Rays down on the farm May 29: Andriese shuts down Toledo

Yoel Araujo's season for Bowling Green is one of the more interesting ones I've seen.  He has twice as many home runs as anyone on the roster, but he strikes out so much it's like he's doing it on purpose.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (32-22)

Behind Matt Andriese and a persistent offense, Durham earned a 7-0 win over Toledo.  In what was clearly his best start of the year, Andriese threw seven scoreless innings, and he really only got into trouble once.  In the fifth with two outs, two singles and a walk loaded the bases, but he retired seven straight batters to end his outing, finishing with three hits and a walk in seven innings with six strikeouts.  Adam Liberatore and Jake Thompson each had 1-2-3 innings.

The Bulls offense got to work quickly.  After a leadoff single by Hak-Ju Lee in the first, Jayson Nix doubled him home to make it a 1-0 game after just two batters.  Nix would come home to score later in the inning on a throwing error.  Up 3-0 in the fifth, Nix scored a second time on a Mikie Mahtook double, and he did so again in the seventh on a Wilson Betemit single.  In the eighth, Curt Casali hit his first home run with Durham to make it a 7-0 game.  It was just one of three extra base hits on the day for Casali, and Mahtook hit a pair of doubles.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (26-27)

A close game turned into a blowout late in Montgomery's 11-3 loss to Jacksonville.  Dylan Floro eventually lasted seven innings, but he was hit hard early.  He allowed five runs in the first three innings, including a two run homer in the third.  Over the next four innings, only two runners reached base against him, one on a single and the other on an error, and he finished with five runs (four earned) allowed on eight hits and no walks with four strikeouts.  In the eighth, the Suns piled on six runs against Sam Runion thanks to five hits, a walk and hit batter.

Prior to that huge inning, the Biscuits had started a comeback.  They scored their first run of the game in the fifth without the benefit of a hit, and they scored two more in the seventh on a Joey Rickard hit and Ryan Brett sac fly.  In the last two innings of the game, no runners reached base.  All seven Montgomery hits came off the bats of different players.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (25-26)

Ben Zobrist's presence in the lineup wasn't enough in Charlotte's 5-3 loss to Dunedin.  His rehab appearance did go well though, playing the entire game at second base and going 1/4 with a walk.  His double play partner, Leonardo Reginatto, was in the middle of Charlotte's offense all night with three hits and a stolen base.  In the second inning, he drove in their first run of the game on a sac fly, he scored their second run in the sixth inning, and he drove in their last run in the ninth.

After only allowing one run in five innings last time out, Leonel Santiago was back to struggling.  He was in and out of trouble in every inning except one, and the Blue Jays knocked him out after a pair of two run innings.  In the second, he allowed a two out, two run single that put Dunedin up 2-0, and he was lifted from the game with just one out in the fifth inning after allowing an RBI double.  Marcus Jensen allowed an inherited runner to score, and Santiago was charged with four runs on seven hits and two walks in 4.1 innings with four strikeouts.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (24-28)

A late meltdown cost Bowling Green in their 12-7 loss to Fort Wayne.  Up 7-2 in the seventh inning, Stone Speer loaded the bases but looked like he might get out of trouble without allowing anything with two outs, but that would be the last one he recorded.  After a two run single, Speer issued another walk, and that was followed by a three run home run to tie the game.    Colton Reavis replaced him and promptly allowed a solo home run to put the TinCaps on top.  Reavis allowed four more runs an inning later, and the Hot Rods were unable to respond.

Bowling Green steadily built up their initial lead, scoring all seven runs between the second and sixth innings.  Along the way, they picked up two home runs, first a solo shot by Ariel Soriano in the fifth, and then a two run blast from Yoel Araujo.  Seven of the nine Hot Rods hitters reached base multiple times including Granden Goetzman who collected two more hits.  Starter Jaime Schultz struck out eight more batters, but it was a short outing, lasting just 4.1 innings as he allowed two runs on five hits and two walks.

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Star of the day- Andriese has been pitching better as of late.

Goat of the day- Last night was not Speer's finest game.

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

Durham @ Toledo 6:35 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Nathan Karns (3-2, 4.96) v. Duane Below (3-1, 4.30)

Montgomery @ Jacksonville 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Roberto Gomez* (1-2, 5.28) v. Justin Nicolino* (3-2, 3.56)

Charlotte v. Dunedin 6:30 PM (Radio stream)
Austin Pruitt* (3-1, 5.13) v. Taylor Cole (3-2, 2.58)

Bowling Green v. Fort Wayne 8:05 PM (Radio stream)
Blake Snell* (3-2, 1.79) v. Payton Baskette* (1-1, 3.53)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Toledo Mud Hens (Detroit)
24-29 (4th in IL West)
Offense: 227 R (6th) .700 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 3.89 ERA (8th) 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)
28-25 (3rd in SL South)
Offense: 232 R (4th) .691 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 3.84 ERA (5th) 1.31 WHIP (4th)
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
37-15 (1st in FSL North)
Offense: 229 R (4th) .708 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 2.49 ERA (1st) 1.07 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Daniel Norris (6), OF Dalton Pompey (17), OF Dwight Smith Jr. (27)

Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego)
23-29 (7th in MWL East)
Offense: 289 R (1st) .713 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 4.87 ERA (16th) 1.58 WHIP (16th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Walker Weickel (19), Dustin Peterson (22)