Rays prospects and minor leagues: Duffy begins rehab assignment with Charlotte

If you’re in the Tampa area, Charlotte is in town for three more games.

Brandon Lowe has heated up recently. In his first 12 games, he had a .553 OPS with an out-of-character 29.4 percent strikeout rate. He now has nine hits in his last seven games, including six for extra bases. His strikeout rate is down to 17.2 percent in that period.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (8-10)

Durham was off.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (7-14)

Montgomery closed its game with eight unanswered runs to earn an 8-1 win over Mobile. After recording the first two outs of the game, Genesis Cabrera allowed four straight batters to reach, giving the BayBears a 1-0 lead, but he settled in after that. He finished with one run allowed in five innings with five strikeouts. Brandon Lowe’s two-run homer in the first gave the Biscuits the lead, and three two-run innings later in the game added insurance.

3B Jake Cronenworth: 1-for-5, 1 RBI, 1 K
RF Ryan Boldt: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 K
LF Nick Solak: 1-for-3, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB
2B Brandon Lowe: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 SB
SS Jermaine Palacios: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI

LHP Genesis Cabrera: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (10-11)

Charlotte fell in an early hole it could not get out of in a 7-1 loss to Tampa. The Tarpons were all over Mikey York, scoring six runs in the first inning. The first four batters for Tampa reached base, and two of their three outs in the inning still produced runs. York allowed all seven runs on nine hits in four innings. Matt Duffy had two hits and drove in the Stone Crabs’ only run.

3B Matt Duffy: 2-for-3, 1 RBI
SS Lucius Fox: 1-for-4, 3 K
CF Josh Lowe: 0-for-4, 2 K
RF Jesus Sanchez: 1-for-4, 2 K

RHP Mikey York: 4 IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 2 K

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (10-10)

Bowling Green’s game was postponed.

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

Durham @ Gwinnett 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Anthony Banda (2-2, 4.74) vs. Luiz Gohara (0-0, 2.25)

Montgomery vs. Mobile 1:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Zach Lee (2-0, 1.66) vs. Jose Rodriguez (1-1, 2.40)

Charlotte @ Tampa 6:30 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Willy Ortiz (2-0, 3.00) vs. Michael King (0-1, 2.12)

Bowling Green vs. Lake County 7:35 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Austin Franklin (1-2, 6.23) vs. Eli Morgan (1-0, 1.74)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Gwinnett Stripers (Atlanta)
7-11 (4th in IL South)
Offense: 68 R (8th) .683 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 3.31 ERA (6th) 1.31 WHIP (6th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Mike Soroka (3), LHP Kolby Allard (7), RHP Patrick Weigel (16), OF Dustin Peterson (24), LHP Philip Pfeifer (29), OF Jaff Decker, “3B” Jose Bautista

Mobile BayBears (Angels)
10-10 (2nd in SL South)
Offense: 86 R (4th) .728 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 4.56 ERA (10th) 1.47 WHIP (8th)
Top-30 prospects: 1B Matt Thaiss (8), RHP Griffin Canning (9), RHP Jesus Castillo (12), LHP Jose Suarez (13), OF Brennon Lund (18), 3B Taylor Ward (19), RHP Luis Pena (20), RHP Jake Jewell (25), 2B Riley Unroe

Tampa Tarpons (Yankees)
12-9 (2nd in FSL North)
Offense: 85 R (5th) .693 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 2.95 ERA (1st) 1.20 WHIP (1st)
Top-30 prospects: OF Estevan Florial (2), RHP Albert Abreu (6), SS Thairo Estrada (9), RHP Freicer Perez (13), RHP Clarke Schmidt (14), RHP Trevor Stephan (18), RHP Jonathan Loaisiga (25), SS Diego Castillo (27)

Lake County Captains (Cleveland)
10-9 (4th in MWL East)
Offense: 97 R (3rd) .741 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 3.93 ERA (8th) 1.37 WHIP (9th)
Top-30 prospects: 3B Nolan Jones (4), OF Will Benson (10), OF Oscar Gonzalez (20), IF Ernie Clement (24), RHP Eli Morgan (29)

Daily news and links

ESPN subscribers can read more notes on draft prospects from Keith Law.

Baseball America ranked the top 10 minor league parks.

BA also ranked the top 10 major league stadiums.