Rays DOTF 7/7/17: Garrett Whitley and Josh Lowe homer

Josh Lowe kept his hot bat going with another home run, accompanied by teammate Garrett Whitley’s own blast.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (53-33)

Diego Castillo failed to record an out in the seventh inning, giving the Charlotte Knights an 11-7 win over Durham. Durham put together a comfortable lead, starting with two runs in the first off back-to-back doubles by Willy Adames and Jake Bauers. It was a 4-0 game into the eighth inning, but it came apart. After Danny Farquhar put the first two batters on base, Diego Castillo let up five hits (and a strikeout wild pitch) and Charlotte surged for a nine-run inning. The Knights grabbed two more runs in the ninth inning off of Andrew Kittredge. The Bulls would show some fight in the bottom half, coming up with three runs off three hits, but it was not enough to make a come back, losing 11-7.

Willy Adames 2-for-5 2B 2 RBI R 2 K

Kean Wong 2-for-5 2 RBI R SB

Johnny Field 3-for-5 2 2B 2 RBI R

Jake Bauers 2-for-5 2B R K

Casey Gillaspie 0-for-4

Austin Pruitt 4 IP 0 H 0 ER 9 K 0 BB

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (44-40)

The Biscuits offense continued to score runs in bunches, pounding out 15 hits and 11 runs in a 11-5 victory over the Jacksonville Jumping Shrimp. Andrew Velasquez got the offense started with a two run single in the second inning. Nathan Lukes added a sacrifice fly to make it a three run inning. Justin Williams brought home a run in the third off a double to center field. The Shrimp would fight back, putting three runs on the board in the top of the 4th and 5th innings. But in the sixth, Montgomery widened their lead. With the bases loaded, Grant Kay unloaded them with a triple. Dalton Kelly would then launch his fourth home run in just nine games for the Biscuits and the lead was suddenly 9-3. A couple late runs would cross for both sides, and the score ended at 11-5.

Dalton Kelly 2-for-4 HR 3 RBI R BB

Grant Kay 2-for-3 2B 3B 4 RBI 3 R 2 BB

Justin Williams 3-for-5 2B RBI R

Joe McCarthy 1-for-2 2 BB 2 R

Andrew Velasquez 2-for-4 2 RBI R

Nathan Lukes 2-for-4 2B RBI

Advanced Class-A Port Charlotte Stone Crabs (37-44)

The Crabs and St. Lucie Mets hit around early but settled down, ending in a 8-5 Crab win. At the end of the second inning, the Crabs lead 5-3 on the back of a two-run triple from Brett Sullivan and three RBI singles in the second. The score was 6-4 after three innings and each teams bats subsided for a while. Brandon Lowe broke the silence with a two-run ground-rule double, making it 8-4. Wuilmer Becerra drove in one last run for St. Lucie, putting the final score at 8-5. Rehabbing Mets star colkexted three hits.

Brandon Lowe 3-for-5 2 2B 3 RBI

Jake Cronenworth 1-for-2 2 R 2 BB 2 K

Brett Sullivan 2-for-4 3B RBI R BB SB

Drew Smith IP 2 H 0 ER 3 K 0 BB (Save)

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (39-43)

It was a quiet day for Bowling Green and Dayton, ending in a 2-1 win for the Hot Rods. The Hot Rod attack was buoyed by a fourth inning home run from Josh Lowe and a sixth inning home run from Garrett Whitley, along with a solid effort from three pitchers (Spencer Moran, Jayson McKinley and Orlando Romero) to hold the Dayton Dragons to just one run over nine innings.

Josh Lowe 1-for-4 HR RBI R 2 K

Garrett Whitley 1-for-4 HR RBI R K

Lucius Fox 0-for-3 BB K CS

Jesus Sanchez 1-for-3

Adrian Rondon 1-for-3 K SB

Short Season Class-A Hudson Valley Renegades (6-10)

The Renegades fell short against the Staten Island Yankees, 5-3. Outside of Vidal Brujan (2-for-4 2B 3B RBI R) Hudson Valley struggled to hit. A four run fifth inning sank the hopes of a pitching lead win. The loss dropped Hudson Valley to 6-10.

Rookie Level Princeton Rays (5-10)

Princeton matched up against the Elizabeth Twins for a double header and dropped each seven inning shortened game. In the first game, Elizabeth scored in six of their seven hits and outhit Princeton eleven to five en route to a 8-5 win. In game two, Elizabeth held a 3-1 but lost it after a four-run fifth inning by the Rays. The Twins would reply back with a five-run inning, and wound up winning 9-8.

Rookie Level DSL Rays 1 (7-22)

4 errors proved costly for the Rays in their 11-4 loss to the DSL Marlins. The loss continued the Rays' trying season, dropping them to 7-22.

Rookie Level DSL Rays 2 (15-14)

The second DSL Rays team fared better than their counterpart, beating the DSL Indians 5-1 in ten innings. Offense for both sides was slow in regulation, but the Rays put up four in the extra inning to secure their 15th victory of the season.

Rookie Level GCL Rays (2-8)

The Gulf Coast Rays were edged out by the GCL Twins, 3-2. Carlos Vargas brought home two runs in the first inning on a double but the Rays' bats would stay quiet the rest of the way. Minnesota chipped away with a run in the first and second before scoring the go-ahead run in the sixth.