Rays down on the farm May 3: Montgomery is no Vander Meer

With Charlotte's rainout, only three affiliates played.  They combined for just 14 hits, and no player had more than one.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (18-11)

Mike Montgomery was not in no-hit form in Durham's 4-3 loss to Columbus.  Nyjer Morgan led off the game with a double, and he scored the first run of the game on a groundout later in the inning.  RBI extra base hits by Wilson Betemit and Vince Belnome in the bottom half of the inning gave the Bulls the lead though, and both pitchers settled down.  Montgomery scattered some baserunners here and there, but it came back to hurt him in the sixth.  With two runners in scoring position, Montgomery got a ground ball to Betemit, but Montgomery failed to catch the ball covering the base, and both runs scored.  Montgomery allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks in 5.1 innings with three strikeouts.

An Ali Solis single in the seventh tied the game, but Steve Geltz couldn't record the shutdown inning, allowing the eventual winning run on a sac fly.  His relief work was not quite as good as Jeff Beliveau's who struck out four in 1.2 scoreless innings between Montgomery and Geltz.  Durham only had five hits, but Robby Price did reach base three times.  Temporary former Ray Mark Lowe struck out three to earn his sixth save for Columbus.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (16-12)

An early pitchers' duel turned into a blowout in Montgomery's 9-1 loss to Huntsville.  Neither offense was particularly threatening through the first four innings, but the Stars quickly went to work against starter Mike Colla in the fifth.  A leadoff double was followed by a pair of singles to put Huntsville on top, but Colla was able to work out of further trouble.  He wasn't as lucky an inning later when a Jake Hager error led to three unearned Huntsville runs, and that sixth would be Colla's final inning of that night.  He finished with four runs (one earned) on seven hits and two walks in six innings with five strikeouts.

Richie Shaffer hit an RBI double in the bottom half of the inning, but the game would only get out of hand after that.  In the eighth, Bryce Stowell allowed a run scoring groundout for the second out of the inning and left the game with runners on the corners.  Santiago Garrido walked three consecutive batters to allow both inherited runners to score, and another single got him charged with two of his own.  Jim Patterson relieved him without having recorded a single out.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (13-14)

Charlotte was postponed.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (10-17)

With solid pitching, Bowling Green only needed one run-scoring inning in their 2-0 win over Great Lakes.  For his third straight start, Hunter Wood did not allow an earned run, allowing three hits and two walks in five innings with three strikeouts.  He lasted just long enough to be credited with the win, and two relievers entered the game to finish the shutout.  Brad Schreiber and Ian Kendall each struck out two in two innings of work, and Kendall was credited with his first save of the year.

The Hot Rods got both of their runs in the fourth inning with no outs.  After a Kean Wong single and Johnny Field walk, Armando Araiza and Granden Goetzman delivered RBI singles to put Bowling Green up 2-0.  A Darryl George double play hurt chances of scoring any more runs, but two runs proved to be enough.  Pat Blair reached base three times.

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Star of the day- Wood has been solid all season for Bowling Green.

Goat of the day- The game was already lost, but Garrido really exacerbated the Biscuits' problems.

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

Durham v. Columbus 5:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Merrill Kelly (4-0, 2.10) v. Trevor Bauer (3-0, 1.40)

Montgomery v. Huntsville 7:35 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Matt Neil* (1-0, 4.76) v. Brent Suter (3-1, 1.80)

Charlotte v. Jupiter 6 PM (Radio stream) DOUBLEHEADER
Reinaldo Lopez (2-1, 4.15) v. Scott Lyman (2-1, 0.56)
Jeff Ames (0-2, 6.57) v. Jake Esch (0-1, 8.10)

Both games will be seven innings

Bowling Green v. Great Lakes 8:05 PM (Radio stream)
German Marquez (0-1, 3.06) v. Victor Arano (2-0, 1.93)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Columbus Clippers (Cleveland)
13-13 (2nd in IL West)
Offense: 107 R (8th) .726 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 3.90 ERA (8th) 1.29 WHIP (4th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Trevor Bauer (3), 2B Jose Ramirez (9), RHP Austin Adams (10), OF Carlos Moncrief (14), 1B Jesus Aguilar (15), LHP Scott Barnes (26)

Huntsville Stars (Milwaukee)
18-10 (1st in SL North)
Offense: 133 R (1st) .670 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 2.96 ERA (2nd) 1.07 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)

Jupiter Hammerheads (Miami)
12-15 (5th in FSL South)
Offense: 126 R (T-3rd) .686 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 3.81 ERA (7th) 1.29 WHIP (5th)
Top 30 Prospects: 3B Colin Moran (2), RHP Trevor Williams (11), RHP Colby Suggs (17), C Austin Barnes (20), RHP Austin Brice (27), RHP Josh Hodges (29)

Great Lakes Loons (Los Angeles)
15-13 (4th in MWL East)
Offense: 158 R (1st) .722 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 4.44 ERA (13th) 1.44 WHIP (11th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Jacob Scavuzzo (15), 1B Justin Chigbogu (19), RHP Zach Bird (21), SS Jesmuel Valentin (22), RHP Victor Arano (29)