Rays prospects and minor leagues: Honeywell hits a bump in the road

Brent Honeywell has not adjusted as quickly to AAA as he has in the past after previous promotions. He will get there. He’s one of the best pitching prospects in baseball right now. He has all of the things to get it done. It will come. But meanwhile....

Triple-A Durham Bulls (29-18)

Brent Honeywell had a day to forget and the offense couldn’t do much to help in this 1-7 loss to Pawtucket. Honeywell gave up a first inning grand slam to Steve Selsky, and then solo shots in the 2nd and 3rd innings to end his day and Durham’s chances early. Austin Pruitt, Adam Kolarek and Jeff Ames combined for 5 innings of scoreless relief.

Mallex Smith - 0-4, BB, 2 K, SB (8), hitting .278

Willy Adames - 1-3, 2 BB, K, hitting .241

Patrick Leonard - 0-4, BB, 2 K, hitting .337

Casey Gillaspie - 0-3, BB, K, hitting .227

Curt Casali - 2-4, K, hitting .279

Johnny Field - 1-4, K, hitting .241

Jake Hager - 2-4, hitting .216

Brent Honeywell - 3.0 IP, 8 H, 7 R/ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 3 HRA, 4.93 ERA, 69 pitches - 47 strikes, 1 ground out, 3 fly outs.

Austin Pruitt - 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R/ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1.04 ERA, 38 pitches - 27 strikes, 5 ground outs, 1 fly out.

Adam Kolarek - 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R/ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 1.21 ERA, 8 pitches - 6 strikes, 2 ground outs.

Jeff Ames - 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R/ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1.85 ERA, 14 pitches - 9 strikes, 1 ground out.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (26-24)

Tyler Brashears couldn’t make it out of the third inning as he took the loss in Chattanooga, 2-9. On the positive side, it looks like Nick Ciuffo is back in the action after missing some time, and Kean Wong and Joe McCarthy both had multi-hit days.

Kean Wong - 3-4, hitting .222

Joe McCarthy - 2-4, 2B (12), hitting .277

Cade Gotta - 0-4, hitting .325

Nick Ciuffo - 1-4, hitting .254

Tyler Brashears 2.2 IP, 8 H, 8 R/ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 HRA, 6.51 ERA, 2 WP, 73 pitches, 44 strikes, 3 ground outs, 3 fly outs.

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (23-25)

The Stone Crabs came out on top in their bean fest with Fort Myers, 6-1. Five players were hit by a pitch, four Stone Crabs and one Miracle. Starter Benton Moss gave up an unearned run in the first inning, then it was clear sailing from there as the Stone Crabs put up the remaining six runs on the board. Brandon Lowe and Ryan Boldt each had themselves some nice nights at the plate.

Jake Cronenworth - 2-5, K, hitting .310

Ryan Boldt - 3-3, BB, HBP, HR (2), SB (8 with 0 CS), hitting .277

Brandon Lowe - 2-4, BB, HR (6), K, hitting .323

Brett Sullivan - 0-4, hitting .317

Dalton Kelly - 1-2, BB, HBP, K, hitting .279

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (21-27)

Bowling Green split a pair of games against Lake County, winning the first one 3-2 and then dropping the second one 2-1. Lefty starter Brock Burke threw 7 innings of 1 run ball with 8 strikeouts, but the relief also gave up a run and the offense just couldn’t get anything going to overcome. The 2014 third round pick has yet to give up more than 1 earned run in a game and has gone 7 innings in three out of his nine starts this season. The win came on a walk of walk with all of the base runners reaching with 2 outs in the 9th.

Lucius Fox - 1-5, 2B (6), K, fielding error (9), hitting .287

Jesus Sanchez - 1-4, IBB, hitting .276

Rene Pinto - 1-3, BB, hitting .258

Josh Lowe - 1-4, R, fielding error (2), hitting .207

Adrian Rondon - 1-4, HR (2), K, hitting .231

Garrett Whitley - 2-3, R, BB, SB (5), hitting .256

Brock Burke - 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R/ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 1.23 ERA, 92 pitches - 63 strikes, 3 ground outs, 5 fly outs.

J.D. Busfield - 4.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R/ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HRA, 1.84 ERA, 83 pitches - 52 strikes, 2 ground outs, 3 fly outs.

Spencer Moran - 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R/ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1.50 ERA, 34 pitches - 21 strikes, 3 ground outs, 1 fly out.

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

Click here for all of the Rays organization box scores for Sunday, and then click here for today’s match ups. Looks like Montgomery and Port Charlotte have the day off, with Jose De Leon scheduled to start for the Bulls if he isn’t called up to help the Rays after yesterday’s 15 innings spent nearly the entire bullpen.