Rays down on the farm April 23: Bowling Green makes it two in a row

Hak-Ju Lee was apparently activated by the Bulls, but he did not play.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (15-5)

Merrill Kelly was sharp again in Durham's 8-4 win over Charlotte. Although he allowed at least one runner to reach base in all but one of his six innings, Kelly was mostly able to get out of trouble, finishing with one run allowed on seven hits and no walks with seven strikeouts. He allowed that run in the fourth inning after the Bulls already went up 4-0 when the Knights hit three straight two out singles against him.

Justin Christian's three run home run in the third inning got the scoring started, and Durham added a run an inning later thanks to a Charlotte error. A Tyler Saladino two run homer in the seventh made it a one run game, but the Bulls added a pair of two run innings to provide insurance. Six Bulls reached base multiple times, including Mike Fontenot who hit two doubles and drove in three runs. In his first appearance since being optioned by the Rays, Brad Boxberger struck out four in two innings, but he did allow a solo home run to Saladino in the ninth.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (12-7)

A persistent Braves offense hurt Montgomery in their 6-2 loss to Mississippi. They scored in five separate innings, starting with a two out run in the top of the first against starter Mike Colla. Colla, along with four Biscuit relievers, failed to record a single 1-2-3 inning. He finished with two runs allowed on five hits and three walks in five innings with five strikeouts. Matt Lollis allowed a sixth inning two run homer that gave Mississippi some extra breathing room.

Montgomery got their first run of the game on a fourth inning sac fly by Cameron Seitzer, and Curt Casali drove in the second in the sixth inning with a two out single. After each inning the Biscuits scored, the pitching staff failed to record a shutdown inning, allowing Mississippi to get the runs right back. Casali reached base three times and now has 12 walks in his last six games. Luke Maile and Joey Rickard had two hit games.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (6-12)

Charlotte's offense bounced back after Monday night's loss to back a solid effort by Reinaldo Lopez in their 7-1 win over Bradenton. Lopez allowed one run in 6.1 innings on six hits and three walks with nine strikeouts, and the Stone Crabs were already up 7-0 when Bradenton finally scored. Kevin Brandt was outstanding in relief of Lopez, facing five batters and striking out all five.

Charlotte got the scoring started in the second when Patrick Leonard led off the inning with a double and came around to score on a Maxx Tissenbaum single. Josh Sale would drive in another run later in the inning. In the fifth, Charlotte scored four runs, utilizing walks, steals, extra base hits and defensive miscues. The big blow of the inning was Leonard's two run homer, his fourth of the season. With the exception of Kes Carter, every Stone Crab reached base multiple times, including Justin O'Conner who had three hits, two of which were doubles.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (4-13)

Bowling Green got on the board early and cruised behind a solid Blake Snell outing for a 5-0 win over West Michigan. In the top of the first, three straight singles by Kean Wong, Johnny Field and Pat Blair, aided by a wild pitch, put the Hot Rods up 2-0, and they scored a third run in the inning with a Whitecaps error. With the run support, Snell got out of first inning trouble and was efficient and effective the rest of the way, finishing with three hits and two walks in six scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

The Hot Rods offense was tripped up through the next six innings, but they were able to add some late insurance to put the game out of reach. In the eighth, Oscar Hernandez hit a two out RBI double, and Wong had a ninth inning RBI single that could've been part of a bigger rally if Blair didn't ground into a bases loaded, inning ending double play. Wong, Field, Blair and Alexander Simon had two hit games, and Field also walked twice and stole his fifth base.

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Star of the day- Leonard is one of several Rays prospects off to a hot start at the plate this year.

Goat of the day- Colla, along with Montgomery's whole staff, couldn't keep runners off the bases.

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

Durham @ Charlotte 11:05 AM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Nathan Karns* (2-1, 5.59) v. TBA

Montgomery v. Mississippi 8:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Grayson Garvin* (0-1, 1.00) v. J.R. Graham (0-1, 0.00)

Charlotte v. Bradenton 6:30 PM (Radio stream)
Bruedlin Suero (1-1, 7.11) v. Orlando Castro* (2-0, 2.12)

Bowling Green @ West Michigan 12 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Jake Faria (0-1, 1.88) v. Chad Green (0-0, 3.18)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Charlotte Knights (White Sox)
6-13 (3rd in IL South)
Offense: 59 R (13th) .631 OPS (14th)
Pitching: 4.31 ERA (12th) 1.53 WHIP (13th)
Top 30 Prospects: 3B Matt Davidson (4), 2B Carlos Sanchez (12), OF Jared Mitchell (13), RHP Jake Petricka (21)

Mississippi Braves
7-12 (5th in SL South)
Offense: 53 R (10th) .609 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 3.23 ERA (3rd) 1.38 WHIP (8th)
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)
12-6 (1st in FSL South)
Offense: 64 R (9th) .648 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 2.21 ERA (2nd) 1.13 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Tyler Glasnow (3), OF Josh Bell (7), C Jin-De Jhang (24)

West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit)
9-9 (4th in MWL East)
Offense: 64 R (13th) .666 OPS (13th)
Pitching: 2.76 ERA (2nd) 1.24 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Jonathan Crawford (5), LHP Kevin Ziomek (10), SS Javier Betancourt (16), RHP Jeff Thompson (24), SS Willy Adames (30)