Rays down on the farm April 28: Durham allows hits

It was a mixed bag for the affiliates on Sunday.  Although they only combined to hit one home run, there were a handful of solid individual performances at the plate.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (17-8)

Durham failed to throw a second straight no-hitter in their 6-4 win over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.  In fact, Railrider outfielder Ramon Flores led off the game with a single.  In the second, Russ Canzler's solo home run put Durham down 1-0, but Jerry Sands led off the second with a solo shot of his own.  A few innings later, Sands' sac fly capped off a three run inning that put the Bulls ahead 4-3, and he singled home an insurance run in the eighth to make it a 6-4 game.  Sands was one of four Bulls with two hit games.  Hak-Ju Lee was 0/3 with three strikeouts, but he also walked twice.

Merrill Kelly got the ball with a tough act to follow from Saturday, but aside from two mistakes, he did well.  In addition to the second inning Canzler home run, he allowed a two run shot an inning later that put the RailRiders up 3-1.  He settled in and finished with the three runs allowed on three hits and a walk in six innings with five strikeouts.  C.J. Riefenhauser was credited with a win and blown save when he allowed an inherited runner to score, and Kirby Yates struck out two to pick up his eighth save.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (16-8)

Montgomery didn't have a great showing in their 10-0 loss to Jacksonville.  The Suns scored all 10 of their runs with a four run second and third run innings against starter Mike Colla, but fortunately for his ERA, only four of them were earned due to a pair of Ryan Brett errors.  Colla was charged with the 10 runs on nine hits and two walks in 2.2 innings with two strikeouts.  Andrew Bellatti and Braulio Lara combined to strike out five in 5.1 scoreless innings of relief.  The Biscuits only had three hits, all singles, and only four runners reached base the entire game, none of which came after the third inning.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (10-13)

Charlotte came out on top in a lengthy pitchers' duel in their 12 inning 3-2 win over Jupiter.  After the Hammerheads tied the game in the sixth inning, the teams were scoreless until the 11th when the teams traded runs to send the game to a 12th inning.  Jake DePew led off the inning with a walk and was replaced by pinch runner Marty Gantt.  After a Leonardo Reginatto sac bunt moved him into scoring position, Andrew Toles singled him home.  After Jose Alberto Molina blew the save in the 11th, he was credited with the win by keeping Jupiter off the board in the 12th.  Tommy Coyle and Patrick Leonard each had two of Charlotte's eight hits.

He was long gone by the time the game was decided, but Reinaldo Lopez was decent in picking up his third straight quality start.  Jupiter's sixth inning run was unearned, and that was the only run Lopez was charged with, allowing three hits and three walks in six innings with four strikeouts.  Marcus Jensen gave the Stone Crabs some quality work with four scoreless innings out of the bullpen.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (6-16)

Despite outhitting Lansing 14-7, Bowling Green found themselves on the wrong end of a 6-5 final.  Although they held two different one run leads early in the game, the Hot Rods lost them quickly when the tandem of German Marquez and Brad Schreiber struggled.  Marquez turned in his worst effort of the young season, allowing three runs on four hits and four walks in 3.1 innings with three strikeouts.  Schreiber gave up three runs of his own in three innings, but all of them were unearned thanks to errors by Schreiber himself, Oscar Hernandez and Kean Wong.

Hernandez made up for his defensive miscue with a four hit game at the plate, but overall, the team struggled with runners in scoring position, batting just 3/13 while leaving 11 runners on base.  After pulling within one run in the seventh inning, Bowling Green failed to take advantage of two runners in scoring position with their remaining outs in the game.  Three Hot Rods had two hit games, including Johnny Field who also stole a pair of bases.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL BOX SCORES

Star of the day- Sands is 5th in the International League in OPS, and two of the players ahead of him aren't active in the league now.

Goat of the day- Colla headlined a forgettable game for Montgomery.

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

Durham v. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Nathan Karns (2-2, 8.02) v. Alfredo Aceves (0-0, 0.00)

Montgomery @ Jacksonville 11:05 AM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Matt Neil (1-0, 3.68) v. Jose Urena (1-2, 7.45)

Charlotte @ St. Lucie 6:30 PM (Radio stream)
Bruedlin Suero* (1-1, 5.60) v. Matt Koch (1-0, 4.86)

Bowling Green v. South Bend 8:05 PM (Radio stream)
Jake Faria* (0-1, 2.66) v. Adam Miller* (1-0, 0.92)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Yankees)
10-12 (5th in IL North)
Offense: 80 R (12th) .653 OPS (12th)
Pitching: 3.80 ERA (6th) 1.44 WHIP (11th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Shane Greene (16), OF Ramon Flores (20)

Jacksonville Suns (Miami)
11-13 (3rd in SL South)
Offense: 100 R (6th) .683 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 4.05 ERA (9th) 1.40 WHIP (9th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Andrew Heaney (1), LHP Justin Nicolino (4), RHP Anthony DeSclafani (5), RHP Jose Urena (7), C J.T. Realmuto (10), RHP Angel Sanchez (16), RHP Nick Wittgren (18), LHP Grant Dayton (21), LHP Edgar Olmos (23), RHP Tyler Higgins (25)

St. Lucie Mets
13-10 (T-2nd in FSL South)
Offense: 136 R (1st) .785 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 4.57 ERA (11th) 1.38 WHIP (8th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Brandon Nimmo (8), LHP Steve Matz (12), 2B Dilson Herrera (13), RHP Michael Fulmer (14), RHP Gabriel Ynoa (15), RHP Domingo Tapia (19), RHP Matt Koch (24)

South Bend Silver Hawks (Arizona)
14-9 (2nd in MWL East)
Offense: 94 R (10th) .637 OPS (15th)
Pitching: 3.17 ERA (4th) 1.18 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Braden Shipley (2), RHP Aaron Blair (5), OF Stryker Trahan (8), 1B Daniel Palka (17), C Michael Perez (20), LHP Daniel Gibson (21), RHP Geordy Parra (22), SS Joe Munoz (26), 2B Jamie Westbrook (27), 2B Andrew Velasquez (28)