Rays prospects and minor leagues: Decker blasts 2 homers in Bulls win

Bowling Green looks to be having a catching battle, with both Brett Sullivan and David Rodriguez having solid starts to their seasons. Sullivan leads the Midwestern League with 38 RBIs after knocking two Thursday night. However, Rodriguez has had a solid start to the season as well, carrying a .262/.349/.372 line and a 120 wRC+. Considering the struggles at catcher to start off the year in major leagues, it's nice to see catching depth existing in the minors.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (23-32)

Austin Pruitt spun a gem for his fourth win of the season in a 3-0 victory over the Gwinnett Braves. Pruitt threw seven shutout innings, striking out seven while allowing only two hits and two walks. Jaff Decker was the driving force behind Durham's offense, knocking two solo home runs. Kyle Roller had an RBI double in the second to help give Durham an early lead.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (26-27)

Hunter Wood picked up his first win in Double A in a 1-0 victory over the Jacksonville Suns in Game 1 of the doubleheader. Wood threw five scoreless innings, allowing two hits while walking four. Kyle Bird threw two innings to pick up his first save of the season. Jake Bauers scored the Biscuits' lone run on a wild pitch in the fourth inning. Willy Adames continued his impressive streak in Double A, going 2-for-3 with a double.

While doubleheader games are only supposed to last seven innings, Game 2 of the doubleheader ended up going nine with Montgomery locking up a 4-3 victory. Jacob Faria allowed a three-run home run in the second inning, but otherwise the Suns were kept quiet. Montgomery inched its way back into the game with a run in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. Casey Gillaspie hit a sacrifice fly, Patrick Leonard hit a solo home run, and Jake Bauers hit a RBI single to tie the game up at three runs apiece. Jake Hager hit a RBI single in the top of the ninth to put Montgomery ahead, and Jeff Ames locked down the Suns in the bottom of the inning to secure the win.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (28-27)

Charlotte pulled off a three-run 10th to get a 5-2 extra-innings win over the Jupiter Hammerheads. Charlotte jumped out to an early lead on an RBI groundout by Alec Sole. Greg Harris allowed a run to score in the bottom of the second, but he kept the Hammerheads off the board the rest of his five innings. Bralin Jackson hit an RBI single to give Charlotte a 2-1 lead in the second inning, which was eventually lost on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth. A fielding error and a Jace Conrad two-run single gave plenty of cushion for the Stone Crabs to finish off the game.

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (27-26)

Bowling Green thrashed the Lake County Captains in an 8-1 victory. The Hot Rods knocked 14 hits total, with Michael Russell and Angel Moreno accounting for three hits each. Jake Cronenworth tripled and scored on a wild pitch to open up the scoring, and the rout was on from there. David Rodriguez and Brett Sullivan each had two RBIs to lead Bowling Green in the scoring, with Cronenworth, Russell, and Moreno all contributing an RBI apiece. Genesis Cabrera had another solid start, allowing only one run on three hits and one walk while striking out six in six innings of work. Armando Bastardo pitched an effective three innings of relief, picking up his first save in the process.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL BOX SCORES

Notable Performances

Triple-A

OF Jaff Decker: 2-for-3, 2 R, 2 HR (5), 2 RBI (13)
OF Jake Goebbert: 1-for-3, R, 2B (3)
DH Kyle Roller: 1-for-2, 2B (7), RBI (8)

RHP Austin Pruitt: W (4-3), 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K
RHP Neil Wagner: H (2), 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
RHP Steve Geltz: S (1), 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

Double-A

Game 1

OF Jake Bauers: 1-for-2, R, BB
SS Willy Adames: 2-for-3, 2B (18)
C Mike Marjama: 2-for-3, K

RHP Hunter Wood: W (1-0), 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 2 K
LHP Kyle Bird: S (1), 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Game 2

2B Kean Wong: 1-for-3, R, 2B (9), K
OF Jake Bauers: 1-for-4, RBI (29)
1B Casey Gillaspie: 1-for-3, RBI (25), SF
OF Patrick Leonard: 2-for-4, 2 R, 2B (2), HR (1), RBI (2), K
IF Jake Hager: 1-for-4, RBI (16)

RHP Jeff Ames: W (4-1), 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K

Class-A Advanced

OF Justin Williams: 2-for-4, 2 R, 2B (4), BB
1B Alec Sole: 1-for-5, RBI (23)
OF Bralin Jackson: 1-for-4, RBI (9), BB, K
OF Jace Conrad: 1-for-5, 2 RBI (18), K
OF Thomas Milone: 2-for-3, BB

RHP Nick Sawyer: H (2), 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K
RHP Jeff Howell: BS (1), W (1-2), 4.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

Class-A

SS Jake Cronenworth: 2-for-4, R, 3B (3), RBI (23), BB
IF Michael Russell: 3-for-5, R, 2B (11), RBI (21), K
1B/OF Joe McCarthy: 2-for-5
C David Rodriguez: 2-for-5, R, 2 RBI (23), K
C Brett Sullivan: 1-for-5, R, HR (9), 2 RBI (38)
OF Zacrey Law: 1-for-5, R, 2B (13), K
OF Angel Moreno: 3-for-4, 3 R, RBI (11)

LHP Genesis Cabrera: W (5-2), 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
RHP Armando Bastardo: S (1), 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K

Today's probables (milb.com)

Durham v. Gwinnett 7:05 PM ET (milb.tv, radio stream)
Adam Wilk (1-6, 3.22) v. Manny Banuelos (0-0, 2.45)

Montgomery @ Jacksonville 7:05 PM ET (milb.tv, radio stream)
Taylor Guerrieri (2-4, 4.53) v. Hunter Adkins (0-0, 2.87)

Charlotte @ Tampa 7:00 PM ET (radio stream)
TBA v. Will Carter (0-0, 6.39)

Bowling Green @ Lansing 7:05 PM ET (radio stream)
Genesis Cabrera (4-2, 2.35) v. Angel Perdomo (2-1, 1.45)

Scouting the Opposition

Gwinnett Braves
25-28, 2nd in IL South
Offense: 215 R (3rd), .685 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 3.76 ERA (12th), 1.45 WHIP (14th-Last)
Top 30 Prospects: SS Ozzie Albies (4), RHP Lucas Sims (11), LHP Manny Banuelos (12), RHP Tyrell Jenkins (14), RHP John Gant (16), 3B Rio Ruiz (17), IF Reid Brignac

Jacksonville Suns (Miami)
25-26, 3rd in SL South
Offense: 225 R (5th), .684 OPS (6th)
Pitching: 4.23 ERA (8th), 1.31 WHIP (5th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Jarlin Garcia (3), OF Austin Dean (7), RHP Jake Esch (13), RHP Austin Brice (14), LHP Tim Berry (16), SS J.T. Riddle (22), 2B Avery Romero (23)