Down On The Farm: July 19

The Cole Figueroa fans will be pleased with his game last night.

AAA Durham Bulls (45-54)

Lehigh Valley struggled to get shutdown innings, and Durham took advantage in their 6-4 win over the IronPigs. Cole Figueroa had three hits and drove in three of Durham's runs. Figueroa now has a hit in 12 of his last 13 games as he's rebounded nicely after a rough transition to AAA. Leslie Anderson also had three hits and scored a pair of runs. Matt Torra was hit around, allowing four runs on nine hits in 4.2 innings. Fortunately for the Bulls, the bullpen was ready to pick him up. Frank De Los Santos, Bryan Augenstein and Dane De La Rosa combined to throw the final 4.1 innings and only allowed one batter to reach base. Sam Fuld played right field for the Bulls and went 2/4 with a double.

AA Montgomery Biscuits (15-11)

Montgomery was off.

High-A Charlotte Stone Crabs (10-16)

A two run first inning by Charlotte held up in their 3-1 win at Daytona. After Robby Price led off the game with a single, Steven Tinco hit his first homer of the season and third of his career. That was all the offense starter Eilazer Suero needed as he allowed one run in a season high 5.2 innings. Jim Patterson and Chris Rearick combined to throw the rest of the game. Daytona pitchers didn't strike out a single batter. Kevin Kiermaier had three hits and now has five in seven at-bats since returning from the DL. Price reached base three times.

Low-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (15-10)

Backed by a pair of home runs, Jake Floethe was sharp in Bowling Green's 5-0 win over Kane County. Kane County only mustered two hits against the Hot Rods pitching staff, one each against Floethe and Jason McEachern. Although Floethe walked three and struck out just one, it was his 5th start this season in which he didn't allow any runs. McEachern had another strong outing with four strikeouts in three innings. The big blows came off the bats of Jeff Malm and Alejandro Segovia who hit their 11th and 10th homers of the season, respectively. In addition to those two, Drew Vettleson added two hits and stole two more bases to give him 14 on the season. He was also caught stealing home.

Short Season-A Hudson Valley Renegades (17-13)

Hudson Valley served up a leadoff homer to Brooklyn Wedesday and faced an uphill battle the rest of the game in their 7-3 loss to the Cyclones. Brooklyn was up 3-0 thanks to a second home run in the 4th inning before Tommy Coyle's second home run of the season got the Renegades on the board. Matt Spann struggled as Hudson Valley's starter, lasting only four innings while allowing the three runs. Coyle was the only Renegade to reach base twice as they were limited to just six hits. Dylan Floro provided some 9th inning insurance for Brooklyn by allowing three runs, and he's now allowed at least a run in three of his last four appearances.

Rookie Princeton Rays (15-14)

Neither starter lasted long, and it was the Bluefield bullpen that blinked first in Princeton's 6-5 win over the Blue Jays. Both Eli Echarry and top 100 prospect Daniel Norris allowed five runs in four innings, but only two of Echarry's were earned. Two of Princeton's errors came on one play in the first inning that allowed Dwight Smith Jr. to score a little league home run. That is, he reached base on an error and came around to score because of another error. Chris Kirsch making his pro debut, Nick Sawyer and Zach Butler combined to strike out seven in five scoreless innings to secure the game. Andrew Toles collected two more hits and scored twice, and Reid Redman hit his first professional home run.

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (11-16)

A three run burst in the 9th inning gave the GCL Rays a 7-6 win over the GCL Twins. The Rays actually led 4-0 after the top of the 3rd, scoring two runs on groundouts in the 1st and a pair on a throwing error in the 3rd. The first two runs were actually scored against the rehabbing Kyle Gibson. Geisel De La Cruz had his third straight ineffective start, being charged with five runs in 4.1 innings of work with two walks compared to one strikeout. Both Nevin Ashley and Kes Carter contributed in the win; Ashley led off the game with a double and came around to score, and Carter reached base three times and scored twice. Bralin Jackson had three hits, and Benjamin Kline drove in three runs.

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Star of the day- He walked more than he struck out, but Jake Floethe had another scoreless outing.

Goat of the day- Eli Echarry is having a rough season with Princeton so far.

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

Durham v. Lehigh Valley 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV)
Alex Torres (3-4, 6.34) v. B.J. Rosenberg (2-2, 2.06)

Montgomery @ Birmingham 8:05 PM
Kyle Lobstein (4-5, 4.18) v. Cameron Bayne (7-9, 6.37)

Charlotte v. Clearwater 6:30 PM
Enny Romero* (3-4, 3.61) v. Brody Colvin* (5-4, 4.04)

Bowling Green v. Kane County 8:05 PM
Ryan Carpenter (9-4, 3.48) v. Angel Baez (5-2, 2.08)

Hudson Valley v. Aberdeen 7:05 PM
Taylor Guerrieri* (0-1, 0.56) v. David Richardson* (1-1, 2.66)

Princeton @ Bluefield 7:05 PM
Jacob Faria* (1-1, 5.82) v. Jeremy Gabryszwski (0-0, 1.89)

GCL Rays v. GCL Twins 12 PM
TBA v. TBA

*Listed as TBA on MiLB.com

Scouting the opposition

Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia)
54-44 (1st in IL North)
Offense: 388 R (13th) .689 OPS (12th)
Pitching: 3.67 ERA (5th) 1.35 WHIP (6th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Phillippe Aumont (4)

Birmingham Barons (White Sox)
13-13 (3rd in SL North)
Offense: 459 R (1st) .742 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 4.13 ERA (9th) 1.41 WHIP (8th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Nestor Molina (2), SS Tyler Saladino (8), 1B Andy Wilkins (13), OF Jared Mitchell (16), RHP Andre Rienzo (17), OF Jose Martinez (26)

Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia)
16-10 (2nd in FSL North)
Offense: 402 R (7th) .696 OPS (6th)
Pitching: 3.73 ERA (5th) 1.32 WHIP (4th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Jesse Biddle (2), RHP Brody Colvin (7), LHP Austin Wright (14), RHP Perci Garner (18), LHP Adam Morgan (25), 3B Harold Martinez (28)

Kane County Cougars (Kansas City)
14-11 (1st in MWL West)
Offense: 428 R (11th) .695 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 4.08 ERA (12th) 1.38 WHIP (13th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Jorge Bonifacio (15), RHP Bryan Brickhouse (16), SS Mike Antonio (24), SS Jack Lopez (25), 2B Danny Mateo (28)

Aberdeen IronBirds (Baltimore)
11-19 (4th in McNamara)
Offense: 141 R (3rd) .688 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 4.53 ERA (12th) 1.62 WHIP (14th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Roderick Bernadina (22)

Bluefield Blue Jays
11-16 (4th in APP East)
Offense: 131 R (6th) .716 OPS (6th)
Pitching: 3.62 ERA (3rd) 1.21 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Daniel Norris (4), 3B Matt Dean (11), OF Dwight Smith Jr. (16), RHP Kevin Comer (17), RHP Joe Musgrove (20), OF Jake Anderson (21), SS Dickie Joe Thon (27), 2B Christian Lopes (29), RHP Roberto Osuna (30)

GCL Twins
15-10 (1st in GCL South)
Offense: 102 R (9th) .675 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 2.90 ERA (3nd) 1.20 WHIP (4th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Byron Buxton