Down On The Farm: June 23

Three minor leaguers hit their first professional home runs yesterday, and Chris Archer was back on the mound for Durham.

AAA Durham Bulls (47-56)

Durham's offense fell flat as they dropped the first game of their doubleheader 5-1 to Rochester. Their only run came off the bat of Stephen Vogt in the 2nd inning when he hit his 9th home run of the season. It was the second straight game with a homer for Vogt who has been hot since the AAA All-Star break. Vogt was the only Bull to reach base twice with two of the team's four hits. Jim Paduch threw a complete game, but he allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits and a walk in seven innings with five strikeouts. Sam Fuld played right field for Durham and went 0/2 with a walk.

Chris Archer made his return to Durham in their 4-3 win over Rochester in game two. With two runners on in the bottom of the 7th in a 3-3 game, sweet swinging Henry Wrigley hit a walkoff single to score Rich Thompson. On a tight pitch count, Archer allowed a run on four hits in 2.2 innings while striking out one and walking none. 24 of his 41 pitches were strikes. Four relievers combined to finish the game with Bryan Augenstein picking up the win after finishing the game with 2.1 scoreless innings. In his AAA debut, Adam Liberatore faced one batter and has an infinite WHIP. Leslie Anderson got the offense going in the 2nd inning with his 10th home run, a three run shot.

AA Montgomery Biscuits (18-12)

Montgomery used some late offense to come back and beat Birmingham 5-4 in 10 innings. In the 10th inning, Brad Coon singled home Tyler Bortnick for the go-ahead run with two outs. After blowing the save in the 9th inning, Kirby Yates pitched a 1-2-3 10th to get credited for the win. Also out of the bullpen, Marquis Fleming had another scoreless appearance in his hot July, and Chris Rearick made his AA debut with a scoreless inning. This followed Nick Barnese who allowed three runs and pitched through the 5th inning for just the second time in six starts. Hak-Ju Lee extended his on-base streak to 35 games with a walk, and Kyeong Kang hit just his second home run in July.

High-A Charlotte Stone Crabs (12-17)

Charlotte was rained out.

Low-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (18-11)

A late rally wasn't enough in Bowling Green's 10-9 loss to Clinton. Down 10-4, the Hot Rods scored three in the 8th and got two more in the 9th when Drew Vettleson hit his 9th home run with one out, but no more runners would reach base. That home run topped off a three hit, four RBI game for Vettleson that also included his 16th steal. Cameron Seitzer also knocked in a run with three hits, two of which went for extra bases. Jake Hager extended his hitting streak to nine games with a pair of hits, and he also reached base via walk two times. Unfortunately for Bowling Green, they fell behind early due to a poor start by Trevor Shull. Shull allowed six runs (four earned) on seven hits and three walks in five innings of work.

Short Season-A Hudson Valley Renegades (21-13)

Hudson Valley used a pair of four run innings to cruise to an 8-2 victory at Aberdeen. Ryan Dunn's first professional home run was a three run blast in the 1st inning that extended the Renegade lead to 4-0 before Aberdeen even batted. With the offense backing him, Jesse Hahn made his second straight solid four inning start, allowing just one run on three hits and a walk with three strikeouts. Eduar Quinonez followed him with two no-hit innings to get credit for the win. Joey Rickard and Justin O'Conner continued to set the table at the top of the lineup by both reaching base twice, and Luke Maile chipped in a two run double as part of a two hit, three RBI game.

Rookie Princeton Rays (17-16)

The P-Rays took advantage of three separate four run innings Sunday in their 13-3 rout of Johnson City. They led 8-0 after two innings thanks to three two out runs in the first and Andrew Toles' second inning grand slam, the first home run of his pro career. In addition to the grand slam, Toles had two more hits, a double and stole a base. He wasn't the only Princeton player to hit his first pro home run in the game; Julian Morillo joined him in the 8th inning with a two run homer. Reid Redman and Ariel Soriano each had three hit games, and that included a pair of doubles for Redman. Alex Keudell started and struck out four in three scoreless innings, and Hugo Duarte was credited with the win with five strikeouts and a run allowed in 2.2 innings.

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (13-17)

The GCL Rays were off.

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Star of the day- Andrew Toles has a .975 OPS in his first 18 games.

Goat of the day-Trevor Shull's poor start came on a day the Hot Rods offense supplied nine runs.

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

Durham v. Rochester 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV)
TBA v. TBA

Montgomery is off

Charlotte @ Fort Myers 7:05 PM
Eliazer Suero* (3-6, 7.01) v. Pat Dean* (6-6, 3.89)

Bowling Green v. Clinton 8:05 PM
Jake Floethe* (9-1, 3.56) v. Trevor Miller* (6-6, 3.42)

Hudson Valley v. Staten Island 7:05 PM
Matt Spann* (1-3, 3.60) v. Tim Flight* (1-2, 5.85)

Princeton v. Johnson City 7:05 PM
Eli Echarry* (0-1, 8.59) v. Nicholas Gillung* (2-0, 3.77)

GCL Rays v. GCL Red Sox 7 PM
TBA v. TBA

*Listed as TBA on MiLB.com

Scouting the opposition

Rochester Red Wings (Minnesota)
51-51 (5th in IL North)
Offense: 376 R (14th) .685 OPS (14th)
Pitching: 3.93 ERA (7th) 1.36 WHIP (7th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Deolis Guerra (15), RHP Carlos Gutierrez (17), RHP Lester Oliveros (26)

Fort Myers Miracle (Minnesota)
14-17 (4th in FSL South)
Offense: 414 R (8th) .693 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 4.13 ERA (11th) 1.42 WHIP (12th)
Top 30 Prospects: SS Levi Michael (6), RHP Madison Boer (12), RHP Adrian Salcedo (16), RHP Manuel Soilman (23), RHP Tom Stuifbergen (24)

Clinton LumberKings (Seattle)
16-13 (1st in MWL West)
Offense: 435 R (13th) .689 OPS (12th)
Pitching: 4.02 ERA (10th) 1.32 WHIP (8th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Guillermo Pimentel (12), OF Jabari Blash (20)

Staten Island Yankees
14-20 (3rd in McNamara)
Offense: 147 R (8th) .649 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 4.12 ERA (11th) 1.47 WHIP (11th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Ravel Santana (7), SS Claudio Custodio (25)

Johnson City Cardinals
14-17 (3rd in APP West)
Offense: 116 R (9th) .642 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 4.60 ERA (7th) 1.50 WHIP (8th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF C.J. McElroy (18), OF Lance Jeffries (30), RHP Victor De Leon (25), C Steve Bean

GCL Red Sox
17-13 (2nd in GCL South)
Offense: 137 R (4th) .655 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 3.22 ERA (6th) 1.22 WHIP (6th)
Top 30 Prospects: None