There are two All-Star Games on the schedule for tonight, and several Biscuits and Hot Rods will be participating.
Triple-A Durham Bulls (43-30)
A solid Enny Romero start was wasted in Durham's 3-1 loss to Louisville. Romero pitched pretty effectively through the first five innings, but in the sixth, the Bulls conceded what would be the only run charged to Romero in the game. He allowed that run on four hits and two walks in six innings with four strikeouts, and 61 of his 97 pitches were strikes.
Durham would benefit from a conceded run of their own a couple innings later, and it would be the only one they would score. Hak-Ju Lee led off the eighth with a double, and consecutive groundouts moved up up to third and then home to tie the game. A half inning later, C.J. Riefenhauser allowed a two run home run in his second inning of work, and the Bats held on from there. Lee had three hits, and Brandon Guyer was 0/4 with a walk and pair of strikeouts.
Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (35-35)
Montgomery is at the All-Star break.
Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (31-35)
Casey Weathers made his Rays debut in Charlotte's 6-2 loss to St. Lucie. He came into the game in the seventh inning with the Stone Crabs down 5-2, and he really didn't help matters. After getting the first out, he hit a batter, and a wild pitch moved the runner up a base. That runner eventually came around to score on a two out double by Brandon Nimmo.
The Stone Crabs found themselves in that hole after Leonel Santiago struggled. The Mets scored three two out runs against him in the second inning, and after the offense got two right back in the fourth, Santiago couldn't record the shutdown inning. He finished with five runs allowed on eight hits and two walks in six innings with no strikeouts. Kes Carter and Jonathan Quinonez drove in the two Charlotte runs. Leonardo Reginatto and Julian Ridings had two hit games.
Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (32-37)
Bowling Green is at the All-Star break.
Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (3-0)
Hudson Valley's staff was strong in their 15 inning 2-1 win over Aberdeen. In those 15 innings, four Renegade pitchers combined to allow just 11 runners to reach base, and the only IronBird run of the game was unearned. They were led by starter Oscar Armenta making his 2014 debut, and he threw five scoreless innings, striking out six, allowing just two hits and walking none. He was followed by Eli Echarry who also pitched five innings, and he was charged with the unearned Aberdeen run in the eighth. Tyler Gauthier and Isaac Gil combined to pitch the last five innings.
The Renegades didn't score themselves until they were down to their last out of the game. With pinch runner Clayton Henning on third base, Bralin Jackson hit a two out single to send the game to extras. Six innings later, Hudson Valley would take advantage of a series of gaffes from Aberdeen. Elias Torres got on base with a two out single, stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error and came home to score on a wild pitch. Torres had a four hit game, and five Renegades had two hit games, including Mac James. Casey Gillaspie was 0/7 with two strikeouts.
Star of the day- Armenta was impressive in his 2014 debut.
Goat of the day- After calling for Gillaspie's promotion yesterday, I am now calling for his immediate release.
Today's games (probables courtesy of milb.com)
Durham @ Louisville 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Jeremy Hellickson (0-1, 15.43) v. Josh Smith (7-1, 3.66)
Southern League All-Star game 7:15 PM (Hosted by Chattanooga)
Charlotte @ St. Lucie 6:30 PM (Radio stream)
Blake Snell (1-2, 3.21) v. TBA
Midwest League All-Star game 7 PM (hosted by West Michigan)
Hudson Valley @ Brooklyn 7 PM
TBA v. TBA
*Listed as TBA on milb.com
Scouting the opposition
Louisville Bats (Cincinnati)
36-36 (3rd in IL West)
Offense: 309 R (6th) .709 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 4.80 ERA (14th) 1.58 WHIP (14th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP David Holmberg (7), C Tucker Barnhart (10), RHP Chad Rogers (15), OF Donald Lutz (16), RHP Brett Marshall (27), RHP Curtis Partch (28)
St. Lucie Mets
39-29 (2nd in FSL South)
Offense: 341 R (1st) .756 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 3.90 ERA (8th) 1.37 WHIP (9th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Brandon Nimmo (8), LHP Steve Matz (12), 2B Dilson Herrera (13), RHP Michael Fulmer (14), RHP Gabriel Ynoa (15), RHP Domingo Tapia (19), RHP Matt Koch (24)
Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets)
2-2 (T-2nd in McNamara)
Offense: 14 R (9th) .673 OPS (6th)
Pitching: 1.87 ERA (2nd) 1.31 WHIP (10th)
Top 30 Prospects: SS Amed Rosario (7)