Rays down on the farm August 30: Moore rehabs

Montgomery was eliminated from the playoff race, but Charlotte is guaranteed at least a tie for their second half title.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (86-53)

Durham survived a back and forth battle in their 7-6 win over Gwinnett. Vince Belnome and Cole Figueroa singled home runs in the first inning, but the rehabbing Matt Moore was not at his best. After recording the second out with two runners on base, he allowed consecutive hits that scored three hits and gave the Braves the lead. Durham tied it in the third, but Moore would allow a fourth run an inning later, finishing with four allowed on eight hits and two walks in four innings with two strikeouts. 43 of his 74 pitches were strikes. In the seventh, Figueroa cleared the bases with a two out triple to give Durham a 7-4 lead. Kirby Yates came on for the ninth to record the save, but he allowed two runs before striking out the last two batters of the game with the tying run being left at third base. Belnome reached base four times, and Bourgeois walked three times and scored three runs.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (32-34)

A four run fifth inning helped Montgomery to a 7-2 win over Birmingham. Unfortunately, Jacksonville's win eliminated the Biscuits from playoff contention. Already up 1-0, seven straight Biscuits reached base to start off the fifth. Mikie Mahtook hit a two run double and came around to score on a wild pitch, and the last run of the inning came when Kyeong Kang drew a bases loaded walk. Cameron Seitzer added some insurance in the ninth with a two run homer, his sixth of the year. Mike Colla started and pitched five scoreless innings, striking out three and allowing five hits and a walk. Jim Patterson allowed both Baron runs in two innings of work. Five Biscuits had multi-hit games, including Curt Casali who reached base four more times. Seitzer had two hits and a pair of walks as well. Delmon Young was 2/6.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (36-26)

Charlotte reduced their magic number to one with a 1-0 win over second place Palm Beach. Four Charlotte pitchers combined to shut out the Cardinals on five hits and four walks. Felipe Rivero started but only went 4.2 innings, allowing four hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Shay Crawford would get the win with two walks and a strikeout in 2.1 innings, and Andrew Bellatti and Nate Garcia pitched an inning each. The Stone Crabs would get their only run of the game in the sixth off the bat of Richie Shaffer. Jake Hager reached base and advanced to second on an error, and Shaffer singled him home with two outs. Shaffer had two of their five hits.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (41-25)

Bowling Green took advantage of five South Bend errors in their 5-3 win over the Silver Hawks. With unearned runs in the first and second innings, the Hot Rods took an early 2-0 lead, but South Bend battled back with three runs over the next two innings to take the lead. They couldn't get the shutdown inning though, and Bowling Green scored their only two earned runs of the game in the fifth. Joey Rickard struck out with one out and two runners in scoring position, but Tommy Coyle picked him up with a single to score Patrick Leonard and Andrew Toles. Jordan Harrison got the bare minimum quality start with three runs allowed (one earned) in six innings on five hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Toles, Coyle and Leonard each had two hits.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (34-35)

Despite outhitting Aberdeen 8-3, a solo home run sunk Hudson Valley in their 1-0 loss. Starter Jaime Schultz took the loss because he allowed that home run in the second inning, but he pitched a really good game. He struck out six and only allowed the one run on three hits and no walks in five innings. Colton Reavis struck out four in three perfect innings of relief. Ty Young and John Alexander each had two hits. The Renegades were 1/8 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base.

Rookie Princeton Rays (24-43)

Two ninth inning runs weren't enough in Princeton's 3-2 loss to Bristol. The White Sox got off to a 1-0 lead in the first with an unearned run, and a Patrick Palmeiro two run homer in the fourth gave them all the offense they would need. The Rays only managed four hits in the first eight innings, but they did have a great opportunity in the eighth when they loaded the bases with one out and couldn't take advantage. In the ninth, Jesus Ariaza tripled and scored on a wild pitch, and a two out double by Leopoldo Correa scored their second run. Despite allowing all three runs (two earned), D.J. Slaton pitched decently, striking out eight in five innings and allowing four hits and a walk. Correa reached base three times, and Enmanuel Paulino had two hits.

