Rays prospects and minor leagues: Faria, Arroyo rehab assignments move to Durham

Charlotte had some impressive pitching Thursday. The Stone Crabs needed just two pitchers in their doubleheader sweep of St. Lucie. In his last three starts for Charlotte, Riley O’Brien, the Rays’ eighth-round pick last year, has allowed two earned runs in 17 ¹⁄₃ innings.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (51-38)

Durham opened the second half with a 4-2 loss to Charlotte. After Jake Faria started and threw three scoreless innings, Andrew Moore entered and held the Knights off the board himself until the seventh inning. He struck out Casey Gillaspie to start, but the next four batters collected base hits, scoring two runs. The Bulls scored twice in the eighth and got the tying run on base with one out in the ninth before the final two batters made outs to end the game. Christian Arroyo went 0-for-3 as their third baseman.

3B Christian Arroyo: 0-for-3
SS Willy Adames: 0-for-4, 3 K
2B Brandon Lowe: 0-for-3, 1 BB
C Nick Ciuffo: 0-for-3, 1 K
RF Johnny Field: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB

RHP Jake Faria: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K
RHP Andrew Moore: 3 ¹⁄₃ IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

Durham’s site offers this recap.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (11-10)

Montgomery fell in an early hole and couldn’t quite catch up in a 7-6 loss to Chattanooga. The Lookouts scored four in the first and three in the third, knocking Sam McWilliams out of the game after just three frames. Trailing 7-3 in the ninth, the Biscuits got three runs on Michael Brosseau’s two-out double, be he was stranded at second base to end the game.

CF Nick Solak: 1-for-5, 1 R, 3 K
1B Nate Lowe: 0-for-5, 2 R, 2 K
SS Jake Cronenworth: 1-for-4, 1 R
3B Michael Brosseau: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 1 BB
LF Dalton Kelly: 2-for-5, 2 2B, 1 RBI

RHP Sam McWilliams: 3 IP, 5 H, 7 ER, 4 BB, 2 K

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

Riley O’Brien tossed a shutout in Charlotte’s 6-0, Game 1 win over St. Lucie. Over seven innings, he struck out five, walked two, and scattered just three singles. The Stone Crabs scored five runs in the fourth. Jermaine Palacios doubled in Jesus Sanchez for the first run, and Rene Pinto, Kevin Padlo, and Josh Lowe all delivered RBI singles.

Willy Ortiz also threw a shutout in the Stone Crabs’ 4-0 win in Game 2. In 14 innings Thursday, Charlotte’s bullpen wasn’t needed. Ortiz struck out six, walked three, and allowed just three singles. Lowe doubled and scored in the first and drove in an insurance run in the fifth.

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

RHP Riley O’Brien (1): 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K
RHP Willy Ortiz (2): 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K

Charlotte’s site offers this recap.

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (14-7)

Ronaldo Hernandez’s 15th home run helped Bowling Green to a 5-4 win over Kane County. In the fourth, the Hot Rods had already scored a couple on RBI hits from Zach Rutherford and Taylor Walls before Hernandez’s two-run dinger gave them a 4-1 lead. The Cougars gradually got back in the game, but Trey Hair’s RBI single in the eighth put Bowling Green ahead for good. Tommy Romero struck out six and allowed three runs in five innings.

2B Vidal Brujan: 0-for-4, 2 K
SS Taylor Walls: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI
C Ronaldo Hernandez: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K

RHP Tommy Romero: 5 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (16-10)

Michael Mercado threw five perfect innings in Hudson Valley’s 8-0 win over West Virginia. In his best professional start so far, the righty struck out six of the 15 batters he faced. With two outs in the seventh, the Black Bears finally got a baserunner on a double against B.J. Myers. Tanner Dodson drove in the first run of the game in the first inning, and his RBI single in the seventh added insurance.

