Down on the farm May 15: Rivero goes seven

It was a pretty slow day in the organization. The pitching was generally good, but there was only one homer between all the affiliates.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (13-23) ***Featured game of the day***

Charlotte continued to receive great pitching in their 4-2 win over Daytona. For the first time in his career, Felipe Rivero completed seven innings. He allowed two runs, but they were only on four hits and one walk, and he struck out seven for the second straight start. Charlotte got all of their offense in back to back two run innings. In the sixth, a two run single by Hector Guevara gave the Stone Crabs a 2-1 lead, but Daytona would quickly tie the game. An inning later, Drew Vettleson laid down a squeeze bunt with two outs to score the go-ahead run, and that was followed by a run-scoring single by Richie Shaffer. That was just one of three hits for Shaffer who extended his hitting streak to seven games. Alejandro Segovia also had a three hit game including two doubles. Lenny Linsky relieved Rivero and struck out two over two perfect innings to record his third save.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (23-15)

Four early runs against Twins prospect Kyle Gibson buoyed Durham in their 7-4 win at Rochester. With two outs in the second inning, Rich Thompson drove in a pair of runs with a bases loaded double, and that was followed by a two run single from Jason Bourgeois. Those runs proved to be huge because J.D. Martin wasn't sharp. He allowed three runs, two earned, on six hits and four walks in 5.2 innings while striking out just one. After Rochester scored three straight runs to pull within one, Leslie Anderson hit a solo home run to get the Bulls back on track. Vince Belnome led the offense by reaching base four times, one of five Bulls to get on multiple times. Wil Myers and Tim Beckham combined to go 1/7 with two strikeouts. Kirby Yates struck out five over the last two innings to earn his first save of the year.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (19-18)

A four run fourth inning sunk Montgomery in their 5-2 loss to Birmingham. In a scoreless game, the Barons got to Merrill Kelly in the fourth with a combination of walks, hits and stolen bases. Birmingham had three hits in that inning while Montgomery only had two the entire game. Those belonged to Mikie Mahtook, whose hit was a double, and Shawn O'Malley. Mahtook also walked and drove in both Biscuits runs. Kelly would end up pitching seven innings, finishing with four runs allowed on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (23-12)

After going up 3-0, Bowling Green held on to beat the TinCaps 3-2 Tuesday. He only struck out two in five innings, but Reinaldo Lopez was effective, only allowing two hits and walking none while keeping Ft. Wayne off the board. The Hot Rods first got on the board in the fourth when they opened up the inning with three consecutive singles by Joey Rickard, Tyler Goeddel and Luke Maile. Andrew Toles led off the sixth with a single and proceeded to steal second and third base. It looked like he could be stranded there, but Luke Maile scored him with a double and scored himself on a Justin O'Conner single. Ft. Wayne would get the tying run in scoring position in the final three innings, but Jose Molina and Ryan Garton were able to sneak through trouble and preserve the game.

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Star of the day- Has to go to Felipe Rivero who has 14 strikeouts over his last two starts.

Goat of the day- Montgomery's offense has had much better days, but no one has been beating Birmingham at their new stadium.

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

Durham @ Rochester 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV)
Jake Odorizzi (4-0, 2.97) v. Liam Hendriks* (1-3, 5.53)

Montgomery @ Birmingham 12 PM
Enny Romero (1-1, 5.58) v. Scott Snodgress (5-1, 3.98)

Charlotte @ Daytona 10:35 AM
Jesse Hahn (0-0, 1.35) v. Austin Kirk (4-1, 4.50)

Bowling Green @ Ft. Wayne 11:05 AM
Blake Snell (1-3, 2.81) v. Max Fried (1-0, 2.92)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Rochester Red Wings (Minnesota)
15-23 (5th in IL North)
Offense: 137 R (13th) .690 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 4.63 ERA (12th) 1.50 WHIP (13th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Kyle Gibson (5), C Chris Herrmann (18), OF Joe Benson (19)

Birmingham Barons (White Sox)
25-12 (1st in SL North)
Offense: 211 R (1st) .768 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 3.31 ERA (3rd) 1.19 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Trayce Thompson (2), RHP Erik Johnson (4), OF Keenyn Walker (5), LHP Scott Snodgress (6), OF Jared Mitchell (9), 1B Andy Wilkins (12), SS Marcus Semien (14), RHP Jake Petricka (16), RHP Kevin Vance (19), LHP Santos Rodriguez (21), 2B Tyler Saladino (26), Nestor Molina (28), C Mike Blanke (33)

Daytona Cubs
17-17 (4th in FSL North)
Offense: 167 R (4th) .736 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 4.68 ERA (11th) 1.45 WHIP (11th)
Top 30 Prospects: SS Javier Baez (1), OF Jorge Soler (3)

Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego)
22-13 (3rd in MWL East)
Offense: 182 R (2nd) .738 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 3.59 ERA (4th) 1.37 WHIP (7th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Max Fried (2), RHP Walker Weickel (12), RHP Joe Ross (14), RHP Zach Eflin (16), OF Mallex Smith (28)