Welcome back to MiLB season! Every day, we'll bring you the details of the previous day's Rays organization action and look ahead to the games of that day.
Low-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (1-0) ***Featured game of the day***
The Hot Rods rallied late to break a 1-1 tie in an 8-2 win at South Bend. In the 7th, Bowling Green piled on five runs in a six hit inning. The big blow came when Joey Rickard hit a two run triple, and he was brought home on a double by Andrew Toles. A double steal executed by Tommy Coyle and Justin O'Conner also contributed to the big inning. Once again, O'Conner was the DH and did not play the field. Before the late game hit parade, Jeff Ames delivered five great innings in his full-season debut. The first rounder allowed one run on just two hits while striking out four and walking none. Patrick Leonard had a two hit Rays debut, including a double.
AAA Durham Bulls (0-0)
Durham was rained out in Norfolk.
AA Montgomery Biscuits (0-1)
A 4th inning grand slam proved to be the different in Montgomery's 5-2 loss against Birmingham. After three scoreless innings, Trayce Thompson led off the 4th with a solo home run. Four batters later, Tyler Saladino took Matt Buschmann deep for a grand slam that put the Barons up 5-0. The Biscuits would pick up their two runs in the 5th on Kevin Kiermaier and Shawn O'Malley singles. While Mikie Mahtook was the only Biscuit to not reach base once, Riccio Torrez was the only one to reach base twice. Montgomery's bullpen tossed 5.1 scoreless innings, including two by Braulio Lara.
High-A Charlotte Stone Crabs (0-0)
Charlotte was rained out in Palm Beach.
(Please share in the comments if this link doesn't work, I'm just reusing it from last year)
Star of the day- Jeff Ames' transition to full-season ball was seamless, and hopefully Blake Snell and Taylor Guerrieri can do the same.
Goat of the day- Montgomery's offense didn't do very much, but Matt Buschmann struggled and didn't give the Biscuits many innings.
Today's games (probables courtesy of milb.com)
Durham @ Norfolk 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV)
Chris Archer* (0-0, ---) v. Zach Clark (0-0, ---)
Montgomery v. Birmingham 8:05 PM
Albert Suarez (0-0, ---) v. Spencer Arroyo (0-0, ---)
Charlotte @ Palm Beach 6:35 PM DOUBLEHEADER
Felipe Rivero (0-0, ---) v. Kyle Hald (0-0, ---)
TBA v. TBA
Both games will be seven innings
Bowling Green @ South Bend 7:35 PM
Blake Snell (0-0, ---) v. Daniel Watts (0-0, ---)
*Listed as TBA on milb.com
Scouting the opposition
Norfolk Tides (Baltimore)
0-0
Offense: No games
Pitching: No games
Top 30 Prospects: IF Jonathan Schoop (3), OF L.J. Hoes (6), LHP Michael Belfiore (24)
Birmingham Barons (White Sox)
1-0 (1st in SL North)
Offense: 5 R (2nd) .813 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 2.00 ERA (2nd) 0.89 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Trayce Thompson (2), RHP Erik Johnson (4), OF Keenyn Walker (5), LHP Scott Snodgress (6), 1B Andy Wilkins (12), RHP Jake Petricka (16), 2B Tyler Saladino (26), Nestor Molina (28)
Palm Beach Cardinals
0-0
Offense: No games
Pitching: No games
Top 30 Prospects: 3B Stephen Piscotty (10), OF James Ramsey (12), LHP Tim Cooney (25)
South Bend Silver Hawks (Arizona)
0-1 (T-5th in MWL East)
Offense: 2 R (13th) .502 OPS (16th)
Pitching: 7.00 ERA (14th) 1.78 WHIP (15th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Socrates Brito (29), IF Brandon Drury