Rays down on the farm August 16: Garvin has encouraging outing

I wonder if he'll head out to the AFL this off-season to make up for some of the innings he missed this season.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (77-49)

Merrill Kelly came out on top in a pitchers duel in a 2-1 win over Gwinnett. His first six innings were scoreless, and he was charged with an unearned run in the seventh when Aldon Carrithers came all the way around from first to score on an error by Vince Belnome. Just an inning earlier, Kevin Kiermaier tripled and scored on a Gwinnett error, and the second run scored on a Leslie Anderson double. Kelly exited the seventh with the tying run on third, but Brandon Gomes was able to get the last two outs without any more damage being done. Kelly finished with the one run allowed in 6.1 innings on two hits and two walks with six strikeouts. Gomes recorded five outs, and Josh Lueke earned a save with a scoreless ninth.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (23-30)

A six run second inning was the start of a long night in Montgomery's 10-1 loss to Jackson. Jake Thompson started and was rocked, allowing those six runs in the second and only lasting three. Those came on seven hits and five walks, and he had three strikeouts. Three Biscuit relievers combined to allow four runs in five innings. Robi Estrada had three hits and reached base four times, and Curt Casali had two hits and drove in Montgomery's only run.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (28-21)

A 2-0 lead quickly deteriorated for Charlotte in a 7-2 loss to Jupiter. Drew Vettleson's RBI double in the first inning gave the Stone Crabs a 1-0 lead, and Jake Hager hit a sac fly two innings later to extend it to 2-0. They would run into trouble in the fifth though when the Hammerheads scored three runs against Mario Fernandez to take the lead. Fernandez would be charged with three more runs in the next inning, two of which were inherited by Matt Ramsey and came around to score. There was an encouraging pitching performance, and that belonged to Grayson Garvin. He started the game with three perfect innings, and he struck out four. Vettleson had two of Charlotte's five hits, but the team was unable to draw any walks.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (31-22)

Despite allowing three home runs, Bowling Green was able to top Fort Wayne 6-4. Andrew Toles stole third base in the first inning and came home on a throwing error, but they fell behind two innings later when the TinCaps hit two of those three homers to take a 3-1 lead. The Hot Rods answered with a three run inning of their own though in the fifth, and it was capped off on another throwing error when Toles was stealing third base. Thanks to six Fort Wayne errors, only one of Bowling Green's runs was earned. Jeff Ames allowed all four TinCap runs in seven innings on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts. Toles and Marty Gantt had two hit games.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (27-28)

A four run seventh inning broke a 2-2 tie in Hudson Valley's 6-4 win over Brooklyn. The Cyclones jumped out in front immediately with two runs in the top of the first, but the Renegades tied it on the fifth with an RBI single by Daryl George, and he came home to score on a John Alexander sac fly. With one out in the seventh, John Alexander cleared the bases with a triple, and he came around to score on a wild pitch to extend their lead to 6-2. Eli Echarry allowed two runs, but he ended up getting the win. Chris Kirsch started and only allowed a pair of unearned runs in six innings on two hits and one walk with four strikeouts. Oscar Hernandez had two hits and stole a base.

Rookie Princeton Rays (16-37)

Princeton's game was suspended.

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (21-27)

The GCL Rays broke a 3-3 tie with three seventh inning runs in their 6-4 win over the GCL Twins. After leading off the inning with a triple, Ryan Henley came home to score on a wild pitch. Later in the inning with two outs, two more wild pitchers helped two runners move into scoring position, and Adderly Rosa drove home two with a single. After Wilking Rodriguez and Matt Swilley both made rehab appearances, Roel Ramirez entered to pitch four innings, and he allowed two runs on five hits and no walks with a strikeout. In his rehab appearance, Rodriguez struck out one and allowed a hit in a scoreless inning. Alexander Simon and Nick Ciuffo both reached base three times.

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Star of the day- Kelly has been solid for Montgomery and Durham in 2013.

Goat of the day- Montgomery's recent road trip has not been good.

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

Durham @ Gwinnett 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV)
Matt Buschmann (6-1, 2.95) v. Cody Martin (2-4, 3.97)

Montgomery @ Jackson 8:05 PM (MiLB.TV)
Marquis Fleming (3-6, 5.23) v. Anthony Vasquez (1-2, 3.38)

Charlotte @ Palm Beach 6:35 PM
Jake Partridge* (2-5, 4.40) v. Kyle Hald (5-7, 4.94)

Bowling Green @ Fort Wayne 7:05 PM
Jordan Harrison (3-2, 2.81) v. Joe Ross (4-7, 3.97)

Hudson Valley @ Lowell 7:05 PM
Chris Kirsch* (1-3, 3.45) v. Ty Buttrey (3-3, 2.61)

Princeton @ Bluefield 7:05 PM
Nolan Gannon* (1-4, 6.45) v. TBA

GCL Rays @ GCL Orioles 12 PM
TBA v. TBA

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Gwinnett Braves
54-73 (4th in IL South)
Offense: 483 R (13th) .689 OPS (13th)
Pitching: 3.99 ERA (8th) 1.44 WHIP (14th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Todd Cunningham (12), RHP Cody Martin (13), RHP David Hale (16)

Jackson Generals (Seattle)
25-25 (3rd in SL North)
Offense: 463 R (7th) .676 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 3.35 ERA (4th) 1.25 WHIP (4th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Carson Smith (16), OF Leon Landry (17), 2B Jack Marder (20), C John Hicks (21), OF Julio Morban (23), OF Jabari Blash (24), SS Chris Taylor (28), 3B Ramon Moria (29), LHP Anthony Fernandez (30)

Palm Beach Cardinals
27-24 (3rd in FSL South)
Offense: 476 R (9th) .702 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 3.84 ERA (8th) 1.32 WHIP (5th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Tyrell Jenkins (8), 3B Patrick Wisdom (11), RHP Jordan Swagerty (18), 2B Colin Walsh (31)

Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego)
19-33 (8th in MWL East)
Offense: 564 R (4th) .711 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 3.69 ERA (5th) 1.40 WHIP (11th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Max Fried (2), RHP Walker Weickel (12), RHP Joe Ross (14), RHP Zach Eflin (16), OF Mallex Smith (28), OF Hunter Renfroe

Lowell Spinners (Boston)
30-23 (2nd in Stedler)
Offense: 186 R (11th) .616 OPS (13th)
Pitching: 2.72 ERA (3rd) 1.14 WHIP (3rd)
Top 30 Prospects: SS Tzu-Wei Lin (16), OF Manuel Margot (20), RHP Ty Buttrey (26), RHP Simon Mercedes (28)

Bluefield Blue Jays
35-17 (!st in APP East)
Offense: 256 R (3rd) .729 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 2.98 ERA (1st) 1.23 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: OF D.J. Davis (6), RHP Alberto Tirado (15), 3B Matt Dean (17), RHP Chase DeJong (22), 3B Mitch Nay (24), SS Dawel Lugo (26), LHP Jairo Labourt (28), RHP Yeyfry Del Rosario (29)

GCL Orioles
26-22 (2nd in GCL South)
Offense: 192 R (11th) .657 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 3.22 ERA (4th) 1.24 WHIP (3rd)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Hunter Harvey