Down On The Farm: July 30

Alex Torres and Alex Colome both started yesterday, and one did well while the other struggled. I'm sure you can figure out which is which.

AAA Durham Bulls (51-59)

Trailing 6-1 after one inning, Durham's comeback attempt fell short in their 8-7 loss to Norfolk. Alex Torres' ugly season continued, and he couldn't even pitch through the first inning. He was removed from the game after recording just two outs with 48 pitches (24 strikes), and after all was said and done, he was charged with six runs on three hits and three walks. Evan Longoria went 1/3 with an RBI, walk and strikeout in his third game with Durham since restarting his rehab appearance. Rich Thompson, Leslie Anderson, Stephen Vogt, Reid Brignac and Will Rhymes each had multi-hit games, and Thompson reached base four times in all. Thompson, Anderson and Vogt each had an extra base hit, and Rhymes drove in a pair of runs.

AA Montgomery Biscuits (22-14)

Alex Colome threw his 6th career complete game and first this season in Montgomery's 5-2 win over Mississippi. He allowed two runs on six hits and perhaps most impressively, walked none with six strikeouts in his nine innings of work. He needed only 95 pitches to finish the game, 65 of which were strikes. Colome has now won five straight starts, and he's been impressive in that stretch. In 35.1 innings, he has a 1.27 ERA and 1.02 WHIP with 33 strikeouts, albeit with too many walks. As for the Biscuits offense, Mikie Mahtook had his second two double game in just his 6th game with Montgomery, and he drove in two runs. Mark Thomas hit his first home run of the season after hitting 13 last year, and Hak-Ju Lee hit a double to extend his on-base streak to 41 games. Derek Dietrich was 0/2 in his AA debut as Montgomery's second baseman.

High-A Charlotte Stone Crabs (15-21)

Charlotte took a page out of their parent club's book Sunday, struggling against Brandon Morrow in their 8-2 loss to Dunedin. The rehabbing Morrow struck out two in three scoreless innings, and he left the game with a 6-0 lead thanks to a six run 2nd inning by the Blue Jays. In that inning, Albert Suarez allowed home runs to Kevin Ahrens, Jack Murphy and Ryan Schimpf, and the Stone Crabs were in a hole they were unable to get out of. Charlotte could only muster six hits against Morrow and an array of Dunedin pitchers, two of which belonged to Steven Tinoco. Three Charlotte pitchers were unable to strike out a single batter in the game.

Low-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (22-13)

Bowling Green survived a late rally by West Michigan to defeat the Whitecaps 5-4. Drew Vettleson got the Hot Rods off to a fast start in the first inning, hitting a two run homer, his 10th of the year. Catcher Matt Rice was the other key figure for Bowling Green's lineup Sunday with two RBI singles, the second of which proved to be the winning run. After consecutive poor starts that saw him give up eight earned runs in 9.1 innings, Trevor Shull was solid after allowing a run in both the first and second innings. He finished with just the two runs allowed in five innings of work and picked up the win.

Short Season-A Hudson Valley Renegades (26-15)

Hudson Valley pounded Williamsport's beleaguered pitching staff again in their 9-2 win over the Crosscutters. After falling behind 2-0 in the 2nd inning, Hudson Valley rattled off nine unanswered runs the rest of the way, including eight in the three innings following Williamsport's pair of runs. Just four outs into the bottom of the 2nd, the Renegades scored three runs thanks to a back to back double and triple by Ryan Dunn and Marty Gantt respectively. Two innings later, the biggest blow of the game came off the bat of Justin O'Conner whose three run homer, his 3rd of the season, gave the pitching staff a nice cushion. Richie Shaffer reached base three times and had his first extra base hit and two hit game. Jesse Hahn allowed two runs in four innings, and Eduar Quinonez relieved him with four scoreless to get the win.

