Rays prospects and minor leagues: McKay dominates on mound

Dating back to last season, Brendan McKay has dominated in nearly all of his outings. In his first start this season, he threw two innings. That increased to three his next time out, and he threw four innings on Saturday. Whether it’s with Bowling Green or Charlotte, I can’t wait to see him pitch deeper into games and figure out the adjustments he has to make facing hitters multiple times.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (5-9)

Anthony Banda wasn’t sharp in Durham’s 8-4 loss to Lehigh Valley. The lefty struck out eight batters for the third time in four starts this season, but the IronPigs got to him for six runs on nine hits in four innings. Willy Adames drove in three of the Bulls’ four runs.

1B Jake Bauers: 1-for-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 K, 1 SB
SS Willy Adames: 1-for-3, 3 RBI
CF Joe McCarthy: 1-for-3, 1 BB
RF Justin Williams: 0-for-4, 2 K
3B Jake Cronenworth: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 2B

LHP Anthony Banda: 4 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 8 K
LHP Jonny Venters: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 1 K
RHP Diego Castillo: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K

Durham’s site offers this recap.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (5-11)

Montgomery jumped out to a 4-0 lead and held on for a 5-3 win over Biloxi. Brett Sullivan doubled in two in the first, and the Biscuits went up four until the bottom of the fourth. The Shuckers’ second hit of the game was a bases-clearing triple, but it would be their last hit of the game. Genesis Cabrera pitched seven innings, allowing three runs on two hits and four walks with four strikeouts.

2B Nick Solak: 2-for-4, 1 R, 2 K
LF Brandon Lowe: 1-for-4, 1 K
SS Jermaine Palacios: 1-for-4, 1 RBI, 2 K

LHP Genesis Cabrera: 7 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 K
RHP Mike Franco: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (8-8)

Charlotte earned its fourth straight win with a 5-2 triumph over Palm Beach. A leadoff double followed by an error to start the game put the Stone Crabs in an immediate hole, but they went ahead for good with two runs in the second. In the sixth, RBI doubles by Jesus Sanchez and David Rodriguez added insurance. Starter Willy Ortiz was sharp, allowing just an unearned run in seven innings with seven strikeouts.

SS Lucius Fox: 2-for-3, 1 BB
RF Jesus Sanchez: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K

RHP Willy Ortiz: 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R (0 ER), 1 BB, 7 K

Charlotte’s site offers this recap.

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (8-8)

Brendan McKay delivered another strong effort in Bowling Green’s 4-3 win over Lake County. In four scoreless innings — a season-long outing so far — he struck out a career-high seven batters, allowed just two hits, and didn’t walk anyone. He threw 38 strikes in his 45 pitches. In the Hot Rods’ three-run second inning, Devin Davis drove in a run and later scored on a balk.

2B Vidal Brujan: 1-for-4, 1 R
DH Ronaldo Hernandez: 1-for-4, 1 R, 2 K, 1 SB

LHP Brendan McKay: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K
LHP Hunter Schryver: 2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

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Sunday’s games (probables courtesy of milb.com)

Durham vs. Lehigh Valley 5:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Chih-Wei Hu (0-1, 6.00) vs. TBA

Montgomery @ Biloxi 3:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Zach Lee (1-0, 1.62) vs. Luis Ortiz (1-1, 1.56)

Charlotte vs. Palm Beach 12:35 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Brock Burke (0-2, 10.13) vs. Anthony Shew (1-0, 0.51)

Bowling Green @ Lake County 1:30 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Alex Valverde (1-0, 0.90) vs. TBA

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia)
7-7 (3rd in IL North)
Offense: 57 R (T-2nd) .728 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 3.48 ERA (9th) 1.28 WHIP (8th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Enyel De Los Santos (10), OF Roman Quinn (14), RHP Jose Taveras (24), RHP Tom Eshelman (28), RHP Steve Geltz

Biloxi Shuckers (Milwaukee)
10-6 (1st in SL South)
Offense: 61 R (3rd) .728 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 2.39 ERA (1st) 1.28 WHIP (2nd)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Luis Ortiz (6), 3B Lucas Ecreg (8), OF Corey Ray (10), 1B Jake Gatewood (14), OF Trent Grisham (15), RHP Cody Ponce (18), RHP Adrian Houser (31), C Nick Franklin, SS Jake Hager

Palm Beach Cardinals
9-7 (3rd in FSL South)
Offense: 61 R (5th) .689 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 2.43 ERA (1st) 1.12 WHIP (1st)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Junior Fernandez (21)

Lake County Captains (Cleveland)
6-8 (6th in MWL East)
Offense: 67 R (3rd) .715 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 4.35 ERA (11th) 1.45 WHIP (10th)
Top 30 Prospects: 3B Nolan Jones (4), OF Will Benson (10), OF Oscar Gonzalez (20), IF Ernie Clement (24), RHP Eli Morgan (29)

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