Rays down on the farm June 13: Hudson Valley opens

It was tight, but the organization avoided a second straight sweep.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (40-29)

Offense was non-existent, and Jeremy Hellickson wasn't great in Durham's 4-0 loss to Indianapolis.  Hellickson allowed three runs in the first inning on four hits, and a pair of wild pitches contributed to the inning.  After a 1-2-3 second, Hellickson allowed a single and a double to start the third inning, and that put the Indians up 4-0.  He got one more out but was finished, allowing four runs on six hits and a walk in 2.1 innings with two strikeouts.  35 of his 55 pitches were strikes.

In relief of Hellickson, Matt Andriese was very good.  He retired the first seven batters he faced, including two in the third inning to limit the damage to Hellickson's line.  Andriese finished with one hit and two walked allowed in 5.2 scoreless innings with five strikeouts.  The Bulls offense only managed six hits, three of which came from Cole Figueroa.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (32-35)

Montgomery's late rally erased an early 2-0 deficit in their 4-2 win over Birmingham.  The Barons scored a run in both the first and second innings, but the Biscuits staff limited them to just five baserunners over the final seven innings.  Four innings after Jeff Malm got Montgomery on the board in the fourth with an RBI single, Jeremy Moore tied the game in the eighth with a solo home run, his second in as many days.  In the ninth, Ryan Brett led off with a double and scored the go-ahead run on a Jake Hager single, and he came around to score himself later in the inning.

After the two early runs, Victor Mateo settled in and gave the Biscuits some nice innings.  He finished with just the two runs allowed on five hits and two walks in seven innings with a strikeout.  Matt Ramsey recorded the save by striking out the side in the ninth.  Malm and Hager each had three hits, and Luke Maile had two.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (31-34)

Charlotte survived a back-and-forth game in their 11 inning 8-7 win over Fort Myers.  Julian Ridings hit a solo home run, his first of 2014, in the top of the ninth to send the game to extras, and the Stone Crabs scored a pair in the 11th, first on an RBI triple by Tommy Coyle.  He then came around to score on a Leonardo Reginatto single.  Ryan Garton allowed a run in the bottom half of the inning, but he struck out the final batter with the tying run on third to secure the game.

The Stone Crabs used 17 hits to score their eight runs.  Ridings doubled home the second run of the game in the second inning, and Josh Sale drove in one two innings later.  In the sixth, Luke Bailey made his impact felt with a two run homer, allowing him to score his third run.  He was 3/5 in his first game this year with Charlotte, and Patrick Leonard and Justin O'Conner joined him with three hits.  Starter Reinaldo Lopez allowed four unearned runs on three hits and three walks in four innings with three strikeouts.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (30-36)

Bowling Green's offense couldn't get anything going in their 3-1 loss to Dayton.  They only managed six hits with four walks, and Ty Young was hit by a pitch.  In the sixth, Oscar Hernandez broke a 0-0 tie with an RBI double, but only three batters reached base after that.

Jorge Rodriguez gave up all three Dragon runs in the eighth inning after replacing Jake Faria.  Bowling Green conceded the tying run to get the first out of the inning, but Dayton wasn't finished.  A double put two runners in scoring position, and a sac fly brought the go-ahead run home.  A Rodriguez wild pitch added a third run for good measure.  This wasted a great start from Faria as he struck out nine in seven scoreless innings, only allowing three hits and one walk.

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Star of the day- Andriese can't be stopped.

Goat of the day- Durham should try scoring runs though.

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

Durham @ Indianapolis 7:15 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Nathan Karns (3-3, 4.73) v. Vance Worley (3-2, 4.30)

Montgomery @ Birmingham 8:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Dylan Floro (6-5, 3.42) v. Bryan Blough (1-0, 3.12)

Charlotte is at the All-Star break

Bowling Green @ Fort Wayne 7:05 PM (Radio stream)
Chris Kirsch (3-5, 4.09) v. Payton Baskette* (1-3, 4.70)

Hudson Valley v. Aberdeen 7:05 PM (Radio stream)
TBA v. TBA

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Indianapolis Indians (Pittsburgh)
40-27 (1st in IL West)
Offense: 321 R (2nd) .733 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 3.75 ERA (8th) 1.32 WHIP (7th)
Top 30 Prospects: C Tony Sanchez (15), 1B Andrew Lambo (21), OF Jaff Decker (22)

Birmingham Barons (White Sox)
29-38 (4th in SL North)
Offense: 282 R (5th) .712 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 4.32 ERA (8th) 1.42 WHIP (9th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Trayce Thompson (7), RHP Chris Beck (8), RHP Chris Bassitt (15), LHP Scott Snodgress (16), 1B Rangel Ravelo (30)

Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego)
29-37 (7th in MWL East)
Offense: 358 R (1st) .720 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 4.94 ERA (16th) 1.58 WHIP (16th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Walker Weickel (19), Dustin Peterson (22)

Aberdeen IronBirds (Baltimore)
0-0
Offense: 0 R No OPS
Pitching: No ERA No WHIP
Top 30 Prospects: C Alex Murphy (31)