Rays down on the farm July 12: Young homers power Bowling Green

Ty Young was a seventh round pick out of Louisville last year.  He wasn't very good with Hudson Valley in his pro debut, and that seemed to carry over to this year a bit.  He's been improving every month though, and he now owns a .266/.373/.441 line with an 11% walk rate and 24.6% strikeout rate.

That's good, but for a college guy in the Midwest League, I don't think he's in top 30 territory yet.  The bit of pop he's shown as a 5'10, 173 pound infielder has been a bit of a surprise.  In college, he was a .300 hitter that struck out quite a bit less, and he was reported to be a player that was going to put his bat on the ball and make good, consistent contact without much power.

He's played exclusively third base in his professional career, but he'd probably be a better fit at second base.  With Kean Wong playing at Bowling Green too, he has nowhere else to go though.  Like Vince Belnome, he was born in Coatesville, PA.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (52-44)

Nathan Karns was as good as he has been all year in Durham's 4-2 win over Buffalo.  The first two batters of the game reached on singles, and after navigating some more trouble in the second, he had a fairly uneventful outing.  He allowed his only run in the sixth on a two run single, and he finished with that run allowed on five hits and two walks in seven innings with seven strikeouts.

The Bulls provided him some early run support.  Wilson Betemit's bases loaded walk in the first inning gave them a 1-0 lead, and Jeremy Moore's two run homer in the third extended it.  Moore now has five homers in 14 games with Durham, and four of them have come in the last five games.  Vince Belnome had two hits, including an RBI double in the ninth inning.  Justin Christian had two hits and two walks.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (10-12)

Montgomery's offense couldn't get anything going in their 3-1 loss to Pensacola.  They actually had at least one runner reach base in every inning, but they went 1/12 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base.  Richie Shaffer led off the fourth with a double, and he eventually came home to score on a sac fly by Kes Carter.  The Biscuits had seven hits and drew seven walks.  Taylor Motter reached base three times.

Starter Albert Suarez was in trouble from the beginning, and it cost him.  He allowed a two out run in the first inning, and he allowed a solo home run in the second.  He was able to settle in for the next three innings, but the Blue Wahoos got to him again in the sixth.  After leaving with the bases loaded, one more run would be charged to his line, and he finished with three runs (two earned) allowed on six hits and two walks in 5+ innings with three strikeouts.  Matt Lollis struck out three in two scoreless innings, and for the second straight game, former Rays minor leaguer Shane Dyer recorded a save against the Biscuits.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (7-15)

Charlotte scored five early runs and cruised to a 6-2 win over Brevard County.  Justin O'Conner's two out single in the first opened the scoring, and Julian Ridings' two run homer an inning later gave the Stone Crabs all the offense they would need.  Coyle had three hits, including two doubles, and a stolen base.  O'Conner had two hits.

While Charlotte eventually opened  a 6-0 lead, Austin Pruitt was throwing a career high seven scoreless innings.  The Manatees loaded the bases against him in each of the first two innings, but he got out of trouble and had five pretty tame inning after that.  He finished with seven hits allowed and three strikeouts to two walks.  Parker Markel allowed both Manatee runs in the eighth inning.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (9-12)

Ty Young's two home runs led Bowling Green in their 7-2 win over Lansing.  His first was a two out, two run shot in the first after Oscar Hernandez singled, and he hit another two run homer in the seventh to make it a 7-1 Hot Rods lead.  In between, they had a three run fifth started by a two out bases loaded walk from Armando Araiza.  Araiza reached base three times, and Darryl George had two hits.

Chris Kirsch turned in his best start in quite some time, and he struck out a season high seven batters.  He had just one hiccup in the fourth inning when he walked the leadoff batter and eventually allowed a pair of two out singles to score a run.  He finished with the run allowed on seven hits and a walk in seven innings.  Andrew Hanse allowed a run over the last two innings.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (21-7)

Hudson Valley jumped out to a 4-0 first inning lead and held on for a 6-4 win over Mahoning Valley.  After the first two batters of the game reached base, Jace Conrad tripled home both of them.  He scored on an error with Casey Gillaspie batting, and Gillaspie eventually scored on a two out single by Zach Marberry.  Daniel Miles' two run single in the eighth proved to be critical as the Scrappers chipped away at the lead.  Conrad, Marberry and Coty Blanchard had two hit games.

It took an ensemble effort from the Renegades staff after Chris Pike only went 3.2 innings.  He allowed a pair of run scoring doubles in the fourth, and he finished with two runs allowed on three hits and two walks with a strikeout.  Ryan Pennell was the only Hudson Valley pitcher to not allow a run, and he struck out two in 1.1 innings.  Mike Franco and Brian Miller each pitched two innings.

Rookie Princeton Rays (12-9)

After falling behind 3-0 in the first inning, Princeton had a five run outburst in the fifth to beat Burlington 5-3.  Trevor Lubking allowed a three run homer in the first, but he really didn't pitch poorly after that.  He allowed the three runs (two earned) on two hits and a walk in 4.2 innings with six strikeouts.  Yonny Chirinos was credited with the win thanks to four strikeouts in 3.1 innings of relief.

