Thursday, outfielder Joe McCarthy began a rehab assignment with the GCL Rays. It was his first game since May 23 with Durham. In 35 games with the Bulls, he was batting .265/.385/.479. His strikeout rate rose to a career-high 25.2 percent, but his .214 ISO easily outpaced anything he had done in prior seasons.
Triple-A Durham Bulls (63-50)
Nate Lowe’s first Triple-A home run was not enough in Durham’s 5-4 loss to Columbus. In the fourth inning, his two-run homer cut the Clippers’ lead to 4-2, and two batters later, Adam Moore’s two-run shot tied the game. However, the Bulls only had two hits the rest of the game. Andrew Moore allowed four runs in five innings, and Colin Poche pitched two more scoreless frames out of the bullpen.
CF Austin Meadows: 1-for-3, 1 BB, 1 K
1B Nate Lowe: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K
DH Adam Moore: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K
RHP Andrew Moore: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
LHP Colin Poche: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K
Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (26-19)
Montgomery earned a 10-7 slugfest win over Birmingham. After the Barons scored three in the top of the first, the Biscuits responded with four in the bottom half of the inning, all of which came with two outs. In the bottom of the seventh, Michael Brosseau broke a 7-7 tie with a two-run homer, and Nathan Lukes doubled in an insurance run in the eighth. Sam McWilliams allowed six runs in 3 2⁄3 innings.
SS Lucius Fox: 0-for-4, 1 K
LF Nick Solak: 2-for-3, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 K
2B Jake Cronenworth: 2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB
RF Jesus Sanchez: 1-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 K
3B Michael Brosseau: 3-for-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 K
CF Nathan Lukes: 2-for-4, 1 R, 2 2B, 1 RBI, 2 K
RHP Sam McWilliams: 3 2⁄3 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
RHP Mike Broadway: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K
Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (28-17)
Charlotte walked off with a 3-2 win over Dunedin in 10 innings. After Dunedin could not take advantage of its free runner in the top of the 10th, Vidal Brujan bunted the Stone Crabs’ up to third base, and Brendan McKay’s sacrifice fly won the game. In relief of Kenny Rosenberg — who allowed a run in five innings — the rehabbing Chaz Roe struck out the side.
2B Vidal Brujan: 2-for-4, 1 K
1B Brendan McKay: 0-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 K
SS Jermaine Palacios: 0-for-4, 2 K
RHP Chaz Roe: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
LHP Kenny Rosenberg: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (28-18)
Resly Linares pitched well again in Bowling Green’s 3-1 win over West Michigan. The lefty struck out six and gave up just three hits and a walk in five innings. In his four of his last five outings, Linares has allowed one or fewer runs. The Hot Rods got on the board first in the second inning on Zach Rutherford’s RBI double. Matt Seelinger — acquired for Adeiny Hechavarria — made his organizational debut with two scoreless innings.
SS Taylor Walls: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 K
C Ronaldo Hernandez: 0-for-2, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB
LHP Resly Linares: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K
Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (31-21)
Jacson McGowan’s home run was not enough in Hudson Valley’s 6-1 loss to Tri-City. His second homer of the season cut the ValleyCats’ lead to 2-1, but the Renegades only had four hits over the final five innings. Starter Joe Ryan struck out four and allowed two runs in four innings.
SS Ford Proctor: 0-for-4, 1 BB, 1 K
3B Tyler Frank: 3-for-5, 1 2B, 1 K
DH Jacson McGowan: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
RHP Joe Ryan: 4 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Rookie Princeton Rays (29-17)
Princeton closed with 10 unanswered runs in its 10-2 win over Johnson City. Wander Franco doubled in Princeton’s four-run rally in the fourth, and Princeton tacked on three runs in the fifth to go ahead 7-2. Starter Miguel Lara allowed two runs in five innings, but Stephen Yancey was sharp in relief, striking out seven in four scoreless innings.
