Rays down on the farm August 23: Hot Rods offense breaks out in win

With Drew Smyly's recent success, it's a nice time to check on Willy Adames' and Nick Franklin's starts in the organization.

In 65 at-bats with Bowling Green, Adames has a .750 OPS with a 15.2% walk rate and 25.3% strikeout rate.  Compared to his time with West Michigan, he's walking a lot more and striking out a little more, and his OPS is a little short of his .774 mark with the Whitecaps.

Franklin's transition hasn't been as smooth.  He owns a .590 OPS with an 8.0% walk rate and 26.7% strikeout rate.  Of course, the small sample size caveat applies.  Going from coast to coast in a mid-season trade can't be easy.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (69-64)

Mikie Mahtook's home run backed a solid Alex Colome start in Durham's 5-2 win over Gwinnett.  Already up 1-0, Mahtook's two out, two run home run in the fifth extended the lead to 3-0.  They would add on two insurance runs later in the game.  Cole Figueroa, Vince Belnome and Ray Olmedo had two hits each.  Figueroa and Belnome each reached base three times.

Colome didn't allow a run until the sixth inning.  A single led off the inning, and an error allowed that runner to move up to third base before the Bulls conceded Gwinnett's first run.  An inning later, the Braves scored a second run, and Colome finished with two runs (one earned) allowed on six hits and two walks in seven innings with seven strikeouts.  Steve Geltz and Adam Liberatore each struck out two batters.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (27-34)

Richie Shaffer homered again in Montgomery's 5-3 win over Pensacola.  Shaffer's solo home run in the third inning broke a 2-2 tie, although the Blue Wahoos were able to tie the game again after that.  Cameron Seitzer singled home Taylor Motter after a leadoff triple in the sixth, and Seitzer doubled and scored in the eighth.  Seitzer and Shaffer each had two hits, and Ryan Brett had three.

Mike Colla was not too familiar with the strike zone Friday night.  He allowed all three runs (two earned) on four hits and six walks in four innings with three strikeouts, and only 40 of his 87 pitches were strikes.  Matt Lollis, Andrew Bellatti and Bryce Stowell combined to strike out 10 and only allow one hit and one walk over the final five innings to secure the win.

Despite the win, the Biscuits were eliminated from postseason contention.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (29-28)

An early three run Fort Myers inning sunk Charlotte in their 5-2 loss to the Miracle.  Blake Snell was in the strike zone, but his lone walk was key in that big inning.  He struck out two batters with a runner on first, but a stolen base and single tied the game at one.  After a walk extended the inning, a two run double put Fort Myers up 3-1.  He finished with three runs allowed on seven hits ad a walk in five innings with five strikeouts.

After going up 1-0 in the first, it took until the seventh for the Stone Crabs to get back on the board when Johnny Field doubled with one out and scored on a Tommy Coyle single.  Ryan Hanigan was 2/3 with a strikeout, and David DeJesus was 1/2.  Patrick Leonard had two hits including a double.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (27-33)

Bowling Green's offense finally woke up in their 8-5 win over Great Lakes.  After taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning, they actually fell behind in the second, but a Hot Rods four run second put them ahead for good.  Willy Adames' bases loaded single gave Bowling Green the lead right back, and Alexander Simon tripled home two more to cap off the inning.  James Harris singled home two runs in a three run eighth to add insurance.  Adames, Simon and Julian Ridings had two hit games.

The Loons actually outhit the Hot Rods 11-9, but starter Bruedlin Suero still wasn't bad.  He allowed three Great Lakes runs between the second and third innings, but he ended up with a quality start when he only allowed three runners to reach over the last three innings.  He finished with three runs (two earned) on seven hits and a walk in six innings with six strikeouts.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (43-23)

Connecticut got to Enderson Franco in Hudson Valley's 5-3 loss to the Tigers.  After the Renegades tied the game at one in the third inning, Connecticut answered with three runs over the next two innings.  The two out, two run double in the fourth scored what proved to be the winning run.  Franco allowed four runs on seven hits and a walk in five innings with four strikeouts.