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (27-33)

The GCL Rays wrapped up their 2013 season with a 3-2 loss. They fell behind quickly in the second inning on a two run homer, but the Daniel Bard Show in the third allowed the Rays to tie the game. In that inning, Bard walked five batters, allowed three stolen bases, and a pair of wild pitches during one at-bat allowed the Rays to tie the game. Alfredo Aceves relieved him with two outs to clean up the mess. Freddy Alvarez returned the favor in the sixth though, and he walked three batters, allowed a steal and uncorked two wild pitches to allow the eventual winning run to score. Trevor Shull allowed the first two runs on three hits and no walks in three innings, but he did strike out five. Alexander Simon had two hits and also walked.

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Star of the day- Casali can't be stopped.

Goat of the day- Bard clearly doesn't pitch for the Rays, but he really has fallen far.

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

Durham @ Gwinnett 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV)
Mike Montgomery (7-7, 4.60) v. Kameron Loe (4-4, 3.28)

Montgomery @ Birmingham 8:05 PM (MiLB.TV)
Victor Mateo* (6-9, 4.06) v. Scott Carroll (0-2, 4.91)

Charlotte v. Palm Beach 6:30 PM
Dylan Floro* (2-0, 1.64) v. Sam Gaviglio* (3-1, 3.03)

Bowling Green @ South Bend 7:05 PM
Blake Snell (4-8, 4.14) v. Blake Perry (7-7, 4.77)

Hudson Valley @ Aberdeen 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV)
Chris Kirsch* (2-3, 3.03) v. Sebastian Vader* (6-3, 2.64)

Princeton @ Bristol 5 PM
Jake Faria (3-3, 2.20) v. Tyler Barnette (1-4, 5.46)

GCL Rays season is over

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Gwinnett Braves
57-83 (4th in IL South)
Offense: 521 R (13th) .681 OPS (13th)
Pitching: 4.05 ERA (10th) 1.46 WHIP (14th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Sean Gilmartin (4), OF Todd Cunningham (12), RHP Cody Martin (13), RHP David Hale (16)

Birmingham Barons (White Sox)
31-35 (3rd in SL North)
Offense: 603 R (1st) .709 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 3.53 ERA (6th) 1.24 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Trayce Thompson (2), OF Keenyn Walker (5), LHP Scott Snodgress (6), OF Jared Mitchell (9), RHP Chris Beck (10), RHP Kevin Vance (19), 2B Tyler Saladino (26), Nestor Molina (28), C Mike Blanke (33), OF Brandon Jacobs

Palm Beach Cardinals
34-30 (2nd in FSL South)
Offense: 508 R (11th) .695 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 3.63 ERA (6th) 1.30 WHIP (4th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Tyrell Jenkins (8), 3B Patrick Wisdom (11), RHP Jordan Swagerty (18), 2B Colin Walsh (31)

South Bend Silver Hawks (Arizona)
34-32 (5th in MWL East)
Offense: 597 R (8th) .722 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 3.75 ERA (8th) 1.29 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: C Michael Perez (12), RHP Kyle Winkler (23), 2B Andrew Velasquez (24), RHP Tyler Green (27), OF Socrates Brito (29), OF Alex Glenn (31), IF Brandon Drury

Aberdeen IronBirds (Baltimore)
35-31 (2nd in McNamara)
Offense: 275 R (5th) .647 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 3.36 ERA (11th) 1.29 WHIP (11th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Hunter Harvey, OF Mike Yastrzemski

Bristol White Sox
20-44 (5th in APP West)
Offense: 234 R (10th) .627 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 4.86 ERA (10th) 1.48 WHIP (10th)
Top 30 Prospects: C Sammy Ayala (22)