Rays prospects and minor leagues: Gillaspie, Bauers team up in Durham rout

Casey Gillaspie's had a bit of a roller-coaster season so far. He hit the ground running with a .839 OPS in his first seven games, but then things went bad. In his next 10 games, he did not have any multi-hit appearances and had an OPS of .265. In his most recent nine games, he's batting .324 with five extra-base hits (three home runs).

Yes, it's still very early in the season.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (21-8)

Casey Gillaspie and Jake Bauers went deep in support of Yonny Chirinos in Durham's 9-2 win over Columbus. Gillaspie's homer to lead off the second started a five-run inning that gave the Bulls a 6-0 advantage, and Bauers ended his 17-game home-run drought with a solo shot in the sixth. After a tough Durham debut, Chirinos was much better in his second start, striking out eight and allowing three runs in 6 2/3 innings. Bauers, Gillaspie, Willy Adames and Patrick Leonard all had two-hit games.

OF Jake Bauers: 2-for-3, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
1B Casey Gillaspie: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K
SS Willy Adames: 2-for-4, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K
3B Patrick Leonard: 2-for-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI
C Michael McKenry: 0-for-4, 2 K

RHP Yonny Chirinos: 6 2/3 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (16-14)

Montgomery was relentless in its 9-4 win over Chattanooga. After a grand slam in the fourth put the Lookouts up 4-1, the Biscuits scored in four straight innings and closed the game with eight unanswered runs. Down 4-2 in the fifth, the Biscuits took advantage of two errors, a hit batter and wild pitch to score three runs to go in front. Starter Hunter Wood allowed the grand slam in five innings with six strikeouts, and Edwin Fierro earned a save with three scoreless innings to end the game.

1B Joe McCarthy: 2-for-5, 2 R, 2 3B, 1 K

RHP Hunter Wood: 5 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 6 K

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (14-17)

Despite only yielding two hits, Charlotte found itself on the wrong end of a 2-1 loss to Clearwater. Jake Fraley's two-out double gave the Stone Crabs a lead in the third, but the Threshers' second hit of the game, a two-run double, in the bottom half of the inning put the Stone Crabs behind for good. Except for the sixth, they put the tying run on base in every inning but could not cash in. Blake Bivens struck out eight, walked five and allowed two runs in 7 1/3 innings.

OF Jake Fraley: 1-for-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI
OF Ryan Boldt: 0-for-4, 1 K
3B Jim Haley: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SB

RHP Blake Bivens: 7 1/3 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 5 BB, 8 K

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (14-15)

Bowling Green also allowed just two hits, but it came out on top with a 2-0 win over Quad Cities. Ethan Clark and a pair of Hot Rods relievers combined to shut down one of the top offenses in the league. Clark struck out five in five scoreless innings with just one hit and walk allowed, and Deivy Mendez and Reimin Ramos each threw a pair of scoreless frames. Michael Brosseau and Adrian Rondon drove in the Bowling Green runs.

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

RHP Ethan Clark: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K
RHP Deivy Mendez: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 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. Columbus 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA v. Michael Peoples (0-0, -.--)

Montgomery v. Chattanooga 11:35 AM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Greg Harris (1-2, 4.05) v. TBA

Charlotte @ Clearwater 7 PM (radio stream)
Alexis Tapia* (0-0, 0.00) v. Franklyn Kilome (2-1, 2.51)

Bowling Green v. Quad Cities 7:35 PM (radio stream)
J.D. Busfield (3-0, 1.17) v. Dustin Hunt (0-3, 5.65)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Columbus Clippers (Cleveland)
11-18 (3rd in IL West)
Offense: 105 R (11th) .733 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 4.45 ERA (12th) 1.38 WHIP (11th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Bradley Zimmer (2), SS Erik Gonzalez (9), 3B Yandy Diaz (11), RHP Adam Plutko (16), Shawn Morimando (19), LHP Ryan Merritt (22), 1B Nellie Rodriguez (25), OF Richie Shaffer

Chattanooga Lookouts (Minnesota)
17-14 (3rd in SL North)
Offense: 115 R (5th) .694 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 3.16 ERA (4th) 1.33 WHIP (7th)
Top 30 Prospects: SS Nick Gordon (1), RHP Fernando Romero (4), RHP Kohl Stewart (7), RHP Felix Jorge (8), RHP Nick Burdi (15), OF LaMonte Wade (21), SS Engelb Vielma (25), LHP Mason Melotakis (30), LHP Randy Rosario (31), OF Tanner English

Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia)
20-12 (1st in FSL North)
Offense: 126 R (8th) .741 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 2.84 ERA (2nd) 1.24 WHIP (5th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Franklyn Kilome (7), OF Cornelius Randolph (15), RHP Jose Taveras (21), RHP Alberto Tirado (26)

Quad Cities River Bandits (Houston)
15-14 (3rd in MWL West)
Offense: 165 R (1st) .789 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 3.74 ERA (8th) 1.24 WHIP (6th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Forrest Whitley (6), OF Daz Cameron (14), OF Ronnie Dawson (15), C Jake Rogers (20)