Rays down on the farm May 27: Stanek leads rout

Pitching was very good for the organization Monday.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (31-21)

Despite being victimized by two dingers from minor league home run king Mike Hessman, Durham was able to eke out a 4-3 win over Toledo.  After Hessman hit his first, the Bulls responded quickly with three runs in the next half inning, all scored with two outs.  Justin Christian's single scored Vince Belnome, and Mike Fontenot's double scored Christian and Hak-Ju Lee.  In the eighth, Wilson Betemit's sac fly to score a fourth run proved to be a critical insurance run.  Fontenot and Mikie Mahtook had two hit games.  Mahtook has five hits over the last two games, three of which went for extra bases.

After Alex Colome was promoted, Merrill Kelly took his regularly scheduled start and did okay.  After allowing the first solo home run, Kelly was charged with an unearned run an inning later thanks to an error by Belnome.  He finished with two runs (one earned) allowed in five innings on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts.  In the eighth, Hessman hit his second home run of the day against C.J. Riefenhauser, and after he allowed the tying run to reach base, he settled in and ended the threat before Jeff Beliveau earned a save with another 1-2-3 inning.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (26-24)

Montgomery's offense was shut down most of the night in their 10 inning 3-2 loss to Jacksonville.  With a 0-0 score, both runs scored in the third inning, first on a wild pitch and then a two out single by Cameron Seitzer.  After that inning, only five Biscuits would reach base, and only one was able to get into scoring position.  Montgomery didn't draw any walks, and they only had nine hits, three of which came off the bat of Taylor Motter.

Grayson Garvin made his first start since April 23rd when he left with a back injury.  In two scoreless innings, he struck out two, walked none and only allowed one hit, and he only needed 23 pitches (16 strikes) to do it.  Jared Mortensen piggybacked Garvin on his normal day to start and did well, allowing the first two Jacksonville runs on six hits and a walk in six innings with seven strikeouts.  In the 10th, Andrew Bellatti allowed a walkoff single with two outs to hand the Suns a series opening win.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (25-24)

Charlotte was off.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (23-27)

With the help of an explosive offensive outburst, Ryne Stanek had his best professional outing in Bowling Green's 15-0 win over West Michigan.  After allowing a two out double in the first inning to former SEC rival Raph Rhymes, Stanek shut the Whitecaps down, retiring 16 in a row before exiting for the afternoon.  He finished with four strikeouts in six innings with only that hit and no walks allowed.  Aaron Griffin and Andrew Hanse finished the game with similar ease.

Bowling Green's offense hit the ground running with two first inning runs, and Yoel Araujo's two run homer to cap off a third inning extended the lead.  That would actually be it for runs scored with Stanek in the game though.  Araujo would hit another two run homer in the five run seventh inning, and the Hot Rods scored five more in the eighth, capped off by a three run homer from Alexander Simon.  Bowling Green piled up 15 hits, eight of which were for extra bases.  The bottom three in the lineup, Araujo, Simon and Ty Young, drove in 10 of the 15 runs.  Juniel Querecuto and Johnny Field each reached base four times, and Darryl George was That Guy with an 0/5 game.

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Star of the day- For the first time as a professional, Stanek successfully lasted six innings.

Goat of the day- Montgomery could've used a little offense.

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

Durham @ Toledo 6:30 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Enny Romero (2-4, 4.73) v. Derek Hankins* (2-4, 6.22)

Montgomery @ Jacksonville 5:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream) DOUBLEHEADER
Victor Mateo (6-3, 3.98) v. Chipper Smith* (0-0, 2.19)
TBA v. TBA

Both games will be seven innings

Charlotte v. Dunedin 6:30 PM (Radio stream)
Jeff Ames* (1-5, 6.75) v. Daniel Norris (3-0, 0.80)

Bowling Green v. West Michigan 8:05 PM (Radio stream)
German Marquez (1-2, 4.70) v. Kevin Ziomek (3-4, 2.00)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Toledo Mud Hens (Detroit)
23-28 (4th in IL West)
Offense: 215 R (6th) .701 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 3.89 ERA (7th) 1.38 WHIP (8th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Robbie Ray (5), SS Eugenio Suarez (7), 2B Hernan Perez (9), C James McCann (11), RHP Drew VerHagen (12), RHP Jose Ortega (13), RHP Melvin Mercedes (16), LHP Casey Crosby (17), 1B Jordan Lennerton (19), OF Tyler Collins (20), OF Daniel Fields (22), LHP Kyle Lobstein (23)

Jacksonville Suns (Miami)
25-25 (4th in SL South)
Offense: 211 R (5th) .686 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 3.94 ERA (5th) 1.33 WHIP (5th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Justin Nicolino (4), RHP Jose Urena (7), C J.T. Realmuto (10), RHP Angel Sanchez (16), RHP Nick Wittgren (18), OF Brent Keys (19), LHP Edgar Olmos (23), RHP Tyler Higgins (25)

Dunedin Blue Jays
35-15 (1st in FSL North)
Offense: 217 R (4th) .704 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 2.53 ERA (1st) 1.07 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Daniel Norris (6), OF Dalton Pompey (17), OF Dwight Smith Jr. (27)

West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit)
28-23 (3rd in MWL East)
Offense: 177 R (16th) .626 OPS (16th)
Pitching: 3.15 ERA (2nd) 1.24 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Jonathan Crawford (5), LHP Kevin Ziomek (10), SS Javier Betancourt (16), RHP Jeff Thompson (24), RHP Zac Reininger (25), SS Willy Adames (30)