Down On The Farm: May 3

Without a doubt, stats are a critical part of these recaps. From now on whenever I'm doing them, the links within the game paragraphs will go to milb.com's play by play pages. There will also be a link to First Inning's daily Rays page which has box scores for every game in the organization from that day. If they're updated before I go to bed, I'll copy and paste the box scores on here.

AAA Durham Bulls (9-18)

Durham survived a late surge from Louisville to win their third in a row, this time by a 7-5 score. Jim Paduch was sharp in his second start with the Bulls this year, striking out five in five scoreless innings while only allowing two hits. The offense staked him to an early lead with five runs over the first two innings against ML veteran Jeff Francis. Kyle Hudson led off the game with a triple, and with two outs, Leslie Anderson's double brought him in for the first inning lead. After Romulo Sanchez provided two excellent innings in relief of Paduch, Dane De La Rosa's rough start continued, allowing three runs while only recording two outs. John Gaub then allowed two runs himself the next inning, and Josh Lueke held on to record the final two outs to end the game. In the end, Jeff Salazar's two run homer in the 8th proved to be the difference.

AA Montgomery Biscuits (11-16)

Montgomery did not enjoy morning baseball as much as Durham, losing to Tennessee 9-5. The Smokies scored early and often against Biscuits starter Jake Thompson, scoring all nine of their runs in the first five innings. Thompson was charged with eight of them, seven of them earned, in 3.2 innings. The unearned run came after a Thompson error, one of two on the day. The Biscuits chipped away at Tennessee pitching throughout the game with seven hits and seven walks, but the early game hole was too much to overcome. Kyeong Kang hit a home run in his second straight game, giving him six on the season. He's tied for 2nd in the Southern League with teammate Henry Wrigley among others.

High-A Charlotte Stone Crabs (12-14)

Mayo Acosta's two out, 9th inning double sent the game to extra innings, but Bradenton prevailed 4-3 in 11 innings. Wilking Rodriguez was sharp in his best and longest start this season, striking out four in six scoreless innings while only allowing two hits and a walk. Charlotte struck first in the third inning on a Ty Morrison RBI single, but that would be it for their offense until the 9th. Bradenton, apparently happy to see Rodriguez out of the game, got to reliever Victor Mateo quickly with two singles followed by a three run homer by Stefan Welch. In the two extra innings, Charlotte's offense failed to reach base. With two outs in the bottom of the 11th and a runner on third, Zach Foster allowed a single to Evan Chambers to give Bradenton the walkoff win.

Low-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (15-11)

The offense sputtered early, but the Hot Rods offense started coming through late in their 9-3 win over South Bend. They had plenty of runners reach base in the first four innings, but it wasn't until Matt Rice's 5th inning leadoff home run that Bowling Green got on the board. The next inning when Silver Hawks starter J.R. Bradley was removed, three straight doubles by Bowling Green opened the floodgates. It was the first of three multi-run innings for the Hot Rods, capped off by Ryan Brett's solo home run in the three-run 9th. Starter Jake Floethe wasn't particularly sharp allowing three runs in 5.2 innings, but he lasted long enough to earn his third win. Ryan Brett, Todd Glaesmann, Jeff Malm, Taylor Motter and Matt Rice all had two hit games.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL BOX SCORES

Star of the day- Jim Paduch was sharp stepping into Durham's rotation for Alex Torres, striking out five in five scoreless innings.

Goat of the day- Jake Thompson was not as sharp, allowing eight runs and committing two errors in less than four innings.

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

Durham v. Louisville 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV)
Chris Archer (1-4, 6.75) v. Sean Gallagher (1-2, 7.36)

Montgomery @ Tennessee 7:15 PM (MiLB.TV)
Shane Dyer (2-2, 3.43) v. Trey McNutt (0-1, 0.61)

Charlotte @ Bradenton 6:30 PM
Grayson Garvin (0-2, 4.50) v. Colton Cain (1-2, 5.82)

Bowling Green @ South Bend 7:05 PM
Felipe Rivero (2-1, 0.67) v. Archie Bradley (3-1, 2.08)

Scouting the opposition

Louisville Bats (Cincinnati)
9-18 (4th in IL West)
Offense: 108 R (8th) .684 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 4.97 ERA (13th) 1.62 WHIP (14th)
Top 30 Prospects: 3B Todd Frazier (9), 1B Neftali Soto (11), 2B Chris Valaika (21), RHP Josh Judy (23)

Tennessee Smokies (Cubs)
12-15 (4th in SL North)
Offense: 93 R (9th) .687 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 3.65 ERA (6th) 1.35 WHIP (5th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Trey McNutt (4), Dae-Eun Rhee (11), RHP Dallas Beeler (12), OF Jae-Hoon Ha (18), 2B Logan Watkins (23), RHP Marcus Hatley (26), RHP Casey Weathers (27)

Bradenton Marauders (Pittsburgh)
12-14 (2nd in FSL South)
Offense: 100 R (6th) .634 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 3.46 ERA (6th) 1.20 WHIP (4th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Gerrit Cole (1), RHP Jameson Taillon (2), Alex Dickerson (11), LHP Colton Cain (13), 1B OF Evan Chambers (26), OF Mel Rojas (29)

South Bend Silver Hawks (Arizona)
15-11 (2nd in MWL East)
Offense: 117 R (6th) .672 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 3.83 ERA (11th) 1.30 WHIP (11th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Archie Bradley (2), RHP Tyler Green (25), RHP Jesse Darrah (26), RHP J.R. Bradley (27), LHP John Pedrotty (29)