Rays prospects and minor leagues: Snell tosses 5 scoreless innings

What's difference about Blake Snell this season? With his walk rate bumping up again, I wondered how efficient he has been compared to 2015. In 2015, he threw 63 percent strikes and needed 16.4 pitches per innings, in games where his pitch count was recorded, anyway. This season, his strike rate is 61.8 percent, and he's throwing 17.9 pitches per inning.

Over the course of a whole season, I'm not sure how much of a difference that makes. Or if those numbers matter at all.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (21-32)

Durham's offense did not show up to the park in its 2-0 loss to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. All three Bulls hits were singles, and Jake Goebbert was the only Bull to reach base more than once. Blake Snell struck out five in five scoreless innings on 95 pitches (57 strikes). Steve Geltz allowed both runs in 1 1/3 innings.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (24-26)

Montgomery blew a pair of leads in its 6-4 loss to Jacksonville. Mike Marjama's solo home run in the fourth gave the Biscuits a 2-0 lead, but the Suns then scored three straight runs. Jake Bauers then hit a two-run homer in the sixth only to see Jacksonville score twice in the bottom half of the inning. Starter Chris Kirsch struck out seven in five innings but allowed three runs -- two earned. The loss went to Jeff Ames, who allowed two runs and only recorded two outs.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (26-27)

Henry Centeno found that the Florida State League will be a challenge in Charlotte's 5-0 loss to Jupiter. In his Stone Crabs debut, Centeno retired the first six he faced, but a catcher's interference call on Nick Ciuffo started a two-run third. The Hammerheads added two more an inning later, and Centeno would not finish the frame, having allowed four runs -- three earned -- in 3 2/3 innings. Justin Williams and Mac James each had two of Charlotte's five hits.

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (26-25)

Taylor Hawkins stumbled through four innings in Bowling Green's 7-2 loss to Lake County. The knuckleballer allowed two runs in the first but somehow survived three more innings, finishing with just the pair of runs allowed on four hits and six walks in four innings. Kevin Padlo's RBI double in the second drew the Hot Rods within one, but they would not score again until the ninth.

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Notable Performances

AAA SS Daniel Robertson: 0-for-4, 1 K
AAA IF Tim Beckham: 0-for-4, 3 K
AAA 1B Richie Shaffer: 1-for-3, 1 K

AAA LHP Blake Snell: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K
AAA RHP Steve Geltz: 1 1/3 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

AA 2B Jake Hager: 0-for-4
AA SS Willy Adames: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 K
AA 1B Casey Gillaspie: 0-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K
AA OF Patrick Leonard: 1-for-4, 1 K
AA OF Jake Bauers: 3-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI
AA C Mike Marjama: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K

AA LHP Chris Kirsch: 5 IP, 9 H, 3 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 7 K
AA RHP Jeff Ames: two-thirds IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

A+ SS Andrew Velazquez: 0-for-4
A+ OF Justin Williams: 2-for-4, 1 2B, 1 K
A+ C Nick Ciuffo: 1-for-4, 1 K
A+ OF Bralin Jackson: 0-for-4, 3 K
A+ OF Thomas Milone: 0-for-1, 2 BB, 1 K

A+ RHP Henry Centeno: 3 2/3 IP, 5 H, 4 R (3 ER), 2 BB, 2 K
A+ RHP Jeff Howell: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K

A 1B Joe McCarthy: 0-for-4
A 3B Kevin Padlo: 1-for-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 K

A RHP Taylor Hawkins: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 6 BB, 4 K
A LHP Michael Velasquez: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 R (2 ER), 3 BB, 4 K
A RHP Fernando Baez: 1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K

Today's games (probables courtesy milb.com)

Durham v. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 1:05 PM ET (MiLB.tv, radio stream)
Jaime Schultz (2-3, 3.29) v. TBA

Montgomery @ Jacksonville 6:05 PM ET (MiLB.tv, radio stream) DOUBLEHEADER
Chih-Wei Hu (2-2, 2.05) v. TBA
TBA v. TBA

Both games will be seven innings

Charlotte @ Jupiter 6:30 PM ET (radio stream)
Benton Moss (2-5, 4.81) v. Luis Castillo (5-2, 2.13)

Bowling Green @ Lake County 6:30 PM ET (radio stream)
Roel Ramirez (2-2, 6.12) v. Thomas Pannone (3-4, 3.40)

Scouting the opposition

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Yankees)
30-22 (1st in IL North)
Offense: 203 R (5th) .702 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 2.80 ERA (2nd) 1.19 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: C Gary Sanchez (2), OF Aaron Judge (3), RHP Luis Cessa (18), OF Ben Gamel (21), RHP Brady Lail (22), LHP James Pazos (29), 1B Nick Swisher