Down on the farm 5/31: Bulls rock Josh Johnson

After Wednesday's two homer game, Brandon Martin sat out in the early Thursday contest.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (34-20) ***Featured game of the day***

Durham roughed up the rehabbing Josh Johnson in a 7-2 win over Buffalo. After the Bisons scored two runs in the top of the first, they would obviously be shut down the rest of the game. Down 2-1 in the bottom of the third, the Bulls did most of their damage against Johnson. They got four runs in the inning thanks to a pair of two-out, two-run doubles by Tim Beckham and Cole Figueroa. Johnson allowed six runs on eight hits and three walks in 4.2 innings with three strikeouts. Meanwhile, J.D. Martin kind of settled in after the two run first. He finished six innings, allowing at least a baserunner in each of them, allowing two runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out four. Leslie Anderson later hit a solo home run against Dustin McGowan. Wil Myers reached base three times including two walks, and Mike Fontenot was hit by two pitches from Johnson.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (27-26)

A handful of late runs broke a 2-2 tie in Montgomery's 6-2 win over Mississippi. The Biscuits scored a run in both the second and third innings on a Mark Thomas RBI single and wild pitch, but Merrill Kelly coughed up the lead in the fifth when he allowed back to back doubles after a one out walk. That was the only inning Kelly allowed runs, and he was solid despite walking three and only striking out one. He lasted six innings and allowed three hits. Just a half inning after the Braves tied the game, a two out Biscuits rally gave them the lead for good. After Kyeong Kang singled to extend the inning, Riccio Torrez hit a two run homer, his fourth of the season. A two out single in the ninth inning by Mikie Mahtook, aided by a throwing error, scored two more for Montgomery. Torrez had the only two extra base hits of the game for the Biscuits, and Kevin Kiermaier and Shawn O'Malley each had three hits.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (23-28)

Charlotte was postponed.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (30-23)

A big inning early sunk Bowling Green in their 6-1 loss to Lake County. Dylan Floro was a bit wild, and Justin O'Conner didn't really help contain it. With no outs in the second inning, Eric Haase hit a two run home run, and even though they would prove to not need any more runs, that inning continued. Floro got two quick outs, but with three more singles, his second wild pitch of the inning, and a passed ball, the Captains added two more runs. He finished with all six runs allowed (five earned) on eight hits in six innings with five strikeouts and no walks. There were no real bright spots offensively for the Hot Rods, but Andrew Toles did add two more hits and a stolen base to his season totals.

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Star of the day- Former #1 overall pick Tim Beckham

Goat of the day- Not much to choose from today, so I'll go with Floro.

Today's games (probables not courtesy of milb.com because the scoreboard for 5/31 was not working)

Durham v. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV)
Chris Archer (5-3, 3.96) v. Chris Bootcheck (5-0, 2.82)

Montgomery @ Mississippi 8 PM (MiLB.TV)
Enny Romero (3-1, 3.47) v. Gus Schlosser (5-1, 3.00)

Charlotte v. St. Lucie 6:30 PM
Parker Markel (2-4, 6.96) v. Angel Cuan (5-1, 3.69)

Bowling Green v. South Bend 8:05 PM
Eduar Quinonez (3-3, 5.82) v. Brandon Sinnery (2-2, 2.29)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Yankees)
24-28 (3rd in IL North)
Offense: 214 R (13th) .701 OPS (12th)
Pitching: 4.11 ERA (9th) 1.39 WHIP (8th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Brett Marshall (6), RHP Mark Montgomery (11), OF Melky Mesa (18), 2B Corban Joseph (27), OF Thomas Neal (28)

Mississippi Braves
29-24 (2nd in SL South)
Offense: 229 R (3rd) .697 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 3.14 ERA (1st) 1.24 WHIP (4th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP J.R. Graham (2), C Christian Bethancourt (3), LHP Alex Wood (7), RHP Cody Martin (13), 3B Edward Salcedo (17), RHP Aaron Northcraft (30)

St. Lucie Mets
29-22 (2nd in FSL South)
Offense: 252 R (3rd) .703 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 3.37 ERA (4th) 1.26 WHIP (4th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Noah Syndergaard (3), RHP Luis Mateo (4), RHP Jeurys Familia (8), RHP Domingo Tapia (9), RHP Hansel Robles (12), 3B Aderlin Rodriguez (19), SS Matt Reynolds (23), C Cam Maron (30)

South Bend Silver Hawks (Arizona)
34-17 (1st in MWL East)
Offense: 241 R (6th) .722 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 3.32 ERA (2nd) 1.29 WHIP (3rd)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Socrates Brito (29), OF Alex Glenn (31), IF Brandon Drury