Rays prospects and minor leagues: Hot Rods homer 3 times in win

A player who has stood out every time I see him in a box score this season is Bowling Green righty Alan Strong. He was a 10th-round pick last season and pitched pretty well in his pro debut for Hudson Valley. In each of his three starts this season, he has more strikeouts than innings, and in his other appearance, he allowed just an unearned run in four innings.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (10-10)

Durham’s game was postponed.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (14-8)

Montgomery held on for a 3-2 win over Birmingham. The Biscuits went up 1-0 in the first, and Robbie Tenerowicz’s two-run homer in the fourth made it a 3-0 game. Kenny Rosenberg exited after four scoreless innings, and the Barons eventually went to work against the Biscuits’ bullpen. Trailing 3-1, their first two runners of the ninth reached base, and they pulled within one on a run-scoring double play. However, they never got the tying run back on base.

SS Lucius Fox: 0-for-4, 1 K (.702)
CF Josh Lowe: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K (.978)
RF Jesus Sanchez: 0-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB (.723)
DH Brendan McKay: 1-for-3, 1 K, 1 CS (.497)
2B Robbie Tenerowicz: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K (.738)

LHP Kenny Rosenberg: 4 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K (2.70)

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (10-13)

Charlotte topped Lakeland, 5-3, to earn its fourth straight win. In the sixth, Moises Gomez’s RBI double tied the game, and the Stone Crabs added two more runs that inning. The Flying Tigers quickly tied the game, but Charlotte went back up for good in the seventh on Carl Chester’s sacrifice fly. Brian Shaffer allowed a run in five innings.

SS Vidal Brujan: 1-for-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K, 1 SB (.750)
LF Moises Gomez: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K (.532)
1B Seaver Whalen: 1-for-2, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP (.361)

RHP Brian Shaffer: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (1.37)

Charlotte’s site offers this recap.

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (13-10)

Wander Franco took a day off, but Bowling Green still hit three home runs in a 5-3 win over Lansing. Kaleo Johnson’s fourth home run of the season gave the Hot Rods a 1-0 lead in the first, but the Lugnuts eventually took a 2-1 lead. Connor Hollis’ first homer of the game tied the score, but Lansing went back ahead the following half inning. After Grant Witherspoon’s sacrifice fly tied the game in the bottom of the seventh, Hollis’ second home run accounted for the final margin. Alan Strong struck out seven and allowed