Rays down on the farm August 25: Garvin goes on DL

A day after discussing players coming back after long absences, it was announced that Grayson Garvin was put on Montgomery's DL.  No explanation was given, but Stacy Long notes that he's increased his workload a lot this season despite already being on the DL once earlier.

It would be nice to see him eclipse 100 innings at some point because he's already eligible for the Rule 5 draft this off-season.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (70-65)

Gwinnett's pitcher, who threw his glove at the umpire as he exited his last start and was not suspended 50 games, stunk in Durham's 5-3 win over the Barves.  Nick Franklin and Tim Beckham hit back-to-back RBI singles in the second to give the Bulls a 2-1 lead, and Hak-Ju Lee's two RBI triple in the sixth broke a 2-2 tie.  Kanekoa Texeira exited after that, and with four hits and five walks allowed, it could've been worse.  Jeremy Moore hit a solo home run to add insurance.

Enny Romero was not particularly efficient, but he managed to give Durham five decent innings.  A two out Gwinnett triple in the fifth scored their second run, and Romero was done after that, having allowed the two runs on five hits and two walks in five innings with seven strikeouts.  Merrill Kelly relieved him with two scoreless innings.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (28-35)

Montgomery fell behind 4-0 early, and they could never quite dig out of that hole in their 9-4 loss to Pensacola.  The Biscuits pulled within one run after five innings, but trying to stretch Andrew Suarez through a sixth inning proved to be trouble.  He would end up getting charged with four more runs, and he finished with eight runs (six earned) allowed on nine hits and two walks in 5.2 innings with three strikeouts.  Kevin Brandt allowed three inherited runners to score.

Richie Shaffer was once again key in providing Montgomery's offense.  He scored their first run in the fourth and later drove in two more on a sac fly and bases loaded walk.  He was 1/2 with a double and two walks.  Kes Carter and Alejandro Segovia each had two hits.

The Biscuits were eliminated from playoff contention.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (31-28)

Jared Mortensen was sharp in Charlotte's 5-2 win over Fort Myers.  Both runs he allowed were in the half innings immediately following Stone Crab runs, but the Miracle couldn't get anything going otherwise.  He retired 11 of the last 12 batters he faced and finished with the two runs allowed on two hits and two walks in seven innings with seven strikeouts.  Those were Fort Myers' only two hits.

The Stone Crabs scored all five of their runs in the first five innings.  After three innings with individual runs, they added two insurance runs in the fifth.  Ryan Hanigan led off with a single and later scored on an Ariel Soriano sac fly, and Marty Gantt's RBI single scored the fifth run.  Hanigan was 1/3, and David DeJersus was 1/4 with a strikeout.  Johnny Field had three hits, including two doubles. and Tyler Goeddel reached base three times.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (27-34)

Bowling Green fell behind 4-0 early and couldn't catch up in their 6-3 loss to Fort Wayne.  After a seven start streak of allowing two or fewer runs, Chris Kirsch was tagged for five runs.  The TinCaps went up 3-0 in the second inning, but two of the runs that inning were unearned due to a pair of errors, including one by Kirsch himself.  He finished with five runs (three earned) allowed on nine hits in 5.2 innings with two strikeouts and no walks.

The Hot Rods scored two of their runs in the fifth.  Willy Adames tripled home Spencer Edwards to break up the shutout, and he scored on Alexander Simon's groundout.  Elias Torres hit a two out double the next inning to score the third run.  Bowling Green batters managed to strike out 15 times.

The Hot Rods were eliminated from playoff contention.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (44-24)

Hudson Valley was down 8-0 before they finally scored in their 8-2 loss to Connecticut.  After retiring the first 10 batters of the game, Hunter Wood ran into a brick wall.  Six straight batters reached base, and he was pulled after allowing four runs on three hits and three walks in 3.2 innings with three strikeouts.  Two innings later, Ryan Pennell allowed four runs of his own.

With two runners in scoring position and no outs in the seventh, the Tigers conceded the first Hudson Valley run on a Jace Conrad groundout.  Clayton Henning's two out single scored their last run.  Hunter Lockwood had two of their six hits.

Rookie Princeton Rays (35-27)

Princeton only had three hits in game one, but one big one made the difference in their game one 2-1 win.  Down 1-0 in the fifth of their suspended game, Patrick Grady led off with a walk, and he was followed by a two run home run by Angel Moreno.  That was his first home run in U.S. ball, and he actually had two of Princeton's hits.  Hyrum Formo allowed a run in three innings before the suspension, and Greg Maisto started the resumption with three strikeouts in four scoreless innings.

The Rays only had three hits again, but they lost 3-2 to Danville in game two.  With a pair of walks, a wild pitch and a groundout, they were able to score that run without using one of their hits.  Trevor Lubking allowed one run on four hits and three walks in 4.1 innings with four strikeouts.

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (29-27)

The GCL Rays were off.

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Star of the day- Maybe Mortensen could return to Montgomery to finish the season.

Goat of the day- Suarez's poor start was the perfect way to cap off Montgomery's poor stretch this half.

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

Durham v. Gwinnett 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Matt Andriese (11-7, 3.76) v. Terry Doyle* (3-3, 3.30)

Montgomery @ Pensacola 7:30 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Jim Patterson (3-0, 3.67) v. Robert Stephenson (6-9, 4.84)

Charlotte @ St. Lucie 6:30 PM (Radio stream)
Reinaldo Lopez (7-4, 3.18) v. Angel Cuan* (0-0, 6.75)

Bowling Green @ Fort Wayne 7:05 PM (Radio stream)
Chris Kirsch (9-6, 2.61) v. Kyle Lloyd (6-4, 3.58)

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

Princeton v. Danville 7:05 PM
Cameron Varga (0-1, 5.79) v. Alec Grosser (4-2, 3.53)

GCL Rays @ GCL Twins 12 PM
TBA v. TBA

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Gwinnett Braves
60-75 (T-3rd in IL South)
Offense: 570 R (10th) .718 OPS (9th)
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)
25-38 (5th in SL South)
Offense: 545 R (9th) .699 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 4.03 ERA (7th) 1.39 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)

St. Lucie Mets
31-31 (5th in FSL South)
Offense: 615 R (2nd) .727 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 4.21 ERA (10th) 1.40 WHIP (10th)
Top 30 Prospects: SS Gavin Cecchini (9), RHP Michael Fulmer (14), RHP Domingo Tapia (19), RHP Matt Koch (24)

Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego)
27-35 (T-7th in MWL East)
Offense: 643 R (2nd) .713 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 4.64 ERA (16th) 1.49 WHIP (16th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Max Fried (3), RHP Ronald Herrera (17), Dustin Peterson (22), SS Trea Turner

Aberdeen IronBirds (Baltimore)
22-45 (4th in McNamara)
Offense: 218 R (14th) .620 OPS (14th)
Pitching: 3.65 ERA (8th) 1.32 WHIP (10th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Stephen Tarpley (21), C Jonah Heim (21), C Alex Murphy (31)

Danville Braves
35-28 (T-2nd in APP East)
Offense: 297 R (3rd) .707 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 3.30 ERA (3rd) 1.19 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Carlos Salazar (17), C Tanner Murphy (21)

GCL Twins
22-34 (4th in GCL South)
Offense: 208 R (14th) .609 OPS (15th)
Pitching: 3.49 ERA (9th) 1.35 WHIP (10th)
Top 30 Prospects: 3B Amaurys Minier (24)