Down on the farm April 23: Guerrieri wins despite struggles

The Cubs announced that Matt Garza will be headed to Tennessee for a rehab appearance, and that means he'll be facing Montgomery. Luke Scott will begin his rehab today with the Stone Crabs.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (12-6)

Durham was off.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (9-9)

Tennessee got to Merrill Kelly late in his outing as Montgomery fell to the Smokies 8-3. In the bottom of the sixth, Tennessee broke a 2-2 tie with a five run inning that saw them bat around. The first three runs in the six hit inning were charged to Kelly, but the final two went to Andrew Bellatti who couldn't prevent his inherited runner from scoring and struggled to get outs himself. The Biscuits committed three errors, but all eight runs in the game were earned. Todd Glaesmann and Mark Thomas both reached base three times, and Mikie Mahtook added two hits of his own. Despite outhitting Tennessee 10-9, they never led in this game.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (7-11)

Charlotte's offense failed to support their pitching staff again in a 2-1 loss to St. Lucie. This time, it was a tandem effort by Jesse Hahn and Jake Floethe that went to waste. As he has in his first three starts, Hahn was limited to three innings, all scoreless, as he struck out one and walked one while allowing three hits. Floethe relieved him and was charged with both runs in the game, but only one was earned. The Mets scored what proved to be the winning run in the seventh when a two out single by T.J. Rivera scored Charley Thurber who doubled earlier in the inning. Charlotte scored their lone run in the fifth on an RBI double by Alejandro Segovia to score Kyeong Kang. It was one of two doubles in the game for Segovia, and he also reached base a third time via walk. Kes Carter also picked up two hits, his second such game in the last four.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (13-4)

Bowling Green's offense came to play and backed a less-than-stellar Taylor Guerrieri in the Hot Rods' 10-5 win. Fort Wayne led 3-1 after two innings, scoring all three against Guerrieri and also aided by a Tyler Goeddel error. Bowling Green would then explode the next three innings, scoring the next nine runs and later forcing the TinCaps to send a position player to the mound. In the fourth, Thomas Coyle had the privilege of making the first and last outs of the inning, sandwiching a five run rally that of course featured a two run double from Andrew Toles. In the next inning, Marty Gantt's three run home run put the game out of reach. That was just one of two doubles for Toles on the day, giving him eight in the young season. Goeddel managed to make up for his error with three hits, a steal, and three runs scored, and Ryan Dunn reached base three times. Guerrieri finished with three runs (two earned) allowed in five innings, surprisingly walking two and only striking out one.

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Star of the day- I'm not sure if Andrew Toles could be any hotter to start the season.

Goat of the day- Charlotte is as cold as Toles is hot right now.

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

Durham v. Toledo 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV)
J.D. Martin (1-1, 5.14) v. Jose Alvarez (1-1, 1.93)

Montgomery @ Tennessee 7:15 PM (MiLB.TV)
Enny Romero (0-0, 5.93) v. Kyle Hendricks (1-1, 5.54)

Charlotte v. St. Lucie 6:30 PM
Roberto Gomez (0-3, 8.31) v. Noah Syndergaard (0-0, 6.75)

Bowling Green v. Ft. Wayne 11:35 AM
Jeff Ames* (1-0, 1.20) v. Walker Weickel* (0-0, 3.52)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Toledo Mud Hens (Detroit)
6-13 (4th in IL West)
Offense: 47 R (14th) .577 OPS (14th)
Pitching: 2.58 ERA (1st) 1.14 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Nick Castellanos (1), RHP Bruce Rondon (3), LHP Casey Crosby (8), RHP Jose Ortega (16), C Bryan Holaday (24), RHP Luke Putkonen (25), 1B Jordan Lennerton (31), RHP Luis Marte (32), RHP Evan Reed (33)

Tennessee Smokies (Cubs)
11-7 (1st in SL North)
Offense: 100 R (1st) .701 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 3.21 ERA (4th) 1.22 WHIP (5th)
Top 30 Prospects: SS Arismendy Alcantara (10), 3B Christian Villanueva (12), RHP Alberto Cabrera (13), OF Matt Szczur (14), RHP Tony Zych (22), RHP Trey McNutt (24), RHP Matt Loosen (27), RHP Marcus Hatley (29)

St. Lucie Mets
12-6 (2nd in FSL South)
Offense: 80 R (6th) .629 OPS (12th)
Pitching: 3.37 ERA (4th) 1.33 WHIP (8th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Noah Syndergaard (3), RHP Luis Mateo (4), RHP Domingo Tapia (9), RHP Jake deGrom (11), RHP Hansel Robles (12), 3B Aderlin Rodriguez (19), SS Matt Reynolds (23), C Cam Maron (30)

Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego)
9-7 (T-3rd in MWL East)
Offense: 103 R (1st) .774 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 4.00 ERA (10th) 1.48 WHIP (14th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Max Fried (2), RHP Walker Weickel (12), RHP Joe Ross (14), RHPH Zach Eflin (16), OF Mallex Smith (28)