Rays prospects and minor leagues: Bulls end June on winning note

Brandon Lowe obviously had a huge month, but teammate Justin Williams had a nice finish himself. He’s on a nine-game hitting streak with five multi-hit games, including three straight. I’m not entirely sure where his power went — his only extra-base hits in that time are a pair of doubles — but he has increased his average 16 points in that span.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (46-34)

Brandon Lowe failed to homer in Durham’s 11-inning, 11-8 win over Norfolk. However, he did reach base five times, drive in three runs, and score the go-ahead run in the 11th inning. He scored on Ji-Man Choi’s double, and Justin Williams plated two with a single after that. Andrew Kittredge was charged with three runs — two earned — in 2 ¹⁄₃ innings, and Kyle Bird was charged with three runs in five innings.

LF Brandon Lowe: 3-for-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K
RF Justin Williams: 2-for-6, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 1 K
C Nick Ciuffo: 2-for-6, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 3 K
2B Kean Wong: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 BB
CF Rob Refsnyder: 2-for-5, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 K
1B Ji-Man Choi: 2-for-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 1 BB

LHP Kyle Bird: 5 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
RHP Mike Franco: 2 ²⁄₃ IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (4-4)

Montgomery’s game was postponed.

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (3-6)

Charlotte lost a late lead in a 6-5 loss to Tampa. With three runs in the eighth, the Stone Crabs took their first lead of the game. Josh Lowe doubled in two runs and scored on a wild pitch. However, Hunter Schryver and Zack Mozingo were unable to get the last three outs before a two-run single that put the Tarpons back ahead. J.D. Busfield opened and allowed three runs in two innings, but Brock Burke was better, striking out six and allowing just a run in six innings.

SS Lucius Fox: 2-for-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 K, 1 SB
RF Jesus Sanchez: 0-for-5, 1 R, 2 K
CF Josh Lowe: 2-for-4, 1 R, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K
3B Jermaine Palacios: 0-for-1, 1 BB, 1 CS

LHP Brock Burke: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R (0 ER), 2 BB, 6 K

Charlotte’s site offers this recap.

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (6-4)

There was a lot less scoring in Bowling Green’s 10-inning, 3-1 win over West Michigan. After scoring 13 runs against the Whitecaps in back-to-back games, the Hot Rods had to settle for a Moises Gomez solo home run in the first nine innings. In the 10th, Emilio Gustave doubled home the free runner, and Vidal Brujan’s single scored Gustave. Hot Rods pitching limited West Michigan to a run on four hits. Tommy Romero struck out eight in 6 ²⁄₃ scoreless innings.

DH Vidal Brujan: 1-for-5, 1 RBI
SS Taylor Walls: 2-for-5, 1 K, 1 SB
C Ronaldo Hernandez: 1-for-3
LF Moises Gomez: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K

RHP Tommy Romero: 6 ²⁄₃ IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 8 K

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (11-4)

Hudson Valley’s nine-game winning streak came to an end with a 9-2 loss to Tri-City. The ValleyCats got out to a 5-0 lead, including scoring four runs in the fifth inning. All three Renegades pitchers were charged with three runs, including starter Nicholas Padilla, who lasted 4 ¹⁄₃ innings.

DH Tanner Dodson: 2-for-5, 2 K
SS Ford Proctor: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B
RF Marvin Malone: 1-for-1, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 3 BB

RHP Nicholas Padilla: 4 ¹⁄₃ IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
RHP Alan Strong: 1 ¹⁄₃ IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

Rookie Princeton Rays (6-5)

Princeton hit a pair of home runs in a 9-3 win over Bristol. Osmy Gregorio’s two-run homer capped the scoring in the three-run fourth inning, and Jordan Qsar’s three-run shot did the same in the five-run sixth. For the second straight start, Miguel Lara didn’t allow any earned runs and was charged with just an unearned run in five innings with five strikeouts.

SS Wander Franco: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB
1B Carlos Vargas: 1-for-4, 1 RBI, 2 K
RF Jordan Qsar: 3-for-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI
DH Osmy Gregorio: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 SB

RHP Miguel Lara: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 5 K

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (6-5)

The GCL Rays moved above .500 with a 6-2 win over the GCL Orioles. The GCL Orioles had just two hits and scored both of their runs in the seventh inning. Starter Edisson Rodriguez struck out four in five scoreless innings. In the second, the GCL Rays batted around and scored five runs. With two outs, Luis Leon hit a two-run single, and Russ Olive followed with a run-scoring single of his own.

CF Nick Schnell: 1-for-4, 1 K
3B Kaleo Johnson: 3-for-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 SB

RHP Edisson Gonzalez: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K

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

Durham @ Norfolk 1:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Forrest Snow (5-4, 3.48) vs. Asher Wojciechowski (4-4, 3.84)

Montgomery @ Jacksonville 1:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream) DOUBLEHEADER
Genesis Cabrera (6-4, 3.62) vs. Merandy Gonzalez (0-2, 5.40)
TBA vs. Robert Dugger (1-2, 5.35)

Both games will be seven innings.

Charlotte vs. Tampa 12:35 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Riley O’Brien (0-1, 40.50) vs. Nick Nelson (3-2, 3.67)

Bowling Green @ West Michigan 2 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Resly Linares (1-2, 4.33) vs. Tom de Blok (0-0, 3.00)

Hudson Valley @ Aberdeen 4:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA

Princeton vs. Elizabethton 5 p.m. ET (radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA

The GCL Rays are off.

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Norfolk Tides (Baltimore)
41-38 (2nd in IL South)
Offense: 356 R (2nd) .714 OPS (6th)
Pitching: 3.88 ERA (8th) 1.35 WHIP (9th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Cedric Mullins (9), LHP Chris Lee (10), OF DJ Stewart (16), C Austin Wynns (29), OF Joey Rickard

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Miami)
3-5 (4th in SL South)
Offense: 282 R (10th) .660 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 4.13 ERA (7th) 1.38 WHIP (7th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Nick Neidert (5), OF Brian Miller (12), SS Joe Dunand (14), RHP Merandy Gonzalez (15), RHP Robert Dugger (23), RHP Jeff Brigham (28)

Tampa Tarpons (Yankees)
5-4 (T-4th in FSL North)
Offense: 325 R (4th) .723 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 3.22 ERA (1st) 1.26 WHIP (3rd)
Top-30 prospects: OF Estevan Florial (2), RHP Albert Abreu (6), RHP Freicer Perez (13), RHP Clarke Schmidt (14), IF Diego Castillo (27), OF Isiah Gilliam (31)

West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit)
5-5 (5th in MWL East)
Offense: 332 R (8th) .666 OPS (15th)
Pitching: 3.69 ERA (5th) 1.37 WHIP (9th)
Top-30 prospects: C Joey Morgan (31)

Aberdeen IronBirds (Baltimore)
7-8 (3rd in NYPL McNamara)
Offense: 54 R (11th) .644 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 3.21 ERA (4th) 1.09 WHIP (1st)
Top-30 prospects: SS Adam Hall (18), RHP Gray Fenter (26)

Elizabethton Twins
6-4 (2nd in AL West)
Offense: 67 R (4th) .868 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 4.82 ERA (6th) 1.38 WHIP (5th)
Top-30 prospects: 2B Yunior Severino (14), C Ryan Jeffers

Daily news and links

Houston minor leaguer Randy Cesar’s hitting streak ended at 42 games on Friday.