Rays prospects and minor leagues: Ciuffo has 3 hits in Durham debut

I’ve never had an original thought in my life, so I thought I’d highlight the stretch Brett Sullivan is having for Montgomery, which a member of the community mentioned a couple days ago. His 13-game hitting streak ended Saturday, but his OPS this season is up to .736. His OPS in April was just .443. His on-base percentage in May was .433.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (31-23)

Nick Ciuffo had three hits in Durham’s 5-3 win over Pawtucket. In his Triple-A debut, the catching prospect drove in two runs, including one in the seventh when the Bulls scored three to take the lead. In his second start in the organization, Andrew Moore struck out five and allowed two runs in 5 ²⁄₃ innings. Colin Poche relieved him and retired all five batters he faced.

1B Jake Bauers: 0-for-4, 2 K
SS Willy Adames: 0-for-4, 2 K
RF Justin Williams: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K
C Nick Ciuffo: 3-for-4, 2 RBI
3B Brandon Snyder: 2-for-3, 2 R, 2 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB

RHP Andrew Moore: 5 ²⁄₃ IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
LHP Colin Poche: 1 ²⁄₃ IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K

Durham’s site offers this recap.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (26-29)

Curtis Taylor was impressive in relief again in Montgomery’s 3-2 win over Jackson. Acquired from Arizona in the Brad Boxberger trade, Taylor has been great out of the bullpen, first for Charlotte and now Montgomery. On Saturday, he struck out four in four scoreless innings. Starter Eduar Lopez walked six but only allowed two runs in five innings.

2B Nick Solak: 1-for-4
LF Ryan Boldt: 2-for-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI
SS Jermaine Palacios: 1-for-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K
RF Nathan Lukes: 3-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 CS

RHP Eduar Lopez: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 6 BB, 4 K
RHP Curtis Taylor: 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (24-27)

Charlotte rallied and came up short in a 7-6 loss to Bradenton. A half inning after falling behind 6-1, the Stone Crabs scored five to tie the game in the sixth. Zacrey Law hit a sacrifice fly, David Olmedo-Barrera doubled in a run, and Tristan Gray hit a three-run homer. However, Brandon Koch only recorded one out in the ninth as the Marauders earned a walk-off win. Willy Ortiz had a rough outing, allowing three home runs and six runs in 4 ²⁄₃ innings.

RF Jesus Sanchez: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 K
CF Josh Lowe: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K, 1 SB
SS Tristan Gray: 3-for-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 K
2B Peter Maris: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI

RHP Willy Ortiz: 4 ²⁄₃ IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (35-19)

Ronaldo Hernandez had another big game in Bowling Green’s 7-2 win over West Michigan. After hitting a grand slam Friday, the catching prospect tallied his first career two-homer game. In his last nine games, he has five homers. Tommy Romero had a nice outing in his second start in the organization, striking out seven and allowing two runs in six innings.

2B Vidal Brujan: 3-for-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 SB
DH Taylor Walls: 1-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB
C Ronaldo Hernandez: 3-for-3, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB

RHP Tommy Romero: 6 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K

CLICK HERE FOR ALL BOX SCORES

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

Durham vs. Pawtucket 5:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Justin Haley (2-6, 3.33)

Montgomery @ Mississippi 6 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
J.D. Martin (3-7, 4.65) vs. Kyle Wright (3-5, 4.27)

Charlotte @ Bradenton 1 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Kenny Rosenberg (3-1, 5.02) vs. Oddy Nunez (1-4, 3.81)

Bowling Green vs. West Michigan 3:05 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Tobias Myers (5-3, 5.49) vs. Matt Manning (1-2, 3.82)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Pawtucket Red Sox
24-29 (6th in IL North)
Offense: 183 R (11th) .660 OPS (13th)
Pitching: 3.57 ERA (6th) 1.27 WHIP (6th)
Top-30 prospects: 1B Sam Travis (7), LHP Jalen Beeks (11), IF Tzu-Wei Lin (21), RHP Williams Jerez (27), RHP Ty Buttrey (31), C Oscar Hernandez

Mississippi Braves
25-30 (3rd in SL South)
Offense: 225 R (8th) .687 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 3.93 ERA (6th) 1.43 WHIP (9th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Kyle Wright (4), C Alex Jackson (10), RHP Bryse Wilson (12), RHP Touki Toussaint (14), LHP Ricardo Sanchez (19), RHP Enderson Franco

Bradenton Marauders (Pittsburgh)
28-22 (3rd in FSL South)
Offense: 211 R (5th) .714 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 3.65 ERA (6th) 1.26 WHIP (3rd)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Luis Escobar (7)

West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit)
28-27 (4th in MWL East)
Offense: 213 R (T-12th) .663 OPS (16th)
Pitching: 3.41 ERA (2nd) 1.38 WHIP (8th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Matt Manning (3), C Joey Morgan (31)

Daily news and links

With the draft beginning on Monday, mock-draft season is heating up:

• Baseball America’s picks: RHP Grayson Rodriguez, OF Nick Schnell, 3B Jordan Groshans
• FanGraphs’ picks: RHP Mason Denaburg, OF Connor Scott, C Noah Naylor, 2B Matt McLain, 2B Tyler Frank
• Jonathan Mayo’s picks: 1B Triston Casas, OF Nick Schnell, OF Parker Meadows