Rays prospects and minor leagues: Harris enjoys birthday shutout

In its midseason update, Baseball America noted Greg Harris' improved velocity this season ($). His strikeout rate with Charlotte does reflect that -- after striking out 14.6 percent of batters in 39 2/3 innings with the Stone Crabs last season, his K rate is up to 21.9 percent this season. However, he is allowing home runs at a greater rate this season, and his walk rate is up as well. Overall, this season has been a mixed bag, but he's probably close to being a top-30 prospect in the organization.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (54-71)

Jacob Faria was as good as Durham's offense was bad in its 2-0 loss to Columbus. Aside from allowing a two-run home run, he was sharp, striking out eight and walking none over seven innings. After a pair of rocky outings, Faria has been better with the Bulls. Over his last five starts, he's allowed nine earned runs in 30 1/3 innings with 28 strikeouts and 12 walks. Durham managed five hits, all singles.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (28-23)

Montgomery was unable to erase a 5-0 deficit in a 6-3 loss to Chattanooga. After piggybacking for Chase Whitley in consecutive appearances, Taylor Guerrieri went back to his familiar role in the rotation but got into first inning trouble. After retiring the first batter, he allowed back-to-back doubles, and the Lookouts would take a 2-0 lead. They added two more in the fourth, and Guerrieri exited after four, having allowed four runs on seven hits. Meanwhile, Chattanooga starter Stephen Gonsalves dominated, tossing six no-hit innings. It took until the eighth for the Biscuits to get their first hit, and they finished with two.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (27-24)

Greg Harris picked up his second abbreviated shutout of the season in Charlotte's rain-shortened 1-0 win over Jupiter. The teams only played six innings due to wet grounds, but he made them count, striking out seven and only allowing three hits and three walks. The one run of the game came when Jace Conrad hit a sacrifice fly to score Cristian Toribio in the fourth. Oswaldo Arcia was 1-for-2 with a walk.

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (33-18)

Bowling Green got out to an early 6-0 lead and held on for an 8-5 win over South Bend. David Olmedo-Barrera tripled to lead off the second and scored the first run of the game on Michael Russell's double. Russell scored on a David Rodriguez single, and Zacrey Law drove in two with two outs. Starter Genesis Cabrera struck out eight in five innings, but he was generally in and out of trouble from the start and allowed five runs. Yoel Espinal struck out five in four scoreless innings of relief.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (33-22)

Garrett Whitley scored on a wild pitch to give Hudson Valley a 10-inning, 4-3 walkoff win over Auburn to start the second half of the season. Whitley doubled to lead off the inning, and he was on third after Miles Mastrobuoni bunted for a hit. After Jim Haley popped out, Nathaniel Lowe came to the plate with a chance to win the game, but his services were not needed. Starter Eduard Rosillo walked six and allowed all three Doubledays runs -- two of which were earned -- in 4 2/3 innings.

Rookie Princeton Rays (26-24)

Princeton was off.

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (21-25)

Jesus Sanchez singled in the go-ahead run in the GCL Rays' 4-2 win over the GCL Twins. A half inning after the GCL Rays blew a 2-0 lead, Sanchez's RBI hit put them back in front, 3-2. Michael Brosseau added an insurance run with a sacrifice fly. Justin O'Conner continued his rehab assignment and reached base twice. GCL Rays pitching combined for 14 strikeouts, led by starter Greg Maisto's six in three innings.

The preceding stories were not generated by the Associated Press computer using data from and in cooperation with MLBAM.

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Notable Performances

Triple-A

SS Jake Hager: 1-for-4, 1 K
UT Taylor Motter: 0-for-4, 2 K
1B Casey Gillaspie: 1-for-4, 1 K
3B Richie Shaffer: 0-for-4, 2 K

RHP Jacob Faria: 7 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K

Double-A

IF Kean Wong: 0-for-4, 3 K
OF Granden Goetzman: 0-for-4, 3 K
SS Willy Adames: 0-for-3, 1 BB, 2 K
1B Jake Bauers: 0-for-2, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K
OF Justin Williams: 0-for-4, 1 K

RHP Taylor Guerrieri: 4 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

Class A-Advanced

2B Andrew Velazquez: 0-for-3, 1 K
OF Oswaldo Arcia: 1-for-2, 1 BB
3B Cristian Toribio: 3-for-3, 1 R
C Nick Ciuffo: 1-for-3
OF Nathan Lukes: 0-for-2
OF Thomas Milone: 0-for-2

