Rays prospects and minor leagues: Kelly leads Biscuits to slugfest win

Dalton Kelly is just one of a number of players who will be up for June’s Player of the Month starting Monday.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (49-32)

Austin Pruitt returned to the rotation in Durham’s 4-2 loss to Norfolk. He struck out six in three innings of work, but he did give up a run a half inning after Mike Marjama’s RBI single put the Bulls up 1-0. In the seventh, Chih-Wei Hu recorded two quick outs before the Tides went ahead for good with a pair of hits. The Bulls put the tying run in scoring position with one out in the ninth but could not cash in.

SS Willy Adames: 1-for-2, 3 BB, 1 SB
OF Jake Bauers: 0-for-5, 1 RBI, 1 K
1B Casey Gillaspie: 1-for-3, 1 BB, 1 K
OF Cade Gotta: 0-for-4, 2 K

RHP Austin Pruitt: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
Diego Castillo: 2 ²⁄₃ IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K
RHP Chih-Wei Hu: 1 1/3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (3-5)

A rare slugfest broke out in Pensacola, and Montgomery came out on top in a 10-8 win over the Blue Wahoos. Back-to-back home runs from Riley Unroe and Grant Kay helped the Biscuits get out to a 4-1 lead in the third, but they found themselves behind by the sixth. Dalton Kelly then hit their third home run of the game. After Pensacola again went ahead, Montgomery closed the game with four unanswered runs. Starter Greg Harris allowed six runs in 3 2/3 innings.

OF Joe McCarthy: 0-for-2, 3 R, 3 BB, 1 K
OF Justin Williams: 1-for-4, 1 BB, 1 K
C Nick Ciuffo: 1-for-5, 1 R, 1 K
IF Riley Unroe: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K
IF Grant Kay: 3-for-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 SB
1B Dalton Kelly: 5-for-5, 3 R, 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI
SS Andrew Velazquez: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 K

RHP Greg Harris: 3 2/3 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 4 BB, 2 K

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (4-4)

Burch Smith took his rehab to Charlotte and pitched well in the Stone Crabs’ 3-0 win over Palm Beach in Game 1 of their doubleheader. In 3 1/3 scoreless innings, he yielded just one hit and a walk with four strikeouts. Brad Miller joined him and doubled and reach base twice as Charlotte’s second baseman. Brett Sullivan homered and drove in all three runs.

Palm Beach turned the tables in Charlotte’s 4-1 loss in Game 2. A pair of runs were charged to starter Roel Ramirez, and the other two were allowed by Hunter Adkins making his organizational debut. Brad Miller doubled and scored the Stone Crabs’ only run in the fourth.

2B Brad Miller (1): 1-for-1, 1 2B, 1 BB
DH Brad Miller (2): 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 K
OF Ryan Boldt (1): 1-for-3, 2 K
OF Ryan Boldt (2): 1-for-2
C David Rodriguez (2): 1-for-3, 1 K
C Brett Sullivan (1): 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI

RHP Burch Smith (1): 3 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K
RHP Roel Ramirez (2): 2 ¹⁄₃ IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
RHP Hunter Adkins (2): 2 2/3 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (3-7)

Robbie Tenerowicz hit his team-leading 10th homer, but Bowling Green came up short in its Game 1, 3-2 loss to Lake County in its doubleheader. That gave the Hot Rods a 1-0 lead in the first, but the Captains responded with one run in each of the first two innings. Starter Kenny Rosenberg allowed all three runs in 5 2/3 innings.

J.D. Busfield was hammered for three home runs in a Game 2 11-4 loss. In what I’m assuming is his worst professional start without actually checking the game log, Busfield allowed eight runs in three innings. Danny De La Calle’s three-run homer accounted for most of Bowling Green’s offense.

CF Josh Lowe (1): 0-for-3, 1 K
OF Jesus Sanchez (1): 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 K
OF Jesus Sanchez (2): 1-for-3, 1 R
3B Adrian Rondon (1): 1-for-2, 1 BB
3B Adrian Rondon (2): 0-for-2, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K
OF Garrett Whitley (1): 0-for-3
CF Garrett Whitley (2): 0-for-2, 1 R
SS Lucius Fox (2): 0-for-3, 1 BB
2B Robbie Tenerowicz (1): 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI
C Danny De La Calle (2): 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI

LHP Kenny Rosenberg (1): 5 2/3 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
RHP J.D. Busfield (2): 3 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
RHP Spencer Moran (2): 2 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (6-5)

Hudson Valley stumbled late in its 9-4 loss to Aberdeen. In the sixth, Jean Ramirez drove in his second run of the game to make it a 4-1 Renegades lead, but the game quickly fell part in the seventh when Hunter Schryver lost the lead on three IronBirds extra-base hits with two outs. They went ahead against Matt Vogel in the eighth and added four insurance runs in the ninth. Starter Nicholas Padilla struck out six and allowed a run in five innings.

