Charlotte finally ended their losing streak, but they put themselves in quite the hole for the second half. If they win tonight, they won't even be in last place.
Triple-A Durham Bulls (45-38)
Jeremy Hellickson had a tough time again in Durham's 7-2 loss to Indianapolis. He only gave up one of those runs in three innings, but Baseball America's John Manuel didn't come away with positive thoughts on his outing. He allowed that run in the second inning when back to back singles, including one by Nevin Ashley, helped score a runner that walked previously in the inning. Hellickson finished with the run allowed on five hits and a walk in three innings with a strikeout. 33 of his 55 pitches were strikes.
That means most of the damage was done against the Durham bullpen. Jake Thompson allowed two runs, and Doug Mathis allowed four (three earned). The Indians were already up 7-0 when the Bulls finally got on the board in the eighth inning on Mikie Mahtook's two run homer, his sixth of the year. It was Mahtook's second hit of the game.
Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (5-4)
Two Cameron Seitzer home runs weren't enough in Montgomery's 11 inning 4-3 loss to Huntsville. Actually, that was the only offense they got. His solo home run in the second inning got the scoring started, and his two run shot in the sixth tied the game at three. The Biscuits only had six hits, and Richie Shaffer also had two of them.
Angel Sanchez had one of his better starts of the season, although that's saying more about how the rest of his season has gone. In the fourth inning, he allowed a three run home run to Nick Ramirez, and that would be the only runs he allowed on the night. He allowed three runs on five hits and a walk in five innings with four strikeouts. The Stars walked off with a win on the 11th thanks to a Hector Guevara error that eventually led to the winning run.
Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (1-8)
Charlotte built a first inning lead so big that even they could not blow it in their 10-5 win over Palm Beach. The Stone Crabs picked up their first win of the second half, largely due to a seven run first inning that saw 12 men come to the plate. The first six batters reached base before Josh Sale struck out, and Maxx Tissenbaum and Justin O'Conner each drove in two runs with a hit. Ariel Soriano drove in two himself with a double. Four batters had two hit games, including Sale.
The Cardinals responded with three runs in the second inning, but Charlotte tacked on a few as the game wore on. After that big Cardinals inning, Leonel Santiago settled in for the most part, allowing four runs on nine hits and a walk in 5.2 innings with five strikeouts. Jose Alberto Molina would allow the last run, but in between Santiago and Molina, Casey Weathers struck out two in 2.1 scoreless innings.
Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (3-5)
Bruedlin Suero had some tough luck in his return to Bowling Green in their 1-0 loss to West Michigan. Despite only allowing one run on five hits and no walks in seven innings with two strikeouts, he was tagged with the loss in his first Hot Rods start of the season. That run came in the second when the Whitecaps hit three straight singles against him with one out.
Bowling Green only had five hits of their own, and only one of them came with a runner in scoring position. In the third inning, Kean Wong doubled with one out, but he was thrown out at home trying to score on Johnny Field's single. Both Wong and Field had two hits. James Harris stole two bases.
Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (10-5)
Hudson Valley got more good pitching in their 1-0 win against a hopeless Aberdeen team. The IronBirds fell to 1-14 at the hands of D.J. Slaton and Edgar Gomez, and they wasted another nice start from the rehabbing Dylan Bundy. After Slaton struck out four in four scoreless innings, he was relieved by Gomez, and he was even better. He struck out four in five no-hit innings, and he only walked one batter.
The Renegades were happy to see Bundy exit after five innings, and they finally scored the first run of the game a couple innings later. After leading off with a single, Daniel Miles took the extra base on a Hunter Lockwood single, and he came home to score when the IronBirds conceded the run to turn a double play. Elias Torres and Alec Sole each had two hit games.
Rookie Princeton Rays (4-5)
Offense was a little more abundant for Princeton in their 9-3 win over Kingsport. Most of the game was low scoring, but the Rays broke it open late with some insurance runs. Already holding a 3-1 lead in the seventh, Hec Montes hit a two out, two run home run to extend the lead. The Mets got those two runs back in the eighth, but Princeton responded with four more of their own. 10 batters went to the plate, and they used five hits, three wild pitches and even a balk to add insurance and put the game out of reach. Carter Burgess had four hits and stole a base, and Thomas Milone reached base three times.
