Rays down on the farm April 22: Bowling Green ends long slide

The organization picked up a couple extra inning wins Monday.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (14-5)

Durham's offense provided a late run in their 10 inning 6-5 win over Norfolk. In the 10th, Mikie Mahtook led off with a single, advanced to second on a sac bunt by Mike Fontenot, stole third base and came home to score on a two out single by Robby Price. Price was then thrown out at home plate on a Justin Christian double. It was one of three doubles on the afternoon for Christian, and he teamed up with Ray Olmedo and Cole Figueroa to have nine of Durham's 14 hits.

Despite allowing a solo home run to Julio Borbon, Mike Montgomery was generally able to work out of trouble. He finished with two runs allowed on seven hits and two walks in five innings with four strikeouts, and he left the game with a 5-2 lead in line for the win. However, Norfolk got to reliever Adam Liberatore for three runs in the sixth to tie the game. Three more relievers kept the Tides off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game with Jeff Beliveau striking out four in two innings, Doug Mathis picking up the win with two strikeouts in an inning, and Kirby Yates got his seventh save with a 1-2-3 10th.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (12-6)

A four run third inning sparked Montgomery to a 6-2 win over Mississippi. They managed to score those four runs without a benefit of an extra base hit. Jake Hager reached on an error by pitcher Jason Hursh to start the inning, and Joey Rickard kept the pressure on him by following that with a bunt single. Taylor Motter and Willie Argo would both deliver two RBI singles to give the Biscuits a 4-2 lead. Motter would later drive in a third run with a sac fly to provide some insurance. Ryan Brett was 0/2, but he did draw three walks.

The Braves scored both of their runs in the first inning against starter Jared Mortensen thanks to a two out, two run double by Elmer Reyes. Mortensen would work in and out of trouble for four more innings, finishing with the two runs allowed on seven hits and a walk in five innings with four strikeouts. Three Biscuit relievers would combine for four scoreless innings.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (5-12)

Charlotte's offense only managed four hits in their 2-1 loss to Bradenton. They scored their lone run of the game with two outs in the third when Andrew Toles reached base on an error and came home to score on a Leonardo Reginatto double. They would only manage to get two runners on base simultaneously once in the game. Reginatto also drew one of the team's two walks.

Starter Roberto Gomez was decent, but the two runs he allowed came immediately after the Stone Crabs gave him a 1-0 lead to work with. After back to back singles to start the bottom of the third, the Marauders apparently tied the game when a runner scored from second on a sac bunt. The second run would score on a fielder's choice. Gomez allowed the two runs on seven hits and a walk in six innings with two strikeouts, and Parker Markel struck out two in two perfect innings of relief.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (3-13)

Bowling Green was on the right side of a late inning rally and finally ended their long losing streak with a 10 inning 7-4 win over West Michigan. Down two entering the eighth inning, the Hot Rods started their comeback, first with a two out run scoring single by Kean Wong. An inning later, Granden Goetzman tied the game with an RBI double, and after a sac bunt, he was stranded at third with the game headed to extra innings. In the 10th, Armando Araiza hit a three run homer, and Stone Speer ended the game with three consecutive groundouts to Juniel Querecuto.

With a pair of first inning runs allowed by starter German Marquez, it looked like Bowling Green could be headed for another loss, but he settled in and wouldn't allow another run. Marquez finished with two runs allowed on five hits and two walks in five innings with a strikeout. Speer was very effective in relief with three scoreless innings as the offense made their comeback. Six batters reached base at least twice, including four players who had multi-hit games. Wong and Pat Blair led the way with three, and leadoff man Johnny Field reached base three times to set up the middle of the lineup.

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Star of the day- Araiza was key in Bowling Green finally getting back in the win column.

Goat of the day- For one night, Charlotte's offense Bowling Greened. Meanwhile in Clearwater, Dan Vogelbach was hitless for Daytona.

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

Durham @ Charlotte 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Merrill Kelly (3-0, 1.50) v. Dylan Axelrod (1-1, 4.50)

Montgomery v. Mississippi 11:35 AM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Mike Colla* (1-1, 4.86) v. Williams Perez (1-1, 1.26)

Charlotte @ Bradenton 6:30 PM (Radio stream)
Reinaldo Lopez (1-1, 7.24) v. John Kuchno (2-1, 3.68)

Bowling Green @ West Michigan 12 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Blake Snell (0-2, 3.12) v. Kevin Ziomek (0-1, 2.35)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Charlotte Knights (White Sox)
6-12 (3rd in IL South)
Offense: 55 R (13th) .620 OPS (14th)
Pitching: 4.16 ERA (12th) 1.51 WHIP (14th)
Top 30 Prospects: 3B Matt Davidson (4), 2B Carlos Sanchez (12), OF Jared Mitchell (13), RHP Jake Petricka (21)

Mississippi Braves
6-12 (5th in SL South)
Offense: 47 R (10th) .587 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 3.31 ERA (4th) 1.39 WHIP (9th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP J.R. Graham (3), RHP Jason Hursh (4), RHP Shae Simmons (16), 3B Kyle Kubitza (22), OF Matt Lipka (24), RHP Aaron Northcraft (25), OF Robby Hefflinger (29), RHP James Hoyt (30)

Bradenton Marauders (Pittsburgh)
12-5 (1st in FSL South)
Offense: 63 R (9th) .653 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 1.92 ERA (2nd) 1.05 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Tyler Glasnow (3), OF Josh Bell (7), C Jin-De Jhang (24)

West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit)
9-8 (4th in MWL East)
Offense: 64 R (13th) .677 OPS (11th)
Pitching: 2.75 ERA (2nd) 1.21 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Jonathan Crawford (5), LHP Kevin Ziomek (10), SS Javier Betancourt (16), RHP Jeff Thompson (24), SS Willy Adames (30)