Rays prospects and minor leagues: Bulls drop Game 1 to RailRiders

Unfortunately for Durham, the anticipated effects from Hurricane Florence have necessitated that the entire International League Championship be played in Pennsylvania. Although the Bulls will be on the road for all five games, they’ll still be considered the home team for the final three.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (3-2)

Durham was edged by Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in Game 1 of the International League Championship, 3-2. A run-scoring double play actually got the Bulls on the board first in the top of the fifth, but the RailRiders responded immediately with three in the home half of the inning. Rob Refsnyder homered in the seventh to cut the deficit to one, but after a two-hour, 59-minute rain delay in the bottom of the eighth, Durham squandered a leadoff walk in its last chance in the ninth inning. Ryan Weber allowed three runs in five innings.

LF Joe McCarthy: 1-for-3, 1 BB, 2 K
CF Austin Meadows: 1-for-4, 1 2B
1B Nate Lowe: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB
SS Jake Cronenworth: 0-for-4
RF Rob Refsnyder: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K

RHP Ryan Weber: 5 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
RHP Ian Gibaut: 1 BF

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (4-0)

Bowling Green was off.

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

Durham @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 6:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Austin Pruitt (3-0, 2.95) vs. Nestor Cortes (6-6, 3.71)

Best-of-five championship (Durham trails, 1-0)

Bowling Green @ Peoria 7:30 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Johan Oviedo (10-10, 4.22)

Best-of-five championship (Series tied, 0-0)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Yankees)
4-1
Offense: 578 R (7th) .729 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 3.71 ERA (5th) 1.26 WHIP (4th)
Top-30 prospects: LHP Justus Sheffield (3), RHP Chance Adams (5), SS Thairo Estrada (8), RHP Domingo German (16)

Peoria Chiefs (St. Louis)
4-0
Offense: 601 R (5th) .725 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 3.73 ERA (8th) 1.36 WHIP (9th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Alvaro Seijas (21), RHP Johan Oviedo (23), 3B Nolan Gorman, 1B Luken Baker

Daily news and links

At Minor League Ball, John Sickels wrote about Nick Ciuffo.