Rookie Princeton Rays (19-19)

Princeton ran into the buzzsaw known as the Burlington Royals in their 5-4 loss Sunday. The Royals have now won 13 straight home games. Jonathan Weaver made his first start of the season and got shelled. He allowed five runs on four hits and three walks in just two innings, and that was all Burlington needed. Former starter Eli Echarry threw five scoreless innings in relief to settle the game down and gave Princeton a chance to come back. Three P-Rays, Reid Redman, Ariel Soriano and Omar Narvaez, had two hit games as they actually outhit Burlington 10-8. The biggest hit of the game happened in the first inning when former Rays pick Kenny Diekroeger hit a bases clearing triple.

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (17-19)

The GCL Rays were off.

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Star of the day- Alex Colome has been on fire lately, and for noew, he appears to be healthy.

Goat of the day- Can anyone explain Alex Torres' season? I just have no idea what went wrong.

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

Durham @ Norfolk 7:15 PM (MiLB.TV)
Lance Pendelton (6-4, 4.63) v. Brian Matusz (2-1, 3.00)

Montgomery v. Mississippi 8:05 PM
Kyle Lobstein (6-5, 3.93) v. David Hale (6-4, 4.39)

Charlotte v. Tampa 6:30 PM
Enny Romero* (4-5, 4.06) v. Shane Greene (4-2, 4.02)

Bowling Green v. West Michigan 8:05 PM
Ryan Carpenter (9-4, 3.93) v. Chad Smith* (0-0, 0.00)

Hudson Valley v. Williamsport 7:05 PM
Reinaldo Lopez* (2-1, 3.76) v. Josh Warner (2-3, 3.20)

Princeton @ Burlington 7 PM
TBA v. Christian Binford* (0-0, 1.80)

GCL Rays @ GCL Twins 12 PM
TBA v. TBA

*Listed as TBA on MiLB.com

Scouting the opposition

Norfolk Tides (Baltimore)
55-55 (2nd in IL South)
Offense: 449 R (10th) .704 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 3.52 ERA (3rd) 1.27 WHIP (3rd)
Top 30 Prospects: OF L.J. Hoes (5), OF Xavier Avery (9), 1B Joe Mahoney (13), 2B Ryan Adams (23), 1B Brandon Waring (25)

Mississippi Braves
15-20 (4th in SL South)
Offense: 416 R (9th) .659 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 3.83 ERA (4th) 1.29 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: C Christian Bethancourt (8), RHP Zeke Spruill (9), 1B Joey Terdoslavich (11), RHP J.R. Graham (13), OF Todd Cunningham (16), RHP David Hale (21), RHP Billy Bullock (24), C Evan Gattis (27), 2B Phil Gosselin (30)

Tampa Yankees
22-15 (1st in FSL North)
Offense: 424 R (10th) .695 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 3.70 ERA (4th) 1.35 WHIP (6th)
Top 30 Prospects: C Gary Sanchez (4), OF Mason Williams (5), OF Slade Heathcott (10), OF Ramon Flores (13), OF Tyler Austin (20), RHP Zach Nudie (22), LHP Nik Turley (27), RHP Branden Pinder (30)

West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit)
18-17 (4th in MWL East)
Offense: 477 R (8th) .702 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 3.48 ERA (2nd) 1.24 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Ramon Lebron (11), 1B Aaron Westlake (14), SS Brandon Loy (19), SS Eugenio Suarez (28)

Williamsport Crosscutters (Philadelphia)
13-28 (6th in Pinckney)
Offense: 173 R (7th) .665 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 4.75 ERA (14th) 1.49 WHIP (12th)
Top 30 Prospects: SS Tyler Greene (13), SS Roman Quinn (21), OF Larry Greene (22)

Burlington Royals
25-9 (1st in APP East)
Offense: 199 R (5th) .798 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 3.69 ERA (3rd) 1.20 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Bubba Starling (2), C Cam Gallagher (23), SS Humberto Arteaga (29), 2B Kenny Diekroeger

GCL Twins
22-14 (1st in GCL South)
Offense: 153 R (8th) .699 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 2.85 ERA (2nd) 1.20 WHIP (3rd)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Byron Buxton