2B Vidal Brujan: 1-for-2, 2 BB
OF Emilio Gustave: 0-for-4, 2 K
OF Oscar Rojas: 0-for-4, 4 K
OF Isaac Benard: 2-for-3, 1 BB
SS Bill Pujols: 0-for-4, 2 K

RHP Nicholas Padilla: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K
RHP Matt Vogel: 2 IP, 3 H, 5 R (4 ER), 2 BB, 2 K

Rookie Princeton Rays (3-7)

Princeton made a couple late comebacks to earn a 10-inning, 5-4 win over Burlington. Trailing 3-2 in the eighth, Justin Bridgman’s two-out RBI hit tied the game. In the 10th, Burlington went up by one in the top half of the inning before Bridgman struck again. After Trey Hair’s RBI double tied the game, Bridgman followed with one of his own to win the game. Starter Easton McGee allowed a run in four innings.

OF Carl Chester: 2-for-4, 1 BB
1B Billy King: 0-for-5, 3 K, traded top draft picks for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett
SS Justin Bridgman: 3-for-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB

RHP Easton McGee: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (1-5)

Vincent Byrd’s first pro home run wasn’t enough in the GCL Rays’ 3-2 loss to the GCL Orioles. The team’s 6-foot-7, 240-pound 14th-round pick went deep to lead off the second, but that was the last time they had the lead. Jonny Venters allowed two hits in a scoreless inning, and Angel Yepez followed with two runs — one earned — in 3 ¹⁄₃ innings. The winning run came against Blake Pflughaupt in the sixth.

3B Carlos Vargas: 0-for-3, 1 BB, 2 K
2B Jonathan Aranda: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 SB
OF Pedro Diaz: 0-for-4, 3 K
1B Vincent Byrd: 3-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K
OF Tony Pena: 0-for-4, 4 K

RHP Jonny Venters: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K
RHP Angel Yepez: 3 1/3 IP, 4 H, 2 R (1 ER), 0 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 @ Norfolk 4:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Yonny Chirinos (6-3, 3.63) v. Gabriel Ynoa (1-6, 7.40)

Montgomery @ Pensacola 7:35 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Genesis Cabrera* (1-0, 0.00) v. TBA

Charlotte v. Palm Beach 12:35 PM (radio stream)
TBA v. Connor Jones (5-4, 4.27)

Bowling Green @ Lake County 4 PM (radio stream)
TBA v. Micah Miniard (2-6, 5.11)

Hudson Valley v. Aberdeen 5:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Resly Linares* (0-0, 1.42) v. Nick Vespi (0-2, 8.10)

Princeton v. Burlington 5 PM (radio stream)
Cristopher Sanchez (0-2, 18.00) v. J.C. Cloney (0-0, 1.80)

The GCL Rays are off

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Norfolk Tides (Baltimore)
35-47 (4th in IL South)
Offense: 347 R (7th) .712 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 4.46 ERA (12th) 1.46 WHIP (11th)
Top 30 Prospects: C Chance Sisco (1), LHP Chris Lee (10), RHP Jimmy Yacabonis (22), LHP Andrew Faulkner (24), LHP Jayson Aquino (30), RHP Gabriel Ynoa, OF Adam Walker

Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Cincinnati)
4-4
Offense: 252 R (9th) .648 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 2.86 ERA (1st) 1.19 WHIP (1st)
Top 30 Prospects: 3B Nick Senzel (1), OF Aristides Aquino (9), 2B Shed Long (16), RHP Keury Mella (19), SS Blake Trahan (28), LHP Ismael Guillon (29), OF Tyler Goeddel

Palm Beach Cardinals
6-3
Offense: 298 R (6th) .664 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 3.33 ERA (5th) 1.31 WHIP (7th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Jake Woodford (17), RHP Connor Jones (18), RHP Junior Fernandez (21)

Lake County Captains (Cleveland)
7-3 (T-2nd in MWL East)
Offense: 312 R (14th) .686 OPS (13th)
Pitching: 4.30 ERA (11th) 1.40 WHIP (13th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Brady Aiken (4), C Logan Ice (12), LHP Juan Hillman (14), RHP Micah Miniard (28)

Aberdeen IronBirds (Baltimore)
6-5 (T-2nd in NYPL McNamara)
Offense: 34 R (11th) .625 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 3.56 ERA (11th) 1.23 WHIP (6th)
Top 30 Prospects: Pitching coach Mark Hendrickson

Burlington Royals
2-7 (5th in AL East)
Offense: 31 R (10th) .610 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 5.52 ERA (8th) 1.53 WHIP (7th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Seuly Matias (11), C Sebastian Rivero (26), SS Jeison Guzman (27)

GCL Orioles
1-4 (T-3rd in GCL South)
Offense: Will update next series
Pitching: Will update next series
Top 30 Prospects: Will update next series