Down On The Farm: May 19

Sale has taken just 12 games to take over the team lead for home runs, and he's already set a career high. I don't know what he's doing differently this year, but I'm sure the organization is thrilled about it.

AAA Durham Bulls (17-26)

Durham's four-run 8th inning gave them a 6-5 comeback win over Pawtucket. Down 5-2 and having not scored since the 1st inning, the Bulls took advantage of two Jose Iglesias errors to complete the big comeback. His second error of the inning allowed Henry Wrigley to score the first run of the inning. Reliever Junichi Tazawa struck out Shawn O'Malley for the second out, but pinch hitter Juan Miranda walked to load the bases. Jesus Feliciano hit a bases clearing triple to give Durham the lead. In the 9th, Pawtucket put the tying run on base in the 9th, but Brandon Gomes struck out the side to earn the save. Hideki Matsui was 0/3 with a walk, but he did play the field for the first time. Durham fans were treated to vintage Chris Archer when he struck out nine and allowed four runs on seven hits and four walks in 4.2 innings.

AA Montgomery Biscuits (21-22)

Montgomery used a pair of three-run innings to coast to a 7-3 win over Birmingham. Jake Thompson allowed three runs over the first two innings, but three Biscuits pitchers threw seven scoreless to finish the game. Thompson struck out six in six innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits and two walks. In the second inning, Omar Luna tripled home a pair of runs, and Emeel Salem followed with a double to score Luna. Four innings later, Montgomery took the lead for good with their second three run inning, highlighted by a run scoring squeeze bunt by Hak-Ju Lee. Lee reached base twice and stole his 11th and 12th bases of the seasons. Luna and Salem each had two hit games and both drove in a couple runs.

High-A Charlotte Stone Crabs (20-20)

C.J. Riefenhauser's dominance of the Florida State League continued in Charlotte's 2-0 win. He threw six more scoreless innings, striking out nine, walking none and only allowing three hits. He's now pitched 26 innings without allowing an earned run, and in that span he's only allowed two unearned runs. They scored their first run in the first inning when Hector Guevara scored on a wild pitch. Two innings later, the rehabbing Brandon Allen hit a solo home run to extend the lead to two. Allen was 1/4 with a walk as Charlotte's DH. Guevara had a two hit game, and Keith Castillo chipped in three singles. Victor Mateo pitched in relief of Riefenhauser, striking out three in three perfect innings to earn the save.

Low-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (23-19)

Josh Sale's scorching start continued, but it wasn't enough as Bowling Green fell 3-2 to Dayton. Sale homered for the second consecutive game, and he now has three in his last four games and leads the team with five on the year. Bowling Green's other run came an inning earlier in the 5th when Tyler Goeddel's single brought home Alejandro Segovia. Jake Partridge made his first start of the season for the Hot Rods and wasn't bad. He allowed just an unearned run in four innings on five hits and a walk and struck out three. Charlie Cononie let the lead slip away in the 7th, allowing two runs, only one of which was earned due to Goeddel's second error of the game. It was a sloppy game for the Hot Rods with as many errors as hits, four.

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Star of the day- C.J. Riefenhauser dominated again, and it's going to be hard to keep him in Charlotte for much longer.

Goat of the day- It seemed like a pretty nice day down on the farm. Charlie Cononie suffered from some bad defense, but ultimately he blew the save.

Today's games (probables courtesy of milb.com)

Durham v. Charlotte 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV)
Alex Cobb (1-4, 4.14) v. Charles Shirek (3-3, 4.13)

Montgomery @ Birmingham 7:30 PM
Kyle Lobstein (2-2, 5.54) v. Pedro Hernandez (5-1, 3.60)

Charlotte @ Tampa 6 PM
Grayson Garvin (1-3, 5.08) v. Matt Tracy (0-0, 0.00)

Bowling Green @ Fort Wayne 7:05 PM
Parker Markel (1-1, 4.95) v. Frank Garces (1-2, 2.44)

Scouting the opposition

Charlotte Knights (White Sox)
22-20 (2nd in IL South)
Offense: 174 R (7th) .708 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 3.20 ERA (4th) 1.29 WHIP (3rd)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Jhan Martinez (6), SS Ozzie Martinez (9), LHP Charlie Leesman (14), C Josh Phegley (19), RHP Greg Infante (23), RHP Dylan Axelrod (24), 2B Tyler Kuhn (27), OF Jordan Danks (29), RHP Deunte Heath (30), RHP Terry Doyle

Birmingham Barons (White Sox)
22-21 (3rd in SL North)
Offense: 202 R (1st) .721 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 3.75 ERA (6th) 1.38 WHIP (8th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Nestor Molina (2), RHP Simon Castro (3), SS Tyler Saladino (8), 1B Andy Wilkins (13), OF Jared Mitchell (17), OF Jose Martinez (26), LHP Pedro Hernandez

Tampa Yankees
17-24 (4th in FSL North)
Offense: 156 R (10th) .647 OPS (11th)
Pitching: 3.98 ERA (9th) 1.37 WHIP (10th)
Top 30 Prospects: C J.R. Murphy (9), OF Ramon Flores (13), RHP Zach Nudie (22), RHP Mark Montgomery (23), LHP Nik Turley (27), RHP Branden Pinder (30)

Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego)
19-23 (6th in MWL East)
Offense: 181 R (6th) .659 OPS (11th)
Pitching: 3.18 ERA (3rd) 1.22 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: C Austin Hedges (5), RHP Joe Ross (9), SS Jace Peterson (17), OF Donavan Tate (22), RHP Adys Portillo (26)