SS Wander Franco: 3-for-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI
1B Carlos Vargas: 2-for-5, 1 2B, 2 K
DH Jonathan Aranda: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
3B Connor Hollis: 1-for-3, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 K
C Roberto Alvarez: 3-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI
CF Grant Witherspoon: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 K
RHP Miguel Lara: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
RHP Stephen Yancey: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K
Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (24-19)
The GCL Rays fell to the GCL Twins, 5-2. Despite the rehabbing Joe McCarthy’s presence in the lineup, their offense couldn’t generate anything until the sixth. His sacrifice fly cut the GCL Twins’ lead to 3-1, and Diego Infante followed with a run-scoring double. Taj Bradley struck out five and allowed two runs in three innings.
DH Joe McCarthy: 0-for-3, 1 RBI, 2 K
SS Jelfry Marte: 0-for-4, 1 K
RHP Taj Bradley: 3 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
Friday’s games (probables courtesy of milb.com)
Durham vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Chih-Wei Hu (3-7, 4.83) vs. TBA
Montgomery vs. Birmingham 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Blake Bivens (0-0, 5.40) vs. Dylan Cease (2-0, 1.99)
Charlotte vs. Dunedin 6:35 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Jose Mujica (rehab) vs. Maverik Buffo (3-2, 4.76)
Bowling Green vs. West Michigan 7:35 p.m. ET (radio stream)
TBA vs. Brad Bass (6-7, 4.52)
Hudson Valley @ Tri-City 7 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Jose Butto (0-0, 4.50)
Princeton @ Johnson City 7 p.m. ET (radio stream)
TBA vs. Kyle Leahy (2-1, 4.26)
GCL Rays @ GCL Twins 12 p.m.
*Listed as TBA on milb.com
Scouting the opposition
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Yankees)
60-54 (2nd in IL North)
Offense: 481 R (7th) .733 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 3.73 ERA (5th) 1.24 WHIP (1st)
Top-30 prospects: LHP Justus Sheffield (3), SS Thairo Estrada (8), IF Tyler Wade (15), RHP Domingo German (16), RHP Jonathan Loaisiga (25)
Birmingham Barons (White Sox)
23-23 (2nd in SL North)
Offense: 486 R (6th) .714 OPS (6th)
Pitching: 4.15 ERA (8th) 1.39 WHIP (8th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Dane Dunning (5), C Zack Collins (6), RHP Dylan Cease (10), RHP A.J. Puckett (15), OF Alex Call (21), LHP Ian Clarkin (22), LHP Bernardo Flores (26), OF Tito Polo (27)
Dunedin Blue Jays
29-18 (2nd in FSL North)
Offense: 506 R (4th) .713 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 3.70 ERA (4th) 1.27 WHIP (2nd)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Nate Pearson (4), SS Logan Warmoth (8), C Riley Adams (21), IF Kevin Smith (26), RHP Yennsy Diaz (30)
West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit)
22-23 (3rd in MWL East)
Offense: 452 R (T-13th) .657 OPS (16th)
Pitching: 3.61 ERA (6th) 1.34 WHIP (7th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Wilkel Hernandez (20), C Joey Morgan (31), 2B Kody Clemens
Tri-City ValleyCats (Houston)
30-22 (1st in NYPL Stedler)
Offense: 214 R (8th) .699 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 3.02 ERA (2nd) 1.26 WHIP (2nd)
Top-30 prospects: None
Johnson City Cardinals
21-25 (4th in AL West)
Offense: 277 R (4th) .813 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 5.56 ERA (8th) 1.56 WHIP (8th)
Top-30 prospects: None
GCL Orioles
11-32 (4th in GCL South)
Offense: 145 R (18th) .585 OPS (18th)
Pitching: 4.43 ERA (14th) 1.51 WHIP (16th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Lamar Sparks (25), RHP Grayson Rodriguez
Daily news and links
At MiLB.com, Sam Dykstra wrote about catcher prospect Ronaldo Hernadnez.
Matthew Liberatore, Tanner Dodson, and Simon Rosenblum-Larson got Jonathan Mayo’s attention at MLB.com as 2018 draft picks off to good starts as professionals.
Willians Astudillo executed the hidden-ball trick. It was the second time Rochester has done it this season. Toledo needs some new advance scouts.
The independent Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks and Chicago Dogs have been in the news lately, first for this ejection that ended with a trash can on the field, and then for this base-stealing incident.