Rays down on the farm August 30: Romero leads Durham to doubleheader sweep

This kind of flew under the radar to me, but Enny Romero actually had a pretty solid second half.  In eight starts, he struck out 39 and walked 14 in 42.2 innings with a 2.32 ERA and 1.22 WHIP.  He only allowed two home runs too, after spending the first half giving them up at a rate that it almost looked intentional.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (74-67- clinched division)

Durham's doubleheader got off to a long start when it took 11 innings for a game one 1-0 win over Norfolk.  After getting a leadoff single in the second inning, the Tides went hitless.  Enny Romero allowed that hit in seven scoreless innings with four strikeouts and three walks, and Brandon Gomes, Cory Burns and Adam Liberatore threw the final four innings.  The only run of the game came on a Mike Fontenot solo home run.

Bulls pitching dominated game two as well, and it resulted in a 2-1 win.  After Vince Belnome doubled home two runs in the first inning, Merrill Kelly completely shut down the Tides until the fifth inning when he had to get out of a bases loaded jam.  He allowed their only run in the sixth and finished with an unearned run allowed on five hits and a walk in six innings with five strikeouts.  Belnome had two of Durham's five hits.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (31-36- eliminated)

Dylan Floro got a huge early lead, and he ran with it in Montgomery's 7-1 win over Jackson.  A half inning after the Biscuits went up 7-0, a General reached base on catcher interference by Justin O'Conner, and he eventually came home to score.  Floro allowed that unearned run on five hits and a walk in seven innings with six strikeouts.  Parker Markel and Andrew Bellatti struck out five of the last six batters of the game.

Luke Maile's two out single followed a double steal to put the Biscuits up 2-0 after one inning, and the second inning was even bigger.  With runners on the corners and no outs, Jackson thought they were close to the end of the inning after conceding a run to turn a double play, but it quickly went south.  Five straight hits, capped off by a two run Maile single, made it a 7-0 game.  Maile was one of four Biscuits with two hit games, and Richie Shaffer reached base three times.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (32-31- eliminated)

Charlotte was suspended.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (29-37- eliminated)

An early 1-0 lead didn't hold up in Bowling Green's 6-1 loss to South Bend.  Elias Torres hit a solo home run in the second inning, and the offense mostly checked out the rest of the game.  They had chances with runners on base, including one with the bases loaded, but they couldn't come through.  Julian Ridings had three hits, and Torres had two.

It didn't take long for the Silver Hawks to take the lead.  In the third, they scored three runs against Isaac Gil, and they repeated that two innings later in the fifth.  Gil finished with all six runs allowed on nine hits in 4.1 innings with six strikeouts and no walks.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (46-27- clinched division)

Hudson Valley missed an opportunity to tie the game in the 11th in their 5-4 loss to Connecticut.  With runners on the corners and two outs, Alec Sole didn't come home on a wild pitch while Jace Conrad advanced to second.  Grant Kay then struck out to end the game.  After the Renegades scored their third run in the sixth, only four batters reached base.  Sole had three hits and a stolen base.

Only two of the runs Connecticut scored were earned.  They were both charged to Nolan Gannon in five innings of work on four hits and two walks with a strikeout.  Gerardo Reyes allowed two inherited runners to score that were unearned because of an error by Sole, and two passed balls from Zach Marberry in the 11th led to the winning run.

Rookie Princeton Rays (40-28- clinched division)

After scoring two runs in the second inning, it took 11 innings for Princeton to score again in their 13 inning 3-2 win over Burlington.  With two outs, Enmanuel Paulino stole second and scored on Jose Paez's single.  Trevor Lubking finished the game with the tying run on base.  Paez reached base four times, and three Rays had two hit games, including Paulino.  Taylor Hawkins was 0/7 with a... whatever kind of sombrero you get for five strikeouts.

Five Princeton pitchers combined to shut down the Burlington offense.  Freddy Alvarez allowed a run in four innings with four strikeouts, and after Damion Carroll was charged with the second Royals run, the bullpen finished the game with eight straight scoreless innings.  Rafael Cordova and Kyle Bird each struck out three in three innings.

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (32-28)

The GCL Rays season is over.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL BOX SCORES

Star of the day- Durham's pitching staff did a number on Norfolk.

Goat of the day- One run didn't help, but neither did Gil's start.

Today's games (probables not courtesy of milb.com today, if they're not even going to list one, why should I put in the effort?)

Durham @ Norfolk 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA v. TBA

Montgomery v. Jackson 8:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA v. TBA

Charlotte @ Bradenton 6:30 PM (Radio stream) DOUBLEHEADER
TBA v. TBA
TBA v. TBA

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

Bowling Green v. Fort Wayne 8:05 PM (Radio stream)
TBA v. TBA

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

Princeton is off

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Norfolk Tides (Baltimore)
63-78 (3rd in IL South)
Offense: 622 R (7th) .705 OPS (11th)
Pitching: 4.43 ERA (11th) 1.40 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)

Jackson Generals (Seattle)
29-38 (5th in SL North)
Offense: 579 R (8th) .715 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 4.14 ERA (9th) 1.35 WHIP (7th)
Top 30 Prospects: 3B D.J. Peterson (2), RHP Victor Sanchez (7), C Tyler Marlette (8), 3B Patrick Kivlehan (12), LHP Tyler Pike (16), OF Jabari Blash (19)

Bradenton Marauders (Pittsburgh)
40-27 (1st in FSL South)
Offense: 547 R (8th) .671 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 3.29 ERA (2nd) 1.24 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Tyler Glasnow (3), OF Barrett Barnes (13), C Jin-De Jhang (24)

Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego)
30-37 (T-5th in MWL East)
Offense: 674 R (1st) .716 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 4.84 ERA (16th) 1.48 WHIP (16th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Max Fried (3), RHP Ronald Herrera (17), Dustin Peterson (22), SS Trea Turner

Connecticut Tigers
39-34 (2nd in Stedler)
Offense: 329 R (3rd) .682 OPS (6th)
Pitching: 3.12 ERA (4th) 1.21 WHIP (4th)
Top 30 Prospects: 3B Steven Fuentes (28), OF Derek Hill, 3B Joey Pankake