If you missed it Tuesday, the Rays acquired two pitchers to complete February’s Steven Souza Jr. trade. Lefty Anthony Banda and second baseman Nick Solak was already a good haul, and adding pitchers Sam McWilliams and Colin Poche made it better. I wasn’t expecting the players to be named later to be significant. Clearly, that expectation was incorrect.
Triple-A Durham Bulls (12-11)
Home runs from Justin Williams and Jeremy Hazelbaker were not enough in Durham’s 7-5 loss to Norfolk. Williams’ three-run homer in the first gave the Bulls a 3-0 lead, and Hazelbaker’s solo shot an inning later extended the lead back to three runs. However, the game fell apart in the fifth after starter Vidal Nuno departed. The Tides scored four runs in an inning off Austin Pruitt, and they went ahead for good with two against Cody Hall in the sixth.
1B Jake Bauers: 1-for-4, 1 BB, 1 K
SS Willy Adames: 1-for-5, 1 K
CF Joe McCarthy: 1-for-4, 1 R, 2 K
RF Justin Williams: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI
3B Christian Arroyo: 0-for-4, 3 K
LF Jeremy Hazelbaker: 1-for-3, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K
LHP Vidal Nuno: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
RHP Austin Pruitt: 1 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (9-16)
Montgomery was off.
Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (11-14)
Charlotte fell in an early hole and couldn’t get out in a 4-2 loss to St. Lucie. In the top of the first, St. Lucie scored twice with some aggressive basestealing. Jesus Sanchez’s RBI triple in the bottom half of the inning got one back, but the Stone Crabs only managed three hits over the final eight innings. Starter Kenny Rosenberg allowed all four runs — two earned — in five innings.
SS Lucius Fox: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B
CF Josh Lowe: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B
RF Jesus Sanchez: 1-for-4, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 2 K
LHP Kenny Rosenberg: 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R (2 ER), 3 BB, 3 K
Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (13-11)
Bowling Green edged Clinton by a 2-1 score in 10 innings. Having not scored since the second inning, the Hot Rods were happy to take advantage of the free baserunner in extra innings. A wild pitch moved Moises Gomez up to third, and Devin Davis’ sacrifice fly gave Bowling Green the lead. The LumberKings were not able to capitalize on an identical start to their inning, as Tyler Zombro was able to strand the runner on third. In six innings, Drew Strotman allowed a run and struck out a career-high nine.
2B Vidal Brujan: 0-for-3, 2 BB, 1 K, 2 CS
C Ronaldo Hernandez: 1-for-4, 1 2B, 1 K
RHP Drew Strotman: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K
Wednesday’s games (probables courtesy of milb.com)
Durham @ Norfolk 6:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Anthony Banda (3-2, 4.38) vs. Jimmy Yacabonis (0-0, 3.38)
Montgomery @ Jackson 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Genesis Cabrera (2-2, 2.57) vs. Sam Lewis (2-2, 4.05)
Charlotte vs. St. Lucie 6:35 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Mikey York (2-2, 5.59) vs. Gabriel Llanes (2-2, 4.74)
Bowling Green @ Clinton 12 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Tobias Myers (1-2, 4.76) vs. Tommy Romero (2-1, 1.29)
*Listed as TBA on milb.com
Scouting the opposition
Norfolk Tides (Baltimore)
12-10 (1st in IL South)
Offense: 92 R (4th) .695 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 3.45 ERA (6th) 1.41 WHIP (10th)
Top-30 prospects: LHP Tanner Scott (6), LHP Chris Lee (10), RHP David Hess (15), OF DJ Stewart (16), RHP Jimmy Yacabonis (23), RHP Yefry Ramirez (27)
Jackson Generals (Arizona)
17-7 (1st in SL North)
Offense: 135 R (1st) .793 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 2.64 ERA (1st) 1.14 WHIP (1st)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Jon Duplantier (1), IF Domingo Leyba (11), RHP Yoan Lopez (17), RHP Colin Poche (28)
St. Lucie Mets
11-13 (4th in FSL South)
Offense: 84 R (11th) .632 OPS (11th)
Pitching: 3.67 ERA (5th) 1.38 WHIP (8th)
Top-30 prospects: SS Andres Gimenez (1), RHP Justin Dunn (3), OF Desmond Lindsay (8), RHP Jordan Humphreys (15), IF Luis Carpio (26)
Clinton LumberKings (Seattle)
14-7 (1st in MWL West)
Offense: 96 R (8th) .731 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 3.12 ERA (3rd) 1.17 WHIP (1st)
Top-30 prospects: LHP Oliver Jaskie (21), 2B Joseph Rosa (25), RHP Tommy Romero (26), 3B Johnny Adams (28)
Daily news and links
Baseball America’s weekly Hot Sheet featured Willy Adames at the top, and he was joined by Jesus Sanchez.
MLB.com posted a mock draft. I don’t know if Jonathan Mayo has any specific intel, but he has the Rays taking high school shortstop Brice Turang with the No. 16 pick.