CF Tanner Dodson: 2-for-5, 2 RBI, 1 K
SS Tyler Frank: 1-for-5, 1 K
LF Michael Smith: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 SB
C Chris Betts: 3-for-5, 2 R, 2 K
DH Erik Ostberg: 2-for-3, 2 R, 1 BB

RHP Michael Mercado: 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K

Rookie Princeton Rays (14-9)

Wander Franco homered again, but it wasn’t enough in Princeton’s 5-3 loss to Bluefield. Franco’s fourth home run of the season cut Princeton’s deficit to 4-1, but Bluefield immediately got that run back a half inning later. Starter Miguel Lara struck out three and allowed two runs in 4 ¹⁄₃ innings.

SS Wander Franco: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI
1B Carlos Vargas: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 K

RHP Miguel Lara: 4 ¹⁄₃ IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (9-11)

The GCL Rays were off.

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

Durham vs. Charlotte 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Ryan Weber (5-3, 2.23) vs. Spencer Adams (1-2, 2.97)

Montgomery @ Chattanooga 7:15 p.m. ET (radio stream)
J.D. Martin* (6-9, 4.65) vs. Michael Rucker (4-4, 4.03)

Charlotte @ Jupiter 6:30 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Blake Bivens (5-2, 2.21) vs. TBA

Bowling Green vs. Kane County 7:35 p.m. ET (radio stream)
TBA vs. Mack Lemieux (2-6, 3.74)

Hudson Valley vs. West Virginia 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Alex Manasa (1-3, 6.15)

Princeton vs. Bluefield 7:05 p.m. ET (radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA

GCL Rays @ GCL Orioles 12 p.m.

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Charlotte Knights (White Sox)
41-49 (3rd in IL South)
Offense: 317 R (12th) .671 OPS (13th)
Pitching: 4.18 ERA (12th) 1.39 WHIP (11th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Michael Kopech (2), RHP Zack Burdi (11), RHP Spencer Adams (12), RHP Carson Fulmer (13), RHP Jordan Stephens (16), RHP Thyago Vieira (20), IF Jake Elmore, 1B Casey Gillaspie, 3B Patrick Leonard

Chattanooga Lookouts (Minnesota)
6-15 (5th in SL North)
Offense: 381 R (6th) .700 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 4.08 ERA (8th) 1.37 WHIP (7th)
Top-30 prospects: 1B Brent Rooker (7), LHP Tyler Jay (10), 2B Luis Arraez (15), LHP Lewis Thorpe (16), IF Taylor Motter

Jupiter Hammerheads (Miami)
6-14 (6th in FSL South)
Offense: 327 R (10th) .642 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 3.43 ERA (2nd) 1.25 WHIP (2nd)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Jorge Guzman (2), 2B Riley Mahan (18), OF Corey Bird (31), RHP Ethan Clark

Kane County Cougars (Arizona)
10-11 (5th in MWL West)
Offense: 395 R (6th) .707 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 3.69 ERA (4th) 1.33 WHIP (6th)
Top-30 prospects: SS Jazz Chisholm (4), OF Eduardo Diaz (7), OF Gabriel Maciel (15), RHP Jhoan Duran (21)

West Virginia Black Bears (Pittsburgh)
11-15 (T-4th in NYPL Pinckney)
Offense: 111 R (6th) .704 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 5.00 ERA (14th) 1.50 WHIP (14th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Travis Swaggerty, SS Connor Kaiser

Bluefield Blue Jays
17-6 (1st in AL East)
Offense: 132 R (1st) .823 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 4.30 ERA (4th) 1.26 WHIP (1st)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Eric Pardinho (6), C Hagen Danner (28)

GCL Orioles
7-13 (4th in GCL South)
Offense: 64 R (18th) .555 OPS (18th)
Pitching: 4.90 ERA (14th) 1.61 WHIP (17th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Lamar Sparks (25), RHP Grayson Rodriguez

Daily news and links

Kean Wong topped Jonathan Mayo’s list of top performers at the Triple-A All-Star Game.

Also at MLB.com, Jesse Sanchez shared his takeaways from the start of the international signing period.