Rays down on the farm May 21: Charlotte cruises to win

Charlotte will play three more games in Lakeland.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (26-21)

Spot starter Doug Mathis filled in admirably, but it wasn't enough in Durham's 5-4 loss to Louisville.  The Bulls needed someone to step in Tuesday because of last week's doubleheader, and he gave them what they needed.  Mathis actually retired the first eight batters of the game before allowing a two out single in the third.  In the fifth, he gave up his only run of his outing.  Holding a 1-0 lead, he recorded the first out but then allowed a solo home run to Bryan Anderson that tied the game.  After allowing another hit, Mathis exited with one run allowed on three hits and a walk in 4.1 innings with two strikeouts.

In his second inning of work, Jim Patterson was tagged with a two out, three run home run by Donald Lutz that gave Louisville a 4-1 lead.  In the seventh, Hak-Ju Lee hit a two run home run to bring the Bulls within one, but Braulio Lara allowed an insurance run in the ninth that proved to be the game-winner.  Durham pulled within one again in the bottom of the ninth, but they couldn't continue a two out rally to tie the game.  Lee and Justin Christian had two hit games.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (24-20)

Montgomery was off.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (23-21)

Charlotte jumped on Lakeland early and rolled to an 8-0 win.  Already up 2-0 in the fourth, the Stone Crabs broke out with a five run inning, taking advantage of some Lakeland mistakes.  After Hector Guevara reached on an error to load the bases, Jonathan Quinonez was hit by a pitch to make it 3-0.  Andrew Toles' sac fly brought in another run, and Tyler Goeddel's two run double made it a 6-0 game.  Later in the game, Quinonez hit a solo home run to provide insurance.  Quinonez and Leonardo Reginatto each drove in two runs on three hits.

With the run support, Bruedlin Suero therw what was by far his best appearance of the season, pitching seven scoreless innings with only three hits allowed.  He struck out five and walked none.  Making his 2014 debut, Willie Gabay struck out three over two scoreless innings in relief of Suero.  Lakeland didn't have more than one runner on base simultaneously in any inning.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (20-24)

Ryne Stanek trying to pitch into the sixth inning didn't pan out in Bowling Green's 7-4 loss to Lansing.  Up 2-0 in the fifth, Stanek allowed three straight singles to open the inning which cut the lead to one, and the Hot Rods would concede another run to tie the game.  After he was given another lead, Stanek lost it two batters into the bottom half of the inning, and after loading the bases with one out, he had to be replaced by Stone Speer.  All three inherited runners scored, and Stanek finished with six runs allowed on nine hits and a walk in 5.1 innings with four strikeouts.

Now down 6-3, Bowling Green didn't threaten too much the rest of the game.  Kean Wong reached third base with two outs in the seventh, but they did add another run in the eighth with a two out single by Alexander Simon.  Young, Wong and Pat Blair all had two hit games, and Wong reached base three times.  Blair also stole a base.

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Star of the day- Suero doesn't have overwhelming stuff, but he got it done against Lakeland.

Goat of the day- Patterson was a weak link in Durham's bullpen game yesterday afternoon.

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

Durham is off

Montgomery v. Huntsville 8:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Jared Mortensen (4-1, 4.82) v. Tyler Cravy* (7-1, 1.87)

Charlotte @ Lakeland 6:30 PM
Jeff Ames (1-4, 5.18) v. Jake Thompson (3-1, 1.80)

Bowling Green @ Lansing 10:35 AM (Radio stream)
German Marquez (1-2, 3.00) v. Alonzo Gonzalez (0-0, 6.95)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Huntsville Stars (Milwaukee)
30-15 (1st in SL North)
Offense: 217 R (1st) .703 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 3.12 ERA (2nd) 1.14 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Mitch Haniger (3), RHP Taylor Jungmann (6), RHP David Goforth (8), 1B Jason Rogers (20), RHP Kevin Shackelford (21), RHP Drew Gagnon (25), RHP Tyler Cravy (29), OF D'Vontrey Richardson (30)

Lakeland Flying Tigers
27-17 (2nd in FSL North)
Offense: 181 R (8th) .660 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 3.11 ERA (4th) 1.22 WHIP (3rd)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Jake Thompson (4), RHP Calvin Drummond (29)

Lansing Lugnuts (Toronto)
22-22 (4th in MWL West)
Offense: 211 R (6th) .705 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 3.94 ERA (8th) 1.46 WHIP (14th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF D.J. Davis (3), 3B Mitch Nay (4), RHP Alberto Tirado (8), SS Dawel Lugo (9), RHP Chase De Jong (11), RHP Tom Robson (16), C Santiago Nessy (23), 1B Matt Dean (25)