Right before Lubking exited, the offense broke out with five two out runs.  Patrick Grady's single ended the shutout, and Manny Sanchez would walk with the bases loaded to tie it.  Jose Paez drove in two more runs with a single to give the Rays their first lead.  Grady reached base four times with two hits and two walks, and Riley Unroe left the game in the first inning.  Nick Ciuffo was back in the lineup and went 0/4 with a walk.

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (12-6)

Despite blowing a ninth inning lead, the GCL Rays were able to come out on top in a 10 inning 3-2 win.  Called in to hand onto a 2-0 lead, Nick Sawyer instead allowed two runs to score, but perhaps remarkably, he only walked one batter.  After he threw a 1-2-3 10th, the Rays earned a walkoff win with a two out David Rodriguez singled that followed a wild pitch to move up runners into scoring position.  Rodriguez had two hits, and Oscar Sanay reached base four times.

Henry Centeno continued to impress this season.  He threw five scoreless innings, and he still hasn't allowed an earned run yet in 21 innings of work.  He struck out five, walked none and only allowed three hits.  He was relieved by fourth rounder Blake Bivens making his pro debut.  He walked the first batter he faced, committed a throwing error and threw a wild pitch, but in the end he struck out three in two scoreless innings.

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Star of the day- Young has been heating up.

Goat of the day- Montgomery's offense let the organization down.

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

Durham @ Buffalo 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Matt Andriese (9-4, 3.41) v. P.J. Walters (2-0, 3.27)

Montgomery @ Pensacola 7:30 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Grayson Garvin (0-4, 4.32) v. Timothy Adleman (2-3, 3.26)

Charlotte @ Brevard County 6:35 PM (Radio stream)
Reinaldo Lopez* (4-4, 3.97) v. Hobbs Johnson (9-6, 3.23)

Bowling Green v. Lansing 8:05 PM (Radio stream)
German Marquez* (2-5, 4.13) v. Chase De Jong (0-5, 5.09)

Hudson Valley v. Batavia 7:05 PM (Radio stream)
Nolan Gannon* (3-1, 1.96) v. Gabriel Castellanos (1-1, 2.82)

Princeton v. Bluefield 7:05 PM (Radio stream)
Freddy Alvarez* (2-1, 4.82) v. Joey Aquino* (0-1, 2.40)

GCL Rays @ GCL Orioles 10 AM
TBA v. TBA

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Buffalo Bisons (Toronto)
48-47 (4th in IL North)
Offense: 384 R (13th) .717 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 3.68 ERA (5th) 1.32 WHIP (7th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Aaron Sanchez (1), LHP Sean Nolin (10), C A.J. Jimenez (14), OF Kevin Pillar (20), RHP John Stilson (21), 2B Ryan Goins (29)

Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Cincinnati)
9-13 (5th in SL South)
Offense: 386 R (7th) .702 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 3.82 ERA (6th) 1.41 WHIP (8th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Robert Stephenson (1), OF Jesse Winker (4), OF Yorman Rodriguez (5), RHP Michael Lorenzen (6), RHP Ben Lively (9), RHP Daniel Corcino (13), 3B Seth Mejias-Brean (21), RHP Jon Moscot (23), RHP Hector Nelo (24)

Brevard County Manatees (Milwaukee)
11-7 (1st in FSL North)
Offense: 329 R (11th) .700 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 2.85 ERA (1st) 1.15 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Tyrone Taylor (2), OF Victor Roache (5), SS Orlando Arcia (7), 3B Nick Delmonico (12), RHP Tyler Wagner (16), RHP Damien Magnificio (23), RHP Jorge Lopez (24)

Lansing Lugnuts (Toronto)
10-11 (T-5th in MWL East)
Offense: 422 R (6th) .706 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 4.32 ERA (14th) 1.46 WHIP (14th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF D.J. Davis (3), 3B Mitch Nay (4), SS Dawel Lugo (9), RHP Chase De Jong (11), RHP Tom Robson (16), 1B Matt Dean (25)

Batavia Muckdogs (Miami)
16-11 (2nd in PInckney)
Offense: 117 R (10th) .614 OPS (11th)
Pitching: 3.69 ERA (9th) 1.35 WHIP (10th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Josh Hodges (29), SS Brian Anderson

Bluefield Blue Jays
11-11 (T-3rd in APP East)
Offense: 88 R (9th) .638 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 3.94 ERA (6th) 1.34 WHIP (5th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Matt Smoral (13), 1B Rowdy Tellez (18), SS Richard Urena (24)

GCL Orioles
6-13 (4th in GCL South)
Offense: 42 R (16th) .531 OPS (16th)
Pitching: 3.08 ERA (7th) 1.20 WHIP (4th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Josh Hart (13), C Jonah Heim (26)