RHP Greg Harris: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K

Class-A

OF Zacrey Law: 3-for-5, 1 R, 2 RBI
3B Kevin Padlo: 0-for-3, 1 R, 2 BB, 2 K
OF David Olmedo Barrera: 3-for-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 3B

LHP Genesis Cabrera: 5 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 8 K
RHP Yoel Espinal: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K

Short-season

OF Jake Fraley: 1-for-4, 1 BB, 1 K, 3 SB
OF Garrett Whitley: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI
3B Jim Haley: 0-for-5, 1 K
C Chris Betts: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 K

RHP Eduard Rosillo: 4 2/3 IP, 1 H, 3 R (2 ER), 6 BB, 3 K
RHP Jose Alonzo: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K

Rookie (GCL Rays)

C Justin O'Conner: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB
OF Jesus Sanchez: 1-for-4, 1 RBI, 2 K

LHP Greg Maisto: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K
LHP Kenny Rosenberg: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K

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

Durham v. Norfolk 7:05 PM ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Justin Marks (6-10, 3.62) v. Joe Gunkel (9-7, 3.71)

Montgomery @ Chattanooga 7:15 PM ET (radio stream)
Chih-Wei Hu (5-8, 2.79) v. Aaron Slegers (9-6, 3.46)

Charlotte v. Jupiter 6:35 PM ET (radio stream)
TBA v. Jeff Brigham (5-6, 3.88)

Bowling Green v. South Bend 7:35 PM ET (radio stream)
Tyler Brashears (6-1, 2.93) v. Adbert Alzolay (8-4, 4.19)

Hudson Valley v. Auburn 7:05 PM ET (radio stream)
TBA v. Yonathan Ramirez (3-2, 4.38)

Princeton v. Kingsport 7 PM ET (radio stream)
TBA v. Jordan Humphreys (1-5, 4.74)

GCL Rays @ GCL Twins 10 AM DOUBLEHEADER

Both games will be seven innings

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Norfolk Tides (Baltimore)
54-71, T-3rd in IL South
Offense: 438 R (14th) .681 OPS (11th)
Pitching: 3.55 ERA (8th) 1.30 WHIP (9th)
Top 30 Prospects: 1B Trey Mancini (8), RHP Mike Wright (10), OF Dariel Alvarez (13), 1B/OF Christian Walker (14), RHP Oliver Drake (21), RHP Parker Bridwell (22), OF Mike Yastrzemski (25)

Chattanooga Lookouts (Minnesota)
27-24, 3rd in SL North
Offense: 544 R (3rd) .701 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 3.67 ERA (6th) 1.32 WHIP (6th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Tyler Jay (5), RHP Kohl Stewart (8), LHP Stephen Gonsalves (9), RHP Nick Burdi (10), C Stuart Turner (16), SS Engelb Vielma (18), RHP Felix Jorge (24), RHP Trevor Hildenberger (27), LHP Mason Melotakis (28), RHP Ryan Eades (31)

Jupiter Hammerheads (Miami)
29-24, 1st in FSL South
Offense: 443 R (9th) .639 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 3.44 ERA (5th) 1.24 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: 2B Avery Romero (23), RHP Jose Adames (30)

South Bend Cubs
34-18, 1st in MWL East
Offense: 555 R (2nd) .710 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 3.33 ERA (4th) 1.21 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Oscar De La Cruz (8), OF Eloy Jimenez (9), LHP Justin Steele (14), LHP Carson Sands (22), OF Eddy Julio Martinez (28)

Auburn Doubledays (Washington)
22-33, 5th in NYPL Pinckney
Offense: 185 R (12th) .605 OPS (12th)
Pitching: 3,87 ERA (11th) 1.31 WHIP (11th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Blake Perkins (12), RHP Dane Dunning, 3B Sheldon Neuse

Kingsport Mets
19-34, 5th in AL West
Offense: 244 R (7th) .700 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 4.70 ERA (9th) 1.47 WHIP (10th)
Top 30 Prospects: None

GCL Twins
26-20, 1st in GCL South
Offense: 165 R (12th) .622 OPS (12th)
Pitching: 2.44 ERA (1st) 1.10 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Huascar Ynoa (25), SS Jose Miranda, OF Akil Baddoo