Down On The Farm: August 16

Princeton was the only minor league affiliate that didn't record a win yesterday. The top three affiliates combined for eight homers and 24 runs.

AAA Durham Bulls (59-67)

Down 7-2 in the 8th inning, Durham exploded for a seven run inning to beat Columbus 9-7. In that big inning, Chris Gimenez and Will Rhymes each hit home runs, the latter coming against former Ray Dan Wheeler. Henry Wrigley also hit an RBI double in the six hit inning that completed their huge comeback. For Gimenez, it was his second home run of the game and his second two homer game in the last five games. His OPS is now over .900, more than double his ML OPS in 68 at-bats. Cesar Ramos had his longest, albeit worst start since returning to the rotation. He allowed six runs in six innings after only allowing five over his previous three starts.

AA Montgomery Biscuits (30-22)

Montgomery scored seven runs in the first two innings, and they needed all of them in their 9-6 win over Huntsville. The Biscuits treated Ariel Pena like it was the Futures Game all over again, scoring seven runs against him as he only recorded five outs. The biggest blow of the game came in the 1st inning when Brett Nommensen remained hot by hitting a grand slam, his 3rd homer of the year. Mark Thomas, batting behind Nommensen as the 9th hitter, hit his second home run in four days a few innings later. With plenty of run support, Kyle Lobstein went out and struggled, allowing five runs in five innings. C.J. Riefenhauser came in to hold a 7-5 lead, and he settled the game down by striking out three in three scoreless innings.

High-A Charlotte Stone Crabs (20-31)

A three run homer by Philip Wunderlich gave Charlotte a 6-3 win in 10 innings over Bradenton. Charlotte relied on the home run ball for five of their six runs on the night with both Todd Glaesmann and Luke Bailey hitting solo home runs against Jameson Taillon. Braulio Lara opposed the former #2 overall pick, and for him, strikes were optional Wednesday. he only allowed one earned run in five innings, but he walked five and only 49 of his 90 pitches were strikes. After Bradenton tied the game against Chris Andujar, Jim Patterson settled the game down and threw three scoreless innings to get the win.

Low-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (31-20)

Bowling Green rode strong pitching and late offense to a 4-1 win over Great Lakes. Although the Loons scored the first run of the night, their offense was limited all night by Trevor Shull and two relievers. Only three runners reached base all night, and the run Shull allowed was unearned due to a Cameron Seitzer error. Shull struck out two in six innings, and Jake Partridge struck out four in two innings in relief. Bowling Green took the lead in the 7th inning when Josh Sale came home from 3rd on a Juniel Querecuto groundout. Two innings earlier, Sale tied the game with a solo home run, his 10th of the season.

Short Season-A Hudson Valley Renegades (36-19)

Eduar Quinonez got the Renegades off to a strong second half start in their 2-0 win over Connecticut. Quinonez struck out five in five one-hit innings, walking none. Just before he left the game, Hudson Valley scored one run in both the 4th and 5th innings, so he was eligible for the win. They scored their first run without the benefit of a hit when Luke Maile led off the 4th with a walk and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch. Their second run came on a Richie Shaffer single that brought in Marty Gantt from second. Both Gantt and Shaffer had three hit games, and Shaffer boosted his batting average 44 points to .271 in one game. Reinaldo Lopez and Ryan Garton combined to throw the last four scoreless innings.

Rookie Princeton Rays (28-26)

Princeton was shut down by a tough Burlington pitching staff in their 2-0 loss. In a game that was completed in less than two hours, Royals starter Patrick Conroy fired seven scoreless innings before two relievers came on to complete the shutout. However, the best pitcher on the night may have been Princeton's Kevin Brandt. Brandt struck out eight in five perfect innings, issuing no baserunners and facing the minimum in his five innings. Burlington wasted no time in getting on the board after Brandt was out; Mark Threlkeld greeted Alex Keudell in the 6th with a solo home run. Reid Redman and James Harris each reached base twice, and Andrew Toles' average dropped below .300 as his slump continued.

