Rays prospects and minor leagues 7/15: Durham's late rally proves fruitless

Kevin Kiermaier continued his rehab assignment, picking up a double and a walk playing center field in the first leg of Charlotte's doubleheader while adding another walk and a single as the DH in the second game.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (40-53)

A ninth-inning rally went for naught as the Bulls fell to the Syracuse Chiefs, 5-4. The Bulls faced a 4-2 deficit heading into the ninth inning, with each Durham pitcher allowing at least one run. Richie Shaffer walked and J.P. Arencibia hit a two-run home run to tie the game in the top of the ninth. However, a Dayron Varona error allowed Syracuse to score the winning run. Jaff Decker went 2-for-4 with a double and a solo home run in the loss.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (12-9)

Montgomery had more than enough offense to secure a 6-1 win over the Tennessee Smokies. Taylor Guerrieri made his fourth start of seven innings or more with the Biscuits this year, hurling seven scoreless while punching out three batters. Montgomery broke open the game early with a three-run second inning which included a two-run triple from Thomas Coyle along with him later scoring on an error. Braxton Lee, Cade Gotta, and Jake Depew all added RBIs and Mike Marjama went 4-for-4 with three doubles in the win.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (11-9)

Charlotte swept the Lakeland Flying Tigers in their doubleheader, winning Game One by a 4-0 score. Grayson Garvin and Diego Castilla allowed just three hits combined in the shutout win. Castillo picked up his first win of the season while Garvin struck out five. Charlotte scored all four of their runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Justin Williams drove in two on a RBI double and Grant Kay hit a two-run home run for his eighth of the year with the Stone Crabs.

On the back end of the doubleheader, Charlotte added a 5-2 win in the bullpen game. Catcher-turned-pitcher Jeff Howell started and allowed just one run but walked four in 3.1 innings of work. Mike Franco earned his fourth win of the year with 1.2 innings of relief while Nick Sawyer boosted his save total to three with a hitless seventh inning. The offense was spread throughout the Stone Crabs' lineup with Joe McCarthy, Justin Williams, Grant Kay, and Matt Eureste each contributing an RBI. Thomas Milone chipped in another run, scoring on a wild pitch.

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (11-9)

Solid pitching on Bowling Green's part helped them win a 3-1 game over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Blake Bivens tossed six one-hit innings with seven strikeouts, although he walked four batters. Tim Ingram allowed a ninth inning of run in his third inning of work, but Tyler Brashears recorded the final out for his third save with the Hot Rods. Bowling Green got on the board first with a bases-loaded walk in the opening inning, and Kewby Meyer knocked a two-run single in the sixth to extend the Hot Rods' lead.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (14-13)

Hudson Valley pulled out a 2-1 win in a pitching duel with the Staten Island Yankees. Brock Burke threw four scoreless innings while striking out six, but ended up with a no-decision. Porter Clayton allowed Staten Island's only run, but Deivy Mendez tossed three hitless innings with seven strikeouts for his first win of the year with the Renegades. Miles Mastrobuoni opened up the scoring with a RBI groundout with the bases loaded, and Nathaniel Lowe drove in the deciding run on a single in the eighth.

Rookie Princeton Rays (12-8)

Princeton turned a four-run deficit heading into the eighth into a 10-6 win over the Bluefield Blue Jays. Ethan Clark allowed four runs in five innings, but an Adrian Rondon double and Rafelin Lorenzo sacrifice fly cut Bluefield's lead to two. Sandy Brito allowed two more runs in 1.2 innings to put Princeton behind 6-2. Consecutive RBI singles from Rondon, Lorenzo, and Robbie Tenerowicz brought the Rays within one in the eighth inning. A bases-clearing triple from Oscar Rojas gave Princeton the lead and then some. Rojas scored on a passed ball, and Tenerowicz smacked a RBI double to give the Rays plenty of cushion. Dalton Moats polished off his 2.1 scoreless innings to hold onto his first win of the year.

Rookie GCL Rays (8-10)

The GCL Rays lost their seven-game win streak, dropping a 7-4 game to the GCL Red Sox. The Rays picked up a two-run lead after a Jesus Sanchez RBI double, and Sanchez later scored on a double play. Rays starter Eric Diomartich allowed four runs between the second and third innings and took his third loss of the year in the process. Rene Pinto hit a sacrifice fly and Jonathon Arrowood picked up an RBI single for two more Rays runs in the ninth inning.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL BOX SCORES

Notable Performances

Triple-A

OF Jaff Decker: 2-for-4, R, 2B (10), HR (8), RBI (19), K
1B/3B Richie Shaffer: 0-for-2, R, 2 BB, K
C/1B J.P. Arencibia: 1-for-4, R, HR (7), 2 RBI (19)

RHP Eddie Gamboa: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

Double-A

OF Braxton Lee: 1-for-4, RBI (10)
IF Juniel Querecuto: 1-for-4, 2B (6)
C Mike Marjama: 4-for-4, 2 R, 3 2B (24)
2B Thomas Coyle: 2-for-3, 2 R, 2B (5), 3B (3), 2 RBI (8)

RHP Taylor Guerrieri: W (9-4), 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
RHP Jaye Chapman: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K

Class-A Advanced

Game 1

OF Kevin Kiermaier: 1-for-2, R, 2B (1), BB
OF Justin Williams: 2-for-3, R, 2 2B (11), 2 RBI (30)
IF Grant Kay: 1-for-3, R, HR (8), 2 RBI (30)

LHP Grayson Garvin: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K
RHP Diego Castilla: W (1-0), 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Game 2

