhorst has pitched 13 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings dating to last year. Jesse Beal, a 19-year-old righty, pitches for Delmarva tonight. Today's roster moves: OF Jacob Julius activated by Frederick off Aberdeen's roster and SS Greg Miclat goes on the DL with a nose injury. He could be back in a week. IF Mike Mooney goes from Delmarva to Frederick and Keys IF Jason White goes on the temporary inactive list. To replace Mooney on its roster, Delmarva added IF Tyler Stampone off Aberdeen's roster.