Down On The Farm: July 25

This time I have the month correct in the title. The Rays got a rare organizational sweep Tuesday with wins across the board.

AAA Durham Bulls (49-56)

Vintage 2012 Alex Torres was back Tuesday, but Durham's offense bailed him out as the Bulls prevailed 10-8 over Gwinnett. For the second time in his last four starts, Durham bombed top Braves prospect Julio Teheran, tagging him for six earned runs in 3.1 innings of work. Torres wasn't any better and was actually probably worse. Despite striking out five, he allowed five runs on two hits and six walks in just 2.1 innings. Fortunately for him, the bats came to play. #1 and 2 hitters Rich Thompson and Will Rhymes reached base a combined six times, and it was the bottom of the lineup's production that allowed Rhymes to drive in three runs himself. Tim Beckham reached base four times and scored three runs, Jesus Feliciano drove in a pair with two hits, and Cole FIgueroa had a three hit, three RBI game. Despite allowing a 9th inning run, Bryan Augenstein held on for the save.

AA Montgomery Biscuits (19-12)

Jackson's staff blinked first in Tuesday's pitching duel as Montgomery topped the Generals 2-0. Alex Colome turned in one of his best starts of the season despite only throwing 56% of his pitches for strikes. Colome fired seven scoreless innings, striking out six and only allowing four hits and three walks. Jackson starter Brandon Maurer matched him every step of the way, and the Biscuits didn't score until the Generals went to their bullpen. With the bases loaded and two outs, reliever Jonathan Arias balked home Shawn O'Malley for the go-ahead run. One inning later, Brett Nommensen added insurance with a solo home run, his 3rd of the season. Hak-Ju Lee extended his on-base streak with another walk, and Mikie Mahtook struck out in his first at bat with the Biscuits. Chris Rearick pitched a scoreless 9th for his first AA save.

High-A Charlotte Stone Crabs (13-18)

Charlotte used some late offense to come back and beat Fort Myers 6-5 in 11 innings. Down two with two outs in the 9th, Robby Price delivered a two run single to send the game into extras. Two innings later, Cody Rogers reached on an error with one out, and Luke Bailey's walkoff double gave the Stone Crabs a win against their local rival. In the end, Alex Koronis got the win for his two scoreless innings. Albert Suarez started for Charlotte and allowed three runs on five hits and a walk in just 3.1 IP. In their first game without Mikie Mahtook on the roster, Price and Bailey shouldered the load for the offense. Price reached base three times, and Bailey hit two doubles batting 8th.

Low-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (18-12)

Bowling Green was off.

Short Season-A Hudson Valley Renegades (23-13)

Hudson Valley survived a late Staten Island rally as they hung on to defeat the Yankees 4-3. With the tying run in scoring position with two outs, Marcus Jensen retired Danny Oh to end the threat. That preserved the win for Sean Bierman who pitched a career high six innings and only allowed one run as he generated 13 groundouts. Richie Shaffer went 1/3 for a second straight day, this time as the Hudson Valley DH. He drove in a pair of runs for the first RBI of his career. Leonardo Reginatto and Marty Gantt each reached base twice.

Rookie Princeton Rays (17-17)

Princeton was rained out.

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (14-18)

Two first inning runs were all the GCL Rays needed in their 2-1 win over the GCL Red Sox. With two outs in the inning, Armando Araiza, hit a double that scored Bralin Jackson and Kes Carter, and that would be all the offense for the Rays in a rare GCL night game. That was the first of two doubles on the game for Araiza, and he finished with three hits. Carter finished the game 1/4 and played center field all nine innings, and Jackson stole his first career base. Geisel De La Cruz rebounded from some rough outings, only allowing a run in five innings on four hits and a walk while striking out five.

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Star of the day- Alex Colome needs to throw more strikes, but his start was impressive nonetheless.

Goat of the day- Clean sweep for the Rays today.

Today's games

Durham @ Gwinnett 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV)

Montgomery @ Jackson 1:05 PM

Charlotte v. Fort Myers 6:30 PM

Bowling Green @ Lansing 7:05 PM

Hudson Valley v. Tri-City 7:05 PM

Princeton is off

GCL Rays v. GCL Twins 12 PM

There are three probable pitchers listed for three teams across all of Minor League Baseball as I do this. I'm not going to chase all of them down. By the time this is posted, they could be up.

Scouting the opposition

Gwinnett Braves
47-58 (4th in IL South)
Offense: 434 R (10th) .711 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 4.53 ERA (12th) 1.51 WHIP (14th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Julio Teheran (1), RHP Randall Delgado (30), RHP Billy Bullock (24), RHP Erik Cordier (26), RHP Cory Gearrin (29)

Jackson Generals (Seattle)
17-13 (2nd in SL North)
Offense: 434 R (4th) .734 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 3.18 ERA (1st) 1.30 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Taijuan Walker (1), LHP James Paxton (3), 3B Francisco Martinez (6), RHP Carter Capps (16), RHP Forrest Snow (19), RHP Brandon Maurer (21), OF Chih-Hsien Chang (24), LHP Mauricio Robles (26), OF Johermyn Chavez (28), 1B Rich Poythress (29)

Fort Myers Miracle (Minnesota)
15-18 (4th in FSL South)
Offense: 424 R (7th) .693 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 4.12 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)

Lansing Lugnuts (Toronto)
19-11 (1st in MWL East)
Offense: 491 R (2nd) .714 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 3.10 ERA (1st) 1.25 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Justin Nicolino (5), RHP Aaron Sanchez (6), RHP Noah Syndergaard (7), OF Michael Crouse (23), OF Chris Hawkins (25)

Tri-City ValleyCats (Houston)
26-10 (1st in Stedler)
Offense: 194 R (2nd) .717 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 2.38 ERA (1st) 1.13 WHIP (3rd)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Vincent Velasquez (27)

GCL Twins
19-13 (1st in GCL South)
Offense: 129 R (9th) .682 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 3.06 ERA (5th) 1.20 WHIP (5th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Byron Buxton