Roel Ramirez was sharp again in his second start of the season. He only allowed one hit, a leadoff single in the third inning, and that runner would be the only one to score against Ramirez when Princeton conceded the run to record an out. In six innings, he only allowed that run on one hit and a walk with two strikeouts. Kyle Bird allowed two runs in two innings in his pro debut.
Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (3-3)
The GCL Rays piled up runs again in their 9-0 win over the GCL Orioles. It was their second straight 9-0 win. Bill Pujols doubled home the first runs of the game in the second with a two out double, and two innings later, he singled home another pair of runs as part of a four run inning that put the game out of reach. Cade Gotta and Matt Reida each had a pair of hits and runs batted in.
While all the runs were being scored, Henry Centeno pitched his second straight impressive start. After throwing five scoreless innings his first time out, he did even better, striking out six in six scoreless innings and only allowing one hit with no walks. Nick Sawyer and Bret Dahlson pitched the last three innings of the shutout.
Star of the day- Seitzer could've used support from some of his teammates tonight.
Goat of the day- Bowling Green's offense was nowhere to be found.
Today's games (probables courtesy of milb.com)
Durham @ Pawtucket 6:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Mike Montgomery* (8-1, 3.28) v. Steven Wright* (2-1, 1.80)
Montgomery @ Huntsville 7:30 PM (Radio stream)
Mike Colla (4-8, 5.26) v. Andy Moye (3-0, 2.12)
Charlotte @ Jupiter 6:35 PM (Radio stream)
Blake Snell* (1-4, 8.20) v. Matt Milroy (0-1, 7.20)
Bowling Green @ West Michigan 7 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Ben Griset (0-3, 4.19) v. Buck Farmer (6-5, 3.33)
Hudson Valley @ Aberdeen 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Hunter Wood* (0-0, 0.57) v. Nick Cunningham* (0-1, 0.90)
Princeton @ Pulaski 7 PM (Radio stream)
Trevor Lubking* (0-1, 9.00) v. Pat Peterson* (0-0, 0.00)
GCL Rays @ GCL Orioles 10 AM
TBA v. TBA
*Listed as TBA on milb.com
Scouting the opposition
Pawtucket Red Sox
42-41 (4th in IL North)
Offense: 329 R (13th) .683 OPS (13th)
Pitching: 3.52 ERA (3rd) 1.30 WHIP (5th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Allen Webster (4), 3B Garin Cecchini (6), 2B Mookie Betts (7), RHP Matt Barnes (9), RHP Anthony Ranaudo (11), C Christian Vazquez (12), OF Bryce Brentz (16), LHP Drake Britton (17), C Dan Butler (25), 1B Travis Shaw (26), RHP Alex Wilson (29)
Huntsville Stars (Milwaukee)
5-4 (T-2nd in SL North)
Offense: 373 R (2nd) .712 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 3.26 ERA (2nd) 1.23 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Mitch Haniger (3), RHP David Goforth (8), LHP Jed Bradley (18), 1B Jason Rogers (20), RHP Drew Gagnon (25), OF D'Vontrey Richardson (30)
Jupiter Hammerheads (Miami)
1-7 (5th in FSL South)
Offense: 295 R (10th) .659 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 4.18 ERA (9th) 1.37 WHIP (8th)
Top 30 Prospects: 3B Colin Moran (2), RHP Trevor Williams (11), OF Jesus Solorzano (13), RHP Colby Suggs (17), RHP Austin Brice (27)
West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit)
4-4 (T-4th in MWL East)
Offense: 312 R (14th) .663 OPS (16th)
Pitching: 3.05 ERA (2nd) 1.21 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Jonathan Crawford (5), LHP Kevin Ziomek (10), SS Javier Betancourt (16), RHP Jeff Thompson (24), RHP Zac Reininger (25), SS Willy Adames (30), C Grayson Greiner
Aberdeen IronBirds (Baltimore)
1-14 (4th in McNamara)
Offense: 27 R (14th) .527 OPS (14th)
Pitching: 2.72 ERA (4th) 1.25 WHIP (9th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Stephen Tarpley (21), C Jonah Heim (21), C Alex Murphy (31)
Pulaski Mariners
6-3 (T-1st in APP East)
Offense: 46 R (4th) .709 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 2.85 ERA (4th) 1.09 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Ugueth Urbina
GCL Orioles
2-5 (4th in GCL South)
Offense: 21 R (16th) .625 OPS (12th)
Pitching: 4.73 ERA (13th) 1.42 WHIP (10th)
Top 30 Prospects: None