Rays down on the farm August 21: Bowling Green shut out again

Offense was pretty light throughout the system Wednesday.  Six affiliates combined for only 10 runs, but they still managed to win a couple games.  Tyler Goeddel's home run was the biggest hit of the day.

Matt Andriese is another Durham starter looking to finish the season strong.  Last night's start was good, but he still hasn't thrown a quality start in over a month.  I'm not sure why he exited after five innings with only 88 pitches, but nevertheless, even if it doesn't fit the textbook definition of a QS, it's a positive start after a pretty poor stretch.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (68-63)

For some reason, Joe Saunders was pitching at the end of a minor league baseball game, and Durham took advantage in their 3-2 win over Norfolk.  Against Saunders, Cole Figueroa led off the ninth with a triple.  The Tides opted to intentionally walk two of the next three batters to load the bases, and Mike Fontenot made them pay with a walkoff single.  Earlier in the game, Jeremy Moore hit a solo home run, and Mikie Mahtook reached base three times.

Matt Andriese had a solid start and left with a lead, but he wouldn't record a win.  He allowed a run in the fifth inning, and that proved to be his last inning of work.  He allowed that run on four hits in five innings with six strikeouts and no walks.  Norfolk tied the game an inning later with an unearned run against C.J. Riefenhauser, but Josh Lueke and Adam Liberatore held them scoreless the rest of the way.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (25-34)

Addison Russell burned Montgomery again in their 4-1 loss to Tennessee.  Three batters into the game, he hit a two run home run, and that would be the only offense the Smokies needed.  After earning his first win since 2012 last time out, Grayson Garvin struggled and allowed a run each over the next two innings.  He left having allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits and a walk in five innings with two strikeouts.

Already down 4-0, the Biscuits got their only run of the game in the fifth.  Jake Hager led off the inning with a double, and after a wild pitch moved him up to third, Tennessee conceded the run to get an out.  Montgomery actually outhit the Smokies 8-6.  Hager hit two doubles and also walked, and Justin O'Conner also had two hits.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (29-27)

A big inning by St. Lucie late cost Charlotte in their 6-2 loss to the Mets.  Jordan Harrison tried to get through a second inning of relief, but a key error by Patrick Leonard meant Harrison exited with one out and the bases loaded.  Zach Cooper was not up to the tough task of preserving the one run lead, and the game was tied on a passed ball by Luke Bailey.  Three more hits allowed four more runs to score, and St. Lucie would hold the lead.

That meant Austin Pruitt came away with nothing to show for another solid start.  He allowed a first inning run but settled in after that, finishing with the run allowed on five hits and a walk in five innings with six strikeouts.  Both Stone Crabs runs came in the second inning on a two run homer by Tyler Goeddel.  Goeddel and Johnny Field each had two hits.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (26-32)

Bowling Green was shut out for the second straight game in their 1-0 loss to Lake County.  At the very least, they were able to increase their hit output by 300%.  Willy Adames, Pat Blair and Spencer Edwards all had singles.  Ben Griset took a tough loss, allowing just the one Captains run on five hits and a walk in six innings with six strikeouts.  Brad Schreiber struck out five in three innings of relief.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (42-22)

Hudson Valley's pitching staff returned from the break with a strong effort in a 1-0 win over Aberdeen.  Starter Chris Pike led a trio of three Renegade arms with the best effort, striking out five and only allowing four hits and a walk in 6.2 scoreless innings.  Trevor Dunlap and Edwin Fierro combined to finish the rest of the game, and the IronBirds didn't have a runner reach scoring position.

The Renegades scored the only run of the game in the third inning.  After Coty Blanchard led off with a double, Casey Gillaspie's single brought him home.  Gillaspie and Wilmer Dominguez had two hits, but it was Blanchard with the biggest game of the day.  He had three hits, including two doubles, and reached base four times.

Rookie Princeton Rays (32-25)

Princeton was off.

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (28-25)

The GCL Rays' playoff hopes dimmed a little more with their 6-3 loss to the GCL Red Sox.  A pair of errors in the second inning led to an early 2-0 Red Sox lead, and that resulted in a very tough loss for Henry Centeno.  He was charged with those two earned runs in five innings, but he only allowed one hit and no walks with five strikeouts.  Orlando Romero and Michael Velasquez each gave up two runs as well.

The Rays were down 6-0 when they finally scored all three runs in the ninth.  Back to back doubles by Zacrey Law and Matt Reida ended the shutout, and a Chris Knott double with one out added another run.  Knott scored on an error, but the tying run never came to the plate.  Law, Reida and Knott all had two hit games, and both of Reida's were doubles.

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Star of the day- Pike got Hudson Valley's second "half" off to a good start.

Goat of the day- Bowling Green should give scoring a shot.

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

Durham v. Norfolk 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Nate Karns (9-6, 4.45) v. Mike Wright (4-11, 5.16)

Montgomery v. Tennessee 8:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Victor Mateo* (11-9, 3.57) v. Ivan Pineyro (0-2, 4.25)

Charlotte is off

Bowling Green v. Great Lakes 8:05 PM (Radio stream)
Jacob Faria* (7-8, 3.58) v. John Richy (0-0, 2.25)

Hudson Valley v. Aberdeen 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA v. TBA

Princeton v. Greeneville 7:05 PM
Freddy Alvarez* (2-4, 4.02) v. Reymin Guduan (2-3, 4.34)

GCL Rays v. GCL Red Sox 12 PM
TBA v. TBA

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Norfolk Tides (Baltimore)
60-71 (2nd in IL South)
Offense: 590 R (5th) .714 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 4.52 ERA (11th) 1.42 WHIP (9th)
Top 30 Prospects: DH Henry Urrutia (7), RHP Mike Wright (8), OF Dariel Alvarez (15), 1B Christian Walker (18), LHP Chris Jones (27), RHP Josh Stinson (28)

Tennessee Smokies (Cubs)
32-27 (1st in SL North)
Offense: 571 R (4th) .715 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 3.64 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)

Great Lakes Loons (Los Angeles)
27-31 (5th in MWL East)
Offense: 526 R (13th) .667 OPS (14th)
Pitching: 3.61 ERA (7th) 1.28 WHIP (7th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Jacob Scavuzzo (15), RHP Zach Bird (21), RHP Victor Arano (29)

Aberdeen IronBirds (Baltimore)
21-42 (4th in McNamara)
Offense: 206 R (14th) .619 OPS (14th)
Pitching: 3.70 ERA (9th) 1.36 WHIP (12th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Stephen Tarpley (21), C Jonah Heim (21), C Alex Murphy (31)

Greeneville Astros
29-28 (4th in APP West)
Offense: 269 R (6th) .667 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 3.38 ERA (3rd) 1.34 WHIP (6th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Reymin Guduan (28), RHP Brock Dykxhoorn

GCL Red Sox
31-20 (1st in GCL South)
Offense: 259 R (1st) .662 OPS (11th)
Pitching: 2.72 ERA (1st) 1.17 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: 3B Rafael Devers (20), SS Javier Guerra (27), RHP Michael Kopech, RHP Jake Cosart