Rays down on the farm August 17: DeJesus returns to action

What the Rays do with their outfield once Wil Myers and David DeJesus come back will be interesting.  I'm assuming they'll gradually work Myers back in, but with Kevin Kiermaier, Matt Joyce and Desmond Jennings also deserving a lot of at-bats, Joe Maddon will have to do a lot of shuffling.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (66-62)

Durham erased a 3-0 lead late, but they lost their brief lead even later in a 6-5 loss to Charlotte.  Josh Lueke was called on to record the save, but his outing didn't go well at all.  He hit the first batter, and he came around to score to pull within one, and two batters later, Jared Mitchell hit a two run homer to give the Knights the lead back.

That erased a quality start from Alex Colome.  He cruised through the first five innings without allowing a run, but the Knights got to him with a two out rally in the sixth.  An inning later, he allowed two more two out runs and exited with three runs allowed on eight hits and a walk in 6.2 innings with four strikeouts.  In the seventh, the Bulls scored four runs, and a Jeremy Moore home run an inning later made it a 5-3 game.  Mikie Mahtook and Tim Beckham had two hit games, and Wil Myers reached base three times.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (24-31)

Two solo home runs helped Montgomery inch by Mississippi 2-1.  Richie Shaffer's 14th home run to lead off the seventh broke a 0-0 tie, and Jeff Malm's fifth in the ninth inning provided a valuable insurance run.  The Biscuits only had five hits, and Justin O'Conner had two of them.

Victor Mateo's relationship with the strike zone was tenuous at best, but he still somehow finished with seven scoreless innings.  He walked five and allowed seven hits, but a double play and poor baserunning helped him get out of jams, including two with the bases loaded.  His strikeout was the only one four Montgomery pitchers recorded.

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

Charlotte was postponed.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (24-30)

Bowling Green had three leads, and they lost all of them in their 6-5 loss to Dayton.  The last came in the ninth up one run.  With runners on the corners, Brian Miller allowed a two out single to tie the game, and a double hit by the following batter won the game for the Dragons.  Starter Bruedlin Suero allowed four runs on seven hits and a walk in five innings with five strikeouts.  Brad Schreiber struck out four in three scoreless innings.

Elias Torres hit a two out double in the second inning to give the Hot Rods a 1-0 lead.  In the fourth, they took another one run lead on Willy Adames' sac fly, and two throwing errors helped them add two more runs.  A seventh inning balk scored their fourth run.  Torres had four hits, and Adames had two.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (41-21)

Hudson Valley's offense finally bounced back in their 6-1 win over Lowell.  Casey Gillaspie's first inning double ended their scoreless streak, and Grant Kay singled home Gillaspie to give them a quick 2-0 lead.  A half inning after the Spinners pulled within one, the Renegades answered with four runs to put the game away.  Jace Conrad tripled home Hunter Lockwood to start the inning, a wild pitch scored another, and a Gillaspie RBI hit topped off the inning.  Gillaspie, Kay, Conrad and Braxton Lee had two hit games.

Eli Echarry made his first start of the season, and he made it count.  At one point in his five scoreless innings, he retired 11 straight batters, and he only faced one over the minimum.  He exited after those five with two hits allowed and six strikeouts with no walks.  Darren Fischer allowed the lone Lowell run, and Justin McCalvin struck out three in three scoreless innings.

Rookie Princeton Rays (30-24)

A five run eighth inning sunk Princeton in their 5-3 loss to Bluefield.  After five outstanding innings from starter Brent Honeywell, the Princeton bullpen was unable to hold a lead.  Mario Fernandez started his third inning of work, but after allowing the first two batters to reach, he was replaced by Tomas Michelson.  He allowed the two inherited runners to score, and a three run home run off the bat of Rowdy Tellez made it a 5-3 game.

That meant Honeywell had nothing to show for his great start.  He struck out seven and allowed just one hit and a walk in five scoreless innings, and he left with a 3-0 lead.  The Rays loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning, but they were only able to salvage a run conceded by Bluefield to turn a double play.  In the third inning, Nick Ciuffo's two run homer extended their lead to three.  Riley Unroe had three hits, and Thomas Milone, Cristian Toribio and Carter Burgess each had two.

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (28-22)

After falling behind 3-0 without even having the chance to beat, the GCL Rays came back for a 6-4 game one win over the GCL Orioles.  Jose Alvarado allowed those three runs, but he settled in and left after 3.2 innings in a 3-3 tie.  Spencer Moran allowed a run in 2.1 innings, and Michael Velasquez pitched a scoreless seventh.  David Rodriguez hit a two run double in the first, and he had two more RBI hits later in the game.  In the sixth, Zacrey Law's RBI single gave the Rays their first lead.  In his first rehab appearance, David DeJesus was 0/1 with a walk.

In game two, the Rays came up on the wrong end of a back and forth game in a 4-3 loss.  After 0-0, there were three separate ties, and the Orioles won it on the ninth on a balk by Cristopher Crisostomo.  Blake Bivens allowed a run in two innings, and Brock Burke allowed two in two innings.  Oscar Sanay and Matt Ford had two hit games, and both of Ford's were doubles.

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Star of the day- Echarry pitched like he's been in the rotation all season.

Goat of the day- A walkoff balk is as bad as it gets.

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

Durham v. Charlotte 5:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Mike Montgomery* (9-5, 4.19) v. Erik Johnson* (5-7, 6.73)

Montgomery v. Tennessee 6:35 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Mike Colla (7-11, 4.33) v. Felix Pena (1-2, 5.27)

Charlotte @ Jupiter 12:05 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 2 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Isaac Gil (0-1, 5.40) v. Nick Howard (1-0, 3.29)

Hudson Valley v. Lowell 5:05 PM (Radio stream)
Oscar Armenta (4-1, 3.22) v. Aaron Wilkerson (3-1, 2.48)

Princeton @ Elizabethton 6 PM (Radio stream)
Cameron Varga* (0-1, 6.30) v. Felix Jorge* (4-2, 1.75)

GCL Rays are off

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Charlotte Knights (White Sox)
57-72 (T-3rd in IL South)
Offense: 626 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)

Tennessee Smokies (Cubs)
29-26 (1st in SL North)
Offense: 547 R (3rd) .713 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 3.70 ERA (5th) 1.33 WHIP (5th)
Top 30 Prospects: SS Addison Russell (1), RHP C.J. Edwards (3), CF Albert Almora (4), RHP Pierce Johnson (6), 3B Christian Villanueva (13), RHP Corey Black (15), RHP Ivan Pineyro (21), RHP Zach Cates (27), OF Rubi Silva (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)
27-27 (4th in MWL East)
Offense: 522 R (11th) .671 OPS (13th)
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)
29-32 (3rd in Stedler)
Offense: 265 R (5th) .686 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 4.47 ERA (14th) 1.42 WHIP (14th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Karsten Whitson

Elizabethton Twins
31-24 (1st in APP West)
Offense: 261 R (4th) .696 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 2.91 ERA (1st) 1.19 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Stephen Gonsalves (13), RHP Felix Jorge (17), SS Nick Gordon, RHP Michael Cederoth