Rays down on the farm August 16: Durham edges Charlotte in 11 innings

Nate Karns has had a pretty wild (in more ways than one) season, and that continued Friday night.  Since July 11th, he's thrown seven straight quality starts, and it's probably his best stretch of the season.  In those seven starts, he's allowed eight earned runs on 29 hits and 14 walks in 45.2 innings with 50 strikeouts.  Last night was the first since June 3rd that he walked more than two in a game.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (66-61)

It took 11 innings, but Durham finally prevailed with a 1-0 win over Charlotte.  Tim Beckham led off the inning with a single, moved over to second on a Mike Fontenot sacrifice bunt, and he came home to score on Mayo Acosta's walkoff double.  Prior to the 11th, the Bulls only had three hits.  Beckham finished 2/5, and his average continued its downward spiral to .438.

Meanwhile, it took the Knights until the ninth inning to get their first hit.  Nate Karns couldn't find the strike zone, but he did throw six of those eight innings, striking out 10 while issuing five walks.  After Doug Mathis threw two scoreless innings, Steve Geltz finally allowed the first Charlotte hit of the game in the ninth.  He was able to get out of trouble though, and he finished with five strikeouts in two innings.  Cory Burns pitched the 11th to get the win.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (23-31)

Montgomery's losing streak is finally over thanks to their 4-2 win over Mississippi.  Not only that, but Grayson Garvin won his first game of the season.  He threw six innings for the third time in his last four starts and did so efficiently, throwing 53 strikes in 74 pitches.  He exited with eight hits allowed in six scoreless innings with six strikeouts and no walks.  Santiago Garrido gave up both Mississippi runs already up 4-0.

The Biscuits used four extra base hits to score a run in both the fourth and fifth innings, but the two scored in the eighth proved to be extremely valuable.  Jeff Malm's two out double extended the inning, and after Luke Maile walked, back to back singles by Richie Shaffer and Kes Carter added two more runs.  Malm hit two doubles, and Shaffer and Carter also had two hit games.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (26-25)

Charlotte was postponed.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (24-29)

Bowling Green's offense stayed home in their 1-0 loss to Dayton.  They had just two hits, both singles by James Harris.  Jacob Faria pitched well, and he really only allowed one mistake, a second inning solo home run that proved to be the only run of the game.  Faria finished with that run allowed on six hits and two walks in six innings with six strikeouts.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (40-21)

Hudson Valley was shut out for the second straight night in their 5-0 loss to Lowell.  At least they had more than one hit.  Casey Gillaspie had one of them and stole a base.  Enderson Franco was charged with all five runs, but only one of them was earned thanks to errors by Alec Sole and Franco himself.  He struck out three and walked none.

Rookie Princeton Rays (30-23)

Princeton couldn't manage much offense again in their 4-1 loss to Bluefield.  Angel Moreno's third inning single scored Manny Sanchez and tied the game, but that would be it.  The Rays had at least one runner reach base in five of the following six innings, but they could never take advantage again.  Sanchez and Nick Ciuffo had two hit games.

Bluefield broke a 1-1 tie with a three run sixth inning.  After allowing a first inning run, Hyrum Formo retired 12 of 13 batters over the next four innings, but he couldn't record an out in the sixth.  Two singles, two wild pitches and a walk knocked him out of the game, and he was eventually charged with four runs in 5+ innings on three hits and two walks with four strikeouts.

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (27-21)

The GCL Rays were postponed.

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Star of the day- Garvin helped the Biscuits end their losing streak.

Goat of the day- The Renegades should probably score again at some point.

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

Durham v. Charlotte 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Alex Colome (6-5, 3.65) v. Bobby Doran (4-1, 6.11)

Montgomery @ Mississippi 7 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Victor Mateo (10-9, 3.75) v. Mitch Atkins (5-0, 3.89)

Charlotte @ Jupiter 6:35 PM (Radio stream) DOUBLEHEADER
Blake Snell (5-5, 4.05) v. Matt Milroy (1-7, 8.05)
Jaime Schultz (1-0, 1.13) v. Austin Brice (7-8, 3.74)

Both games will be seven innings

Bowling Green @ Dayton 7 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Bruedlin Suero (4-3, 4.01) v. Jackson Stephens* (2-4, 4.24)

Hudson Valley v. Lowell 7:05 PM (Radio stream)
Nolan Gannon (5-2, 2.68) v. Aaron Wilkerson (3-1, 2.48)

Princeton v. Bluefield 7:05 PM (Radio stream)
Brent Honeywell (1-1, 1.52) v. Francisco Rios (3-1, 4.64)

GCL Rays @ GCL Orioles 12 PM DOUBLEHEADER
TBA v. TBA

Both games will be seven innings

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Charlotte Knights (White Sox)
56-72 (T-3rd in IL South)
Offense: 620 R (1st) .774 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 4.95 ERA (14th) 1.54 WHIP (13th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Erik Johnson (2), 3B Matt Davidson (4), 2B Marcus Semien (5), 2B Micah Johnson (6), RHP Chris Beck (8), 2B Carlos Sanchez (12), OF Jared Mitchell (13), LHP Scott Snodgress (16), OF Michael Taylor (27)

Mississippi Braves
32-22 (T-1st in SL South)
Offense: 531 R (6th) .703 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 3.49 ERA (3rd) 1.25 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP J.R. Graham (3), RHP Jason Hursh (4), 2B Jose Peraza (6), OF Kyle Wren (18), 3B Kyle Kubitza (22), OF Matt Lipka (24), OF Robby Hefflinger (29)

Jupiter Hammerheads (Miami)
17-35 (6th in FSL South)
Offense: 470 R (9th) .673 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 4.27 ERA (10th) 1.38 WHIP (9th)
Top 30 Prospects: 2B Avery Romero (9), RHP Trevor Williams (11), OF Jesus Solorzano (13), RHP Colby Suggs (17), RHP Austin Brice (27)

Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati)
26-27 (T-4th in MWL East)
Offense: 516 R (11th) .669 OPS (14th)
Pitching: 3.48 ERA (4th) 1.28 WHIP (5th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Phil Ervin (3), RHP Nick Travieso (8), LHP Amir Garrett (18), RHP Jackson Stephens (19), OF Jonathan Reynoso (20), RHP Sal Romano (25), 3B Tanner Rahier (27), RHP Dan Langfield (30), SS Alex Blandino

Lowell Spinners (Boston)
29-31 (3rd in Stedler)
Offense: 264 R (5th) .690 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 4.43 ERA (14th) 1.41 WHIP (14th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Karsten Whitson

Bluefield Blue Jays
26-29 (4th in APP East)
Offense: 233 R (7th) .659 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 3.68 ERA (5th) 1.31 WHIP (4th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Matt Smoral (13), 1B Rowdy Tellez (18), SS Richard Urena (24)

GCL Orioles
22-25 (3rd in GCL South)
Offense: 141 R (16th) .582 OPS (16th)
Pitching: 3.01 ERA (2nd) 1.17 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: C Jonah Heim (26)