Baseball America's Josh Norris wrote a piece on Jacob Faria Wednesday. It details slight mechanical changes that have improved his stuff in the early going. His strikeout rate had already been increasing in recent seasons, and it'll be interesting to see if he has any more room to grow in that area.
Triple-A Durham Bulls (6-1)
Chih-Wei Hu was effective in Durham's 6-2 win over Charlotte. After allowing a couple home runs in his first outing, Hu was able to keep the ball in the park against a tough Knights offense. In six innings he allowed two runs -- one earned -- on five hits and a walk with five strikeouts. Charlotte took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, but Patrick Leonard's bases-clearing double with two outs in the bottom half of the inning put the Bulls in front. Charlotte scored again in the fourth, but another big hit -- this time a Mike Marjama three-run homer -- increased the lead to 6-2.
Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (3-3)
Brent Honeywell limited Birmingham to one hit in Montgomery's 5-2 win over the Barons. That hit was a home run, but he was effective for seven innings, allowing just the run to go along with eight strikeouts and three walks. That home run tied the game at one after Granden Goetzman's solo shot a half inning earlier, and it took until the eighth for the Biscuits to really break out. They were able to score two runs on bunt plays, and Braxton Lee provided some punch with a two-run double.
Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (0-7)
For Charlotte trying to get its first win, trying was just the first step toward failure in a 10-inning, 8-7 loss to Palm Beach. When David Olmedo-Barrera drove in a run and Peter Maris drove in two more in the fourth, the Stone Crabs had a 5-3 lead, but it wouldn't last. They needed to score a run without a hit in the eighth to tie the game again and send it to extras. Palm Beach scored a couple off Bryan Bonnell in the 10th, and Kevin Padlo's sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning wasn't enough. Starter Blake Bivens allowed three runs -- one earned -- in four innings.
Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods (4-3)
Bowling Green's offense didn't show up in time for its 4-0 loss in Game 1 of a doubleheader. Kenny Rosenberg allowed a run in the first inning and eventually got charged with all four. Hot Rods bats only hit three singles and did not draw a walk.
The hitters did wake up in time for a 5-3 win in Game 2. Bowling Green scored a pair of runs in the first, and Nathaniel Lowe's sacrifice fly in the third broke what became a 2-2 tie. After Lansing tied the game again in the sixth, two-out hits from Lucius Fox and Miles Mastrobuoni put the Hot Rods in front for good. Starter J.D. Busfield turned in another good outing, allowing three runs -- one earned -- in six innings with seven strikeouts and no walks.
The preceding stories were not generated by the Associated Press computer using data from, and in cooperation with, MLBAM.
Notable performances
Triple-A
SS Willy Adames: 0-for-4
1B Jake Bauers: 1-for-4, 1 R, 2 K
3B Patrick Leonard: 3-for-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 1 K
C Mike Marjama: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI
RHP Chih-Wei Hu: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 5 K
RHP Jeff Ames: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K
Double-A
OF Justin Williams: 0-for-4, 1 K
1B Joe McCarthy: 0-for-4, 2 K
C Nick Ciuffo: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 3 K
OF Granden Goetzman: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI
RHP Brent Honeywell: 7 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K
RHP Diego Castillo: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
Class A-Advanced
3B Kevin Padlo: 0-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K
C David Rodriguez: 1-for-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K
1B Dalton Kelly: 2-for-3, 3 R, 2 BB
RHP Blake Bivens: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 1 K
RHP Michael Santos: 3+ IP, 6 H, 3 R (2 ER), 0 BB, 0 K
RHP Bryan Bonnell: 1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Class-A
OF Garrett Whitley (1): 0-for-3, 2 K
CF Garrett Whitley (2): 0-for-3, 1 K
CF Josh Lowe (1): 0-for-2, 1 R
SS Lucius Fox (1): 1-for-2
SS Lucius Fox (2): 1-for-2, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB
OF Jesus Sanchez (2): 2-for-3, 1 R
LHP Kenny Rosenberg (1): 4 1/3 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 8 K
RHP J.D. Busfield (2): 6 IP, 8 H, 3 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 7 K
Today's games (probables courtesy of milb.com)
Durham v. Charlotte 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Taylor Guerrieri (1-0, 4.76) v. Lucas Giolito (0-0, 8.31)
Montgomery @ Birmingham 8:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Hunter Wood (0-1, 6.23) v. Spencer Adams (0-1, 3.86)
Charlotte v. Lakeland 6:35 PM (radio stream)
Jose Mujica (0-0, 6.75) v. Spencer Turnbull (0-0, 3.60)
Bowling Green v. Fort Wayne 7:35 PM (radio stream)
Brock Burke (0-0, 3.00) v. Logan Allen (0-0, 6.00)
*Listed as TBA on milb.com
Scouting the opposition
Charlotte Knights (White Sox)
4-3 (2nd in IL South)
Offense: 35 R (1st) 1.088 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 4.34 ERA (6th) 1.31 WHIP (6th)
Top 30 Prospects: IF Yoan Moncada (1), RHP Lucas Giolito (2), RHP Reynaldo Lopez (3), RHP Zack Burdi (6), RHP Carson Fulmer (7), RHP Tyler Danish (18), OF Adam Engel (19)
Birmingham Barons (White Sox)
1-5 (5th in SL North)
Offense: 17 R (T-7th) .680 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 8.57 ERA (10th) 2.05 WHIP (10th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Michael Kopech (5), RHP Spencer Adams (9), 3B Trey Michalczewski (13), 2B Jake Peter (16), RHP Connor Walsh (27), 1B Cameron Seitzer
Lakeland Flying Tigers
3-4 (T-4th in FSL North)
Offense: 16 R (12th) .620 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 3.15 ERA (7th) 1.03 WHIP (2nd)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Beau Burrows (3), OF Jose Azocar (12), RHP Sandy Baez (13), RHP Mark Ecker (15), RHP Spencer Turnbull (19), RHP Drew Smith (24), C Arvicent Perez (27), LHP Matt Hall (28), LHP Jairo Labourt (29)
Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego)
2-5 (T-7th in MWL East)
Offense: 22 R (10th) .582 OPS (12th)
Pitching: 3.94 ERA (10th) 1.25 WHIP (9th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Jorge Ona (12), 3B Hudson Potts (14), SS Fernando Tatis Jr. (17), LHP Logan Allen (19)