Rays down on the farm May 30: Everyone loses

It was announced that Blake Snell was promoted after over a year with Bowling Green, and he immediately made his debut.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (32-23)

A nice start by Nate Karns was wasted in Durham's 1-0 loss to Toledo.  Karns allowed just two hits and three walks in six shutout innings with five strikeouts, but he was matched by Mud Hens veteran starter Duane Below.  In the eighth, C.J. Riefenhauser allowed Toledo's only run of the game when he took a "strikes are optional" approach to the game.  Only nine of his 22 pitches were strikes, and he walked three batters before a two out double plated the go-ahead run.  Mikie Mahtook had two of Durham's five hits.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (26-28)

Montgomery couldn't quite complete a comeback in their 5-4 loss to Jacksonville.  Down 5-0 in the seventh, Jake Hager led off the inning by reaching base on an error, and Cameron Seitzer immediately made the Suns pay for that mistake with a two run homer.  An inning later, Joey Rickard led off with a single, and Ryan Brett followed that with another two run dinger.  They would get the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position with two outs, but Willie Argo struck out to end the threat.

The Biscuits were in that hole because of another rough start for Roberto Gomez.  After a 1-2-3 first, Gomez got in trouble in the second by allowing back to back singles to start the inning.  Two wild pitches and a run scoring groundout later, it was a 2-0 Suns lead.  Jacksonville went right back to work an inning later after Gomez loaded the bases with no outs and eventually allowed three more runs.  He finished with the five runs allowed on six hits and a walk in six innings with two strikeouts.  Matt Ramsey struck out three in two perfect innings of relief.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (25-27)

Blake Snell's Charlotte debut wasn't great, but neither was anyone else in Charlotte's 7-0 loss to Dunedin.  After striking out three batters in his first two innings, Snell allowed an unearned run in the third inning, and that turned out to be all the Blue Jays needed.  Another error plagued the Stone Crabs in Dunedin's six run fifth inning, and they knocked out Snell, having to allow five runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk in 4+ innings with three strikeouts.  Jose Alberto Molina was charged with the other two runs.  All three Charlotte hits were singles, they didn't draw any walks, and they struck out 11 times.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (24-29)

A 2-1 lead was fleeting in Bowling Green's 3-2 loss to Fort Wayne.  Down 2-1 entering the bottom of the third, the Hot Rods took advantage of a two out TinCap error.  That error was followed by three straight singles that scored two runs, but the lead wouldn't last long.  Ben Griset couldn't secure the shutdown inning, and two batters into the top of the fourth, Fort Wayne tied the game.  Armando Araiza reached base four times and had three of Bowling Green's seven hits.  Kean Wong had two.

Griset wasn't bad, but he was done after five innings, allowing the two runs on seven hits and no walks with five strikeouts.  Jorge Rodriguez pitched well in relief too, and he really only made one mistake.  With two outs in the seventh, he allowed a solo home run to Josh VanMeter, and that proved to be the winning run.  Rodriguez allowed just that run on four hits and no walks in four innings with four strikeouts.

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Star of the day- At least Bowling Green led for a few minutes.

Goat of the day- Everyone

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

Durham v. Lehigh Valley 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Mike Montgomery (6-1, 3.47) v. Greg Smith (4-2, 3.74)

Montgomery @ Jacksonville 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Mike Colla* (1-6, 5.75) v. James Nygren* (0-2, 3.66)

Charlotte v. Dunedin 6:30 PM (Radio stream)
Austin Pruitt (3-1, 5.13) v. Ben White (2-2, 3.73)

Bowling Green v. Fort Wayne 8:05 PM (Radio stream)
Jake Faria (3-3, 3.19) v. Payton Baskette (1-1, 3.53)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia)
29-25 (3rd in IL North)
Offense: 228 R (6th) .709 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 4.07 ERA (10th) 1.40 WHIP (10th)
Top 30 Prospects: 3B Maikel Franco (1), RHP Ethan Martin (10), C Cameron Rupp (13), RHP Ken Giles (18)

Jacksonville Suns (Miami)
29-25 (3rd in SL South)
Offense: 237 R (4th) .687 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 3.83 ERA (5th) 1.30 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
38-15 (1st in FSL North)
Offense: 236 R (3rd) .707 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 2.44 ERA (1st) 1.06 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Daniel Norris (6), OF Dalton Pompey (17), OF Dwight Smith Jr. (27)

Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego)
24-29 (T-6th in MWL East)
Offense: 292 R (2nd) .713 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 4.78 ERA (16th) 1.57 WHIP (16th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Walker Weickel (19), Dustin Peterson (22)

And if you're interested, and I suspect no one is, here are my College World Series regional picks for the weekend.  Teams going to Omaha are in bold: Oregon State, Cal State Fullerton, North Carolina, Texas Tech, Virginia, South Carolina, Indiana, Vanderbilt, Florida State, Kentucky, UL Lafayette, Ole Miss, TCU, Cal Poly, LSU and Rice.