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (23-28)

The GCL Rays used a late run to win a tight one against the GCL Twins by a 3-2 score. Each team scored a pair of runs in the 4th inning, and the decisive run came in the 8th. Johnny Eierman started the inning by getting hit by a pitch, and after reaching third base on a wild pitch and groundout, Yoel Araujo doubled him home. It was part of a two extra base hit game for Araujo who is in the midst of a hot streak that's turning his season around. None of the Rays' top four hitters had a hit, but four of the bottom five had multi-hit games. Alex Torres struck out four and walked two in three no-hit innings, and Alex Moshier threw three scoreless innings to end the game and earn the win.

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Star of the day- Chris Gimenez is heating up for Durham.

Goat of the day- Hard to find fault with anything besides Princeton's offense.

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

Durham @ Columbus 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV)
Lance Pendelton (7-4, 4.49) v. T.J. McFarland (5-6, 5.06)

Montgomery @ Huntsville 7:43 PM
Matt Buschmann* (5-7, 4.31) v. Josh Stinson* (11-6, 3.16)

Charlotte @ Bradenton 6:30 PM
Victor Mateo (5-4, 3.91) v. Casey Sadler (4-5, 3.57)

Bowling Green @ Great Lakes 7:05 PM
Jake Floethe (10-3, 3.06) v. Duke von Schamann (3-3, 3.18)

Hudson Valley @ Connecticut 7:05 PM
Jeff Ames* (3-0, 1.68) v. Edgar De La Rosa (4-2, 3.51)

Princeton @ Burlington 7 PM
Kevin James (1-1, 3.16) v. Colin Rodgers (3-1, 1.86)

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

*Listed as TBA on MiLB.com

Scouting the opposition

Columbus Clippers (Cleveland)
64-61 (2nd in IL West)
Offense: 606 R (1st) .771 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 4.03 ERA (9th) 1.31 WHIP (4th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Chen Lee (4), LHP Scott Barnes (9), RHP Tyler Sturdevant (12), 2B Cord Phelps (15), LHP T.J. McFarland (21), 1B Lars Anderson

Huntsville Stars (Milwaukee)
24-28 (4th in SL North)
Offense: 488 R (9th) .718 OPS (6th)
Pitching: 4.03 ERA (7th) 1.42 WHIP (8th)
Top 30 Prospects: 2B Scooter Gennett (5), RHP Jimmy Nelson (10), RHP Santo Manzanillo (11), 1B Hunter Morris (14), OF Kentrail Davis (16), RHP Kyle Heckathorn (26), RHP Johnny Hellweg, RHP Ariel Pena

Bradenton Marauders (Pittsburgh)
26-25 (3rd in FSL South)
Offense: 524 R (5th) .679 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 4.11 ERA (9th) 1.30 WHIP (3rd)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Jameson Taillon (2), 1B Alex Dickerson (11), OF Mel Rojas (29)

Great Lakes Loons (Los Angeles)
23-28 (7th in MWL East)
Offense: 532 R (13th) .670 OPS (16th)
Pitching: 4.17 ERA (13th) 1.39 WHIP (14th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF James Baldwin (11), C Pratt Maynard (25), 1B O'Koyea Dickson (29)

Connecticut Tigers
24-30 (4th in Stedler)
Offense: 214 R (11th) .635 OPS (13th)
Pitching: 3.60 ERA (8th) 1.26 WHIP (5th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Ramon Lebron (11), OF Danry Vasquez (18), OF Jake Stewart

Burlington Royals
34-17 (1st in APP East)
Offense: 283 R (3rd) .777 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 3.84 ERA (3rd) 1.23 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Bubba Starling (2), C Cam Gallagher (23), SS Humberto Arteaga (29), 2B Kenny Diekroeger

GCL Twins
27-24 (2nd in GCL South)
Offense: 203 R (8th) .660 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 2.97 ERA (2nd) 1.22 WHIP (4th)
Top 30 Prospects: None