Rays down on the farm September 2: Princeton swept

Before Durham and Hudson Valley can even start their playoff runs, Princeton's is over.

In more positive news, the Rays extended their player development contract with Durham for four more years.  If I remember correctly, this relationship was a bit more tumultuous at the end of the Devil Rays era when a handful of players brought the organization some bad publicity, but obviously they've moved past those days.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (75-69)

Justin Christian's big game helped Durham win their finale 5-1 over Norfolk.  Down 1-0 in the third, Nick Franklin singled home a pair of runs to give the Bulls a lead, and Christian followed that with a two run homer, his 10th of the season.  Christian would later lead off the sixth with a double and score an insurance run.  Durham only had five hits.

An ensemble effort from the pitching staff shut down the Tides.  Doug Mathis allowed their only run on a solo home run, and two relievers followed that up with six scoreless innings.  Jake Thompson struck out two and allowed three hits in three innings, and Cory Burns did the same but with only one strikeout.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (66-74)

Montgomery went into the offseason bleeding runs with a season-ending 13-6 loss to Jackson.  Holding a 5-1 lead after five innings, the Generals hammered out 12 runs over the final four innings, four of which coming on a pair of home runs by former first rounder D.J. Peterson.  Victor Mateo was charged with seven runs (six earned) on 14 hits and a walk in 6.1 innings with three strikeouts.  Kevin Brandt and Santiago Garrido combined to allow the final six runs.

Justin O'Conner was one of a handful of Biscuits hitters.  He led Montgomery with three hits, including a two run home run in the second innings that gave them the lead.  Four Biscuit batters had two hit games, led by Richie Shaffer reaching base three more times.  He finished the year with 53 extra base hits.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (63-70)

Charlotte's season is over.

Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (61-77)

Bowling Green ended their season on a low note with a 4-0 loss to Fort Wayne.  Ben Griset struck out six in five scoreless innings, but the TinCaps broke the scoreless tie with three runs against Stone Speer and added another against Brian Miller.  Sean Smedley had two of Bowling Green's five hits, all singles.  They didn't draw any walks.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (46-30)

Hudson Valley backed into the postseason with another loss, this time dropping a 10-6 game to Aberdeen.  After they fell behind 4-1, the Renegades took a 6-4 lead in the sixth, but over the seventh and eighth, the IronBirds banged out four extra base hits to score six unanswered runs against the Hudson Valley bullpen.  Gerardo Reyes was charged with two runs, and Edwin Fierro was charged with four.  Starter Jose Alonzo allowed four runs in four innings and didn't record a strikeout.

The Renegades scored five runs between the fifth and sixth innings with only four hits, and Aberdeen was happy to help.  Thanks to a pair of errors, they were able to score two runs on one wild pitch.  Leopoldo Correa had three hits and drove in two runs, and Braxton Lee and Grant Kay each reached base three times.

Rookie Princeton Rays (0-2)

Three multi-run innings boosted Danville in Princeton's season-ending 8-5 loss.  This time, it was harder to pin on poor defense.  After the Rays took a quick 1-0 lead in the first, two singles and a double to start the second gave the Braves a 2-1 lead.  They scored another run, but the Rays answered in the bottom half of the inning with three runs of their own.  Danville scored three more runs in the fourth, and two seventh inning runs put the game away.  Starter Hyrum Formo was charged with five runs (four earned) on six hits and a walk in 3+ innings with three strikeouts.

After the three run second inning, the Princeton offense kind of petered out.  Riley Unroe's bases loaded double scored two runs, and Thomas Milone's sac fly scored the third run of the inning.  Nick Ciuffo's RBI double in the fifth knocked out the Danville starter, but that would be it for the offense.  Cristian Toribio was the only Ray without a hit.  Unroe and Angel Moreno reached base three times, and Moreno was one of three Rays with two hit games.

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Star of the day- The Rays and Bulls have worked out well, and by the time this new PDC ends, they'll have been together 20 years.

Goat of the day- There was still a lot of losing yesterday.

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

Durham is off

Montgomery's season is over

Bowling Green's season is over

Hudson Valley is off

Princeton's season is over

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

No one