Rays prospects and minor leagues: Snell punches out 12 in return to Durham

The good news is that after throwing just 57 percent of his pitches for strikes in the majors so far this season, 67 percent of his pitches (72 strikes in 107 pitches) were strikes in Friday's start for the Bulls. He probably didn't use those pitches particularly efficiently in 5 1/3 innings, but there was probably some progress made.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (26-14)

Blake Snell returned to Durham and struck out 12 in a 6-1 Bulls win. He gave up a run with two outs in the first and generally avoided trouble all night, but he didn't record a 1-2-3 inning in his start. He finished with the run allowed on seven hits and two walks in 5 1/3 innings. Andrew Kittredge and Neil Wagner combined to strike out six more batters over the rest of the game. Mallex Smith hit his third leadoff home run of the season, and Jake Hager and Johnny Field also went deep. Field's homer was a grand slam.

SS Willy Adames: 1-for-4
1B Casey Gillaspie: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB
OF Mallex Smith: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI
3B Patrick Leonard: 0-for-4, 3 K
OF Johnny Field: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
IF Jake Hager: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI

LHP Blake Snell: 5 1/3 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 12 K

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (22-19)

Montgomery allowed a few too many runs in its 17-5 loss to Jackson. A grand slam capped a five-run first against Greg Harris, but that would not be the Generals' last on the evening. They got another one in the six-run fourth inning and continued adding on from there. Harris allowed the first 11 runs, and Brad Schreiber was charged with five.

OF Joe McCarthy: 1-for-3, 1 BB
C Nick Ciuffo: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K
OF Braxton Lee: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K
OF Mac James: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B

RHP Greg Harris: 3 2/3 IP, 11 H, 11 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
RHP Brad Schreiber: 1 2/3 IP, 3 H, 5 ER, 6 BB, 3 K
RHP Mac James: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (19-21)

Charlotte's game was suspended and will be resumed as part of a doubleheader Sunday.

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (17-22)

Bowling Green couldn't take advantage of a nice start from Ethan Clark in a 4-2 loss to Dayton. After allowing a leadoff double that led to a run in the second, Clark held the dangerous Dragons in check, finishing six innings with just the run allowed on four hits and two walks with five strikeouts. Garrett Whitley's RBI hit in the eighth tied the game, but Dayton got a bases-clearing triple in the bottom half of the inning to take the lead for good.

SS Lucius Fox: 0-for-4, 4 K
OF Jesus Sanchez: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB
3B Adrian Rondon: 0-for-4, 2 K
CF Garrett Whitley: 1-for-3, 1 RBI, 2 K

RHP Ethan Clark: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
RHP Spencer Jones: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

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

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

Durham v. Gwinnett 6:35 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Jacob Faria (4-1, 3.92) v. Matt Wisler (1-2, 3.45)

Montgomery v. Jackson 7:35 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Mike Franco (3-0, 2.06) v. Taylor Clarke (4-1, 2.25)

Charlotte v. Jupiter 3:05 PM (radio stream)
Michael Santos (3-0, 3.60) v. Scott Squier (1-5, 5.36)

Bowling Green @ Dayton 7 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
J.D. Busfield (3-2, 1.85) v. Scott Moss (5-1, 2.20)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Gwinnett Braves
21-19 (T-2nd in IL South)
Offense: 171 R (4th) .705 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 3.99 ERA (10th) 1.34 WHIP (8th)
Top 30 Prospects: 2B Ozzie Albies (2), LHP Sean Newcomb (8), RHP Patrick Weigel (9), RHP Lucas Sims (14), RHP Luke Jackson (28)

Jackson Generals (Arizona)
24-17 (1st in SL North)
Offense: 196 R (1st) .797 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 3.60 ERA (7th) 1.36 WHIP (9th)
Top 30 Prospects: IF Dawel Lugo (2), RHP Taylor Clarke (7), RHP Brad Keller (8), LHP Alex Young (11), LHP Jared Miller (19), LHP Josh Taylor (25), OF Victor Reyes (23), Oscar

Jupiter Hammerheads (Miami)
15-26 (6th in FSL South)
Offense: 131 R (11th) .629 OPS (11th)
Pitching: 3.45 ERA (4th) 1.28 WHIP (4th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Stone Garrett (9), RHP Cody Poteet (14), C Roy Morales (20)

Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati)
28-13 (1st in MWL East)
Offense: 203 R (2nd) .710 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 3.41 ERA (6th) 1.19 WHIP (3rd)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Taylor Trammell (5), C Tyler Stephenson (10), RHP Tony Santillan (11), OF T.J. Friedl (15), OF Michael Beltre (23), RHP Ryan Hendrix (24), OF Jose Siri (31)