Down On The Farm: August 29

If you missed it yesterday, the Rays players headed to the Arizona Fall League were announced. The contingent is led by Tim Beckham, Hak-Ju Lee and Richie Shaffer. In other news, Josh Sale was suspended for 50 games for testing positive for the same substances as Ryan Brett and two others last week.

AA Montgomery Biscuits (35-30) ***Featured game of the day***

Montgomery snapped their five game losing streak and pulled into a tie with Jacksonville by beating them 7-4 Monday. The Biscuits survived a four run 4th inning by the Suns and came back with a pair of three run innings on their own. In the 5th with one run already across, Derek Dietrich's two run single tied the game at four. Jake Thompson was charged with all four runs in five innings, but three relievers stepped up and combined for four scoreless. Montgomery took the lead in the 7th on a two run double by Mark Thomas, and they added another run later with a Kyeong Kang single. Omar Luna had three more hits and his 19th steal of the year, and Shawn O'Malley, Dietrich and Thomas each had two hit games.

AAA Durham Bulls (65-72)

Durham was postponed.

High-A Charlotte Stone Crabs (24-38)

Palm Beach got to Albert Suarez early in game one of their doubleheader as Charlotte fell 5-2. The Cardinals jumped out to a 4-0 lead through two and a half innings, but Todd Glaesmann's two run homer in the bottom of the 3rd, his 8th with Charlotte, cut the deficit in half. However, that was as close as they would get. Palm Beach tacked on an insurance run against Chris Andujar and used four different pitchers to hold the Stone Crabs to four hits.

That tough pitching carried over to game two in Charlotte's 3-0 loss. This game was scoreless through the first five innings thanks to a strong effort by Jim Patterson. Making his 1st start of the season and just the 3rd in the last two years, Patterson struck out two and allowed just two hits and a walk in five scoreless innings. Unfortunately, Palm Beach's Ryan Sherriff was better, throwing a complete game shutout with three strikeouts. Robi Estrada had two hits, and David Wendt hit a double.

Low-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (40-24)

With the news of another key player suspended for 50 games looming, Bowling Green used a late rally to knock off South Bend 6-4. They were actually outhit by the Silver Hawks 9-4, but nine walks by South Bend's staff including former USF Bull Andrew Barbosa generated plenty of opportunities for the Hot Rods. In the 3rd inning, Bowling Green plated two runs on a wild pitch and throwing error, and a run scoring single by Jake Hager capped off the inning. Matt Rice's two run single in the 8th inning provided just enough insurance for the bullpen to wrap up the game. Roberto Gomez threw three scoreless innings, and he was relieved by Felipe Rivero who has continued to struggle in a relief role. Rivero allowed three runs in three innings before Andrew Bellatti came on to earn the win.

Short Season-A Hudson Valley Renegades (46-22)

Jeff Ames had a rare rough outing as Hudson Valley dropped another to Staten Island 7-5. In a season that's likely resulting in a playoff berth, it's an unusual two game winning streak for a Renegades team that has played great all season. Ames got tagged with three runs in the 1st inning and took his 1st loss of the season. In the 6th inning, Hudson Valley cut the Yankees' lead to just one run with a four run inning. They picked up a pair of runs on an error and groundout, and Marty Gantt drove in two more runs with a two out single. Jake DePew had a two hit game after entering the game for Luke Maile early on.

Rookie Princeton Rays (36-32)

The P-Rays wrapped up their 2012 season with a 6-4 loss to Elizabethton. Princeton held a 4-2 lead in the 5th inning, but an array of Rays relievers were unable to hold the lead. After the GCL season ended, Jorge Rodriguez was bumped up a level to the Appy League and got this start for Princeton. He lasted 4.1 innings, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk in 4.1 innings. A handful of position players finished their seasons on a high note, led by last year's breakout star Oscar Hernandez. His pinch hit home run was his 5th of the season, his first year playing in the U.S. Andrew Toles and Darryl George each had multi-hit games.

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Star of the day- Derek Dietrich had a nice game as Montgomery fights for a playoff berth.

Goat of the day- Many believe Bowling Green's manager Brady Williams will be held accountable for the recent drug test results.

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

Durham @ Norfolk 5:15 PM DOUBLEHEADER (MiLB.TV)
Chris Archer (7-9, 3.79) v. Jake Arrieta (3-4, 4.91)
Lance Pendelton (8-5, 4.60) v. Richard Zagone (1-0, 0.00)

Montgomery is off

Charlotte v. Palm Beach 6:30 PM
Braulio Lara (6-9, 5.72) v. Chris Corrigan (3-8, 4.50)

Bowling Green @ Lake County 7 PM
Ryan Carpenter (11-7, 4.13) v. Cody Anderson (4-7, 3.30)

Hudson Valley v. Brooklyn 6:35 PM
Taylor Guerrieri (1-2, 1.07) v. Gabriel Ynoa (5-1, 2.30)

*Listed as TBA on MiLB.com

Scouting the opposition

Norfolk Tides (Baltimore)
68-69 (2nd in IL South)
Offense: 565 R (11th) .703 OPS (11th)
Pitching: 350 R (4th) 1.28 WHIP (3rd)
Top 30 Prospects: OF L.J. Hoes (5), 3B Ryan Flaherty (7), OF Xavier Avery (9), 1B Joe Mahoney (13), 2B Ryan Adams (23), 1B Brandon Waring (25)

Palm Beach Cardinals
31-33 (3rd in FSL South)
Offense: 515 R (11th) .672 OPS (11th)
Pitching: 3.76 ERA (5th) 1.31 WHIP (3rd)
Top 30 Prospects: C Cody Stanley (24), RHP Seth Blair (28)

Lake County Captains (Cleveland)
35-29 (2nd in MWL East)
Offense: 610 R (8th) .708 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 3.93 ERA (10th) 1.28 WHIP (3rd)
Top 30 Prospects: SS Francisco Lindor (1), OF Luigi Rodriguez (5), LHP Elvis Araujo (11), OF LeVon Washington (19), C Jake Lowery (27), 3B Jordan Smith (30)

Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets)
41-27 (2nd in McNamara)
Offense: 264 R (9th) .662 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 2.62 ERA (1st) 1.05 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Brandon Nimmo (3), SS Phillip Evans (21), C Kevin Plawecki