Down On The Farm: June 6

It was a forgettable day for the pitching in the entire Rays organization. At least Durham scored a bit.

AAA Durham Bulls (26-34)

Empire State put up four innings with crooked numbers in their 12-8 win over Durham. Former Devil Ray Russell Branyan led the charge as he tries to hit his way back to the majors with a pair of three run homers against Durham's bullpen. Four other Yankees had multi-hit games, and as a lineup they drew nine walks from the beleaguered Bulls pitching staff. Jhonny Nunez made the start but lasted only two innings, allowing four runs. Alex Torres, Romulo Sanchez and Ryan Reid followed with multi-run appearances, but Craig Albernaz threw a scoreless 9th. For the Bulls, Henry Wrigley and Leslie Anderson each hit a three run home run. Wrigley had a four hit game to raise his average to .274.

AA Montgomery Biscuits (31-28)

After going down 12-0, Montgomery valiantly scored three runs in a 12-3 loss to Tennessee. Jake Thompson had the worst outing of his season, allowing six runs on six hits and four walks while only striking out one. Four walks was a season high, and one strikeout was a season low. While Thompson struggled, Tennessee starter Eric Jokisch cruised through seven scoreless innings, throwing 66% of his pitches for strikes. Merrill Kelly came on in relief for Thompson and allowed six runs, three earned, on eight hits and two walks in three innings. For the second straight game, Hak-Ju Lee hit a solo home run, but it was too little, too late for the Biscuits. Ryan Garko collected two hits as the Montgomery DH. Nearly 3,000 fans were treated to a vintage Scott Shuman appearance, walking four in an inning of relief.

High-A Charlotte Stone Crabs (24-31)

Charlotte was rained out.

Low-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (31-27)

Bowling Green enjoyed an off day.

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Star of the day- Craig Albernaz I guess.

Goat of the day- Everyone else

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

Durham v. Empire State 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV)
Lance Pendelton (2-1, 2.93) v. Ramon Ortiz (3-3, 3.47)

Montgomery v. Tennessee 8:05 PM
Alex Colome (2-1, 4.76) v. Trey McNutt (3-4, 2.68)

Charlotte @ Lakeland 6:30 PM DOUBLEHEADER
Enny Romero* (1-3, 3.62) v. Shawn Teufel* (2-4, 7.71)
TBA v. Brian Flynn (4-3, 4.06)

Both games will be seven innings.

Bowling Green @ Lansing 7:05 PM
Ryan Carpenter* (5-2, 3.59) v. Aaron Sanchez* (5-0, 0.47)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Empire State Yankees
32-27 (4th in IL North)
Offense: 251 R (7th) .736 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 3.90 ERA (10th) 1.38 WHIP (9th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Manny Banuelos (1), RHP Dellin Betances (2), RHP Adam Warren (15), RHP D.J. Mitchell (16), 3B Brandon Laird (18), RHP Chase Whitley (29)

Tennessee Smokies (Cubs)
26-33 (5th in SL North)
Offense: 230 R (8th) .705 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 3.59 ERA (3rd) 1.35 WHIP (5th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Trey McNutt (4), 3B Junior Lake (8), 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)

Lakeland Flying Tigers
28-27 (3rd in FSL North)
Offense: 243 R (6th) .701 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 4.17 ERA (9th) 1.39 WHIP (9th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Alex Burgos (8), C James McCann (9), OF Avisail Garcia (10), RHP Bruce Rondon (12), OF Tyler Collins (13), LHP Brian Flynn (24), SS Dixon Machado (25), RHP Kevin Eichhorn (26), OF Daniel Fields (27), 2B Hernan Perez (30)

Lansing Lugnuts (Toronto)
40-17 (1st in MWL East)
Offense: 279 R (4th) .721 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 2.84 ERA (1st) 1.20 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Justin Nicolino (5), RHP Aaron Sanchez (6), RHP Noah Syndergaard (7), C Carlos Perez (14), 3B Kellen Sweeney (13), OF Chris Hawkins (25)