OF Kevin Kiermaier: 1-for-1, R, BB
IF Alec Sole: 1-for-1, R, 2 BB
OF Justin Williams: 2-for-3, RBI (29)
IF Grant Kay: 1-for-2, RBI (29), K
OF Thomas Milone: 2-for-3, 2 R, 2B (8), K
SS/3B Matt Eureste: 1-for-3, RBI (1)

RHP Mike Franco: W (4-3), 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
RHP Nick Sawyer: S (3), 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K

Class-A

SS Jake Cronenworth: 1-for-3, R, BB
C Brett Sullivan: 1-for-3, R, BB
OF Zacrey Law: 1-for-3, R, RBI (31), BB
1B Kewby Meyer: 1-for-4, 2 RBI (14), 2 K

RHP Blake Bivens: W (4-2), 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 7 K
RHP Tim Ingram: H (2), 2.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
RHP Tyler Brashears: S (3), 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K

Short-Season

OF Ryan Boldt: 1-for-3, R, 2 BB
OF Garrett Whitley: 1-for-3, R, BB, 2 K
1B Nathaniel Lowe: 2-for-4, RBI (14), K
3B Jim Haley: 1-for-3, 2B (2), BB, K
2B Miles Mastrobuoni: 1-for-3, RBI (5), BB

LHP Brock Burke: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K
RHP Deivy Mendez: W (1-1), 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K

Rookie (Princeton)

1B Bobby Melley: 4-for-5, 3 R, K
OF Oscar Rojas: 1-for-3, 2 R, 3B (1), 3 RBI (4), 2 BB, 2 K
SS Adrian Rondon: 3-for-4, 2 R, 2B (3), 2 RBI (20), BB
C Rafelin Lorenzo: 1-for-4, 2 RBI (9), K
2B Robbie Tenerowicz: 3-for-5, 2 R, 2 RBI (12), K

LHP Dalton Moats: W (1-0), 2.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

Rookie (GCL)

OF Jesus Sanchez: 1-for-4, R, 2B (3), RBI (14), K
3B Joshua Lowe: 2-for-4, R, RBI (4)
1B Jonathon Arrowood: 1-for-4, RBI (10), K

LHP Kenny Rosenberg: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K

Today's probables (All probables courtesy milb.com)

Durham @ Syracuse 7:05 PM ET (milb.tv)
Jacob Faria (1-0, 0.60) v. Austin Voth (4-5, 3.24)

Montgomery v. Tennessee 8:05 PM ET (milb.tv)
Chih-Wei Hu (2-6, 2.51) v. Tyler Skulina (3-7, 4.96)

Charlotte v. Lakeland 6:35 PM ET
Greg Harris (6-5, 3.40) v. A.J. Ladwig (9-6, 3.66)

Bowling Green v. Wisconsin 7:35 PM ET
Genesis Cabrera (7-3, 3.14) v. Jake Drossner (3-5, 4.24)

Hudson Valley v. Staten Island 7:05 PM ET
TBA v. Kolton Mahoney

Princeton @ Bluefield 7:05 PM ET
Edrick Agosto (2-0, 3.95) v. TBA

GCL Rays v. GCL Orioles 12:00 PM ET
TBA v. TBA

Scouting the opposition

Syracuse Chiefs (Washington)
43-48, 6th (Last) in IL North
Offense: 330 R (11th) .667 OPS (13th)
Pitching: 3.86 ERA (12th) 1.35 WHIP (11th)
Top 30 Prospects: SS/CF Trea Turner (2), RHP Reynaldo Lopez (5), RHP A.J. Cole (7), RHP Austin Voth (9), C Pedro Severino (11), 2B Chris Bostick (25), RHP Koda Glover (30), OF Brian Goodwin (31)

Tennessee Smokies (Cubs)
9-11, T-4th (Last) in SL North
Offense: 351 R (8th), .699 OPS (6th)
Pitching: 3.84 ERA (7th) 1.38 WHIP (9th)
Top 30 Prospects: 2B Ian Happ (3), OF Billy McKinney (7), RHP Duane Underwood (4), RHP Paul Blackburn (19), RHP Jen-Ho Tseng (20), RHP Brad Markey (23), C Victor Caratini (24), OF Jacob Hannemann (26), RHP Andury Acevedo (29), RHP David Berg (30)

Lakeland Flying Tigers
5-14, 5th in FSL North 
Offense: 376 R (5th) .706 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 4.31 ERA (12th-Last) 1.38 WHIP (11th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Mike Gerber (3), OF Christin Stewart (4), LHP Kevin Ziomek (6), 3B Zac Shepherd (13), SS A.J. Simcox (14), LHP Jairo Labourt (16), RHP Gerson Montero (20), RHP 2B Joey Pankake (27), LHP Tyler Alexander (28)

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Milwaukee)
10-11, T-5th in MWL West
Offense: 369 R (9th) .686 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 3.27 ERA (2nd) 1.27 WHIP (6th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Trent Clark (3), SS Isan Diaz (9), RHP Devin Williams (10), OF Monte Harrison (14), IF Jake Gatewood (16), RHP Trey Supak (20), RHP Miguel Diaz (25)

Staten Island Yankees
17-10, 1st in NYPL McNamara
Offense: 108 R (T-5th) .613 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 2.49 ERA (2nd) 1.10 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Drew Finley (24), 2B Nick Solak

Bluefield Blue Jays
10-10, 3rd in AL East
Offense: 105 R (4th) .748 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 5.04 ERA (9th) 1.42 WHIP (8th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Reggie Pruitt (11), RHP Jose Espada (15), RHP Hansel Rodriguez (18), RHP Yennsy Diaz (19), OF Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

GCL Orioles
10-8, T-1st in GCL South
Offense: 81 R (8th) .659 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 2.28 ERA (1st) 1.03 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Brennan Hanifee (2016 4th Round Pick), SS Alexis Torres (2016 5th Round Pick)