Down On The Farm: May 23

In eight games with Durham so far, Matsui is batting just .133/.156/.167 with a walk and six strikeouts. It's going to take some time for him to get back to game speed.

AAA Durham Bulls (19-28)

Charlotte jumped in front of Durham in the first inning and played the role of frontrunner in Durham's 5-2 loss. Jim Paduch's self-inflicted wounds in the first led to Charlotte's first two runs. His throwing error with runners on first and second moved both into scoring position, and with two outs, he issued a wild pitch and single to score both runners. The Knights got two more in the 3rd partly due to a Juan Miranda error that put runners at the corners, and two more singles scored those runs to make it a 4-0 game. Durham got one back in the 4th thanks to a Leslie Anderson solo home run, one of only five hits for the Bulls for the day. Hideki Matsui went 0/4, and Josh Lueke lowered his ERA by allowing a run in two innings. Jose Lobaton was 0/4 in his rehab appearance.

AA Montgomery Biscuits (23-22)

Montgomery enjoyed an off day.

High-A Charlotte Stone Crabs (22-22)

Brevard County scored three against the Stone Crabs in the 1st, and that proved to be more than enough in Charlotte's 9-1 loss. Braulio Lara was charged with five runs, four of which were earned in five innings. Over his last three starts, Lara has pitched 10.2 innings, allowing 17 earned runs on 22 hits and seven walks with seven strikeouts. Charlotte's lone run came in the 2nd inning when Philip Wunderlich hit a solo home run, his 4th of the season. The Manatees would then score six unanswered runs in later innings to finish the game. First round pick Taylor Jungmann cruised in 7.2 innings, striking out eight and only allowing the one run. Robby Price was the only Stone Crab to reach base twice thanks to his two singles. Reliever Eliazer Suero allowed four runs in 2.2 innings of work.

Low-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (24-21)

Bowling Green enjoyed an off day.

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Star of the day- It was an abbreviated schedule, but winless is winless.

Goat of the day- Braulio Lara was decent to start the year, but something has been very wrong recently.

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

Durham is off

Montgomery v. Jackson 8:05 PM
Joe Cruz* (2-5, 7.07) v. Danny Hultzen* (4-3, 1.81)

Charlotte v. Brevard County 6:30 PM
C.J. Riefenhauser (6-0, 0.70) v. Jimmy Nelson (2-4, 2.40)

Bowling Green @ Great Lakes 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV)
Jake Floethe* (5-1, 3.11) v. Jarret Martin* (2-3, 3.16)

Scouting the opposition

Jackson Generals (Seattle)
27-18 (1st in SL North)
Offense: 193 R (4th) .718 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 2.77 ERA (1st) 1.22 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Taijuan Walker (1), LHP Danny Hultzen (2), LHP James Paxton (3), SS Nick Franklin (4), 3B Francisco Martinez (6), RHP Carter Capps (16), RHP Brandon Maurer (21), LHP Mauricio Robles (26), 3B Steve Proscia (27), OF Johermyn Chavez (28), 1B Rich Poythress (29)

Brevard County Manatees (Milwaukee)
18-26 (6th in FSL North)
Offense: 160 R (12th) .643 OPS (12th)
Pitching: 3.14 ERA (1st) 1.19 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Taylor Jungmann (2), LHP Jed Bradley (3), RHP Jimmy Nelson (10), RHP Brooks Hall (25)

Great Lakes Loons (Los Angeles)
23-22 (4th in MWL East)
Offense: 190 R (8th) .657 OPS (12th)
Pitching: 3.52 ERA (6th) 1.31 WHIP (11th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF James Baldwin (11), RHP Ryan O'Sullivan (23), C Pratt Maynard (25), 1B O'Koyea Dickson (29)