A half inning later, Hudson Valley responded with their own two run inning with a two run single from Coty Blanchard, but they would not get closer than that.  Only four more Renegade batters reached base after that.  Blanchard and Braxton Lee combined for five of Hudson Valley's eight hits, and Lee was on base four times.

Rookie Princeton Rays (33-25)

Princeton was suspended.

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (28-27)

A seven run first inning did the GCL Rays in and resulted in a 12-3 loss to the GCL Orioles.  The loss dropped them to third place, and they could be eliminated from contention today.  Two errors hurt a little bit, but third rounder Brock Burke could only record one out.  He was charged with all seven runs (five earned) on five hits and two walks.  Cristopher Crisostomo struck out five in three scoreless innings, and he was the only Rays pitcher out of four to not allow a run.

The game was well out of reach when they finally scored all three of their runs in the ninth inning.  Bill Pujols led off the ninth with a solo home run, Andrew Toles hit an RBI triple, and Toles scored on a David Rodriguez sac fly.  Toles was 2/5, and Matt Ford had two hits too.

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Star of the day- That's three straight quality starts for Colome.

Goat of the day- Burke could've used some outs.

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

Durham v. Gwinnett 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Mike Montgomery (9-5, 4.29) v. Aaron Northcraft (0-6, 6.18)

Montgomery @ Pensacola 7:30 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Dylan Floro (9-13, 3.59) v. Timothy Adleman* (3-6, 2.86)

Charlotte v. Fort Myers 6 PM (Radio stream)
Jaime Schultz* (1-0, 2.92) v. Ethan Mildren* (2-2, 5.66)

Bowling Green v. Great Lakes 8:05 PM (Radio stream)
Isaac Gil (1-1, 4.57) v. Luis De Paula (1-2, 6.84)

Hudson Valley @ Connecticut 7:05 PM (Radio stream)
TBA v. TBA

Princeton v. Greeneville 7:05 PM DOUBLEHEADER
Brent Honeywell (1-1, 1.26) v. Devonte German (0-2, 3.46)
TBA v. TBA

First game will be the resumption of last night's suspended game, and the second game will be seven innings

GCL Rays @ GCL Orioles 10 AM
TBA v. TBA

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Gwinnett Braves
59-74 (3rd in IL South)
Offense: 560 R (10th) .717 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 4.44 ERA (10th) 1.50 WHIP (12th)
Top 30 Prospects: C Christian Bethancourt (2), RHP Cody Martin (11), 3B Edward Salcedo (12), OF Joey Terdoslavich (15), RHP Shae Simmons (16), OF Todd Cunningham (23), RHP Aaron Northcraft (25), RHP Juan Jaime (27), RHP James Hoyt (30)

Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Cincinnati)
24-37 (5th in SL South)
Offense: 530 R (9th) .695 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 4.00 ERA (7th) 1.38 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)

Fort Myers Miracle (Minnesota)
37-24 (T-1st in FSL South)
Offense: 670 R (1st) .722 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 3.31 ERA (4th) 1.31 WHIP (6th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Max Kepler (11), OF Adam Brett Walker (17), SS Niko Goodrum (26), RHP Tyler Jones (27), RHP Zack Jones (28), C Stuart Turner (30)

Great Lakes Loons (Los Angeles)
28-32 (T-4th in MWL East)
Offense: 532 R (13th) .667 OPS (14th)
Pitching: 3.58 ERA (5th) 1.28 WHIP (7th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Jacob Scavuzzo (15), RHP Zach Bird (21), RHP Victor Arano (29)

Connecticut Tigers
35-31 (2nd in Stedler)
Offense: 298 R (3rd) .679 OPS (6th)
Pitching: 3.06 ERA (3rd) 1.21 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: 3B Steven Fuentes (28), OF Derek Hill, 3B Joey Pankake

Greeneville Astros
29-29 (4th in APP West)
Offense: 269 R (6th) .664 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 3.35 ERA (3rd) 1.34 WHIP (6th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Reymin Guduan (28), RHP Brock Dykxhoorn

GCL Orioles
28-26 (2nd in GCL South)
Offense: 185 R (16th) .617 OPS (14th)
Pitching: 3.10 ERA (2nd) 1.21 WHIP (3rd)
Top 30 Prospects: C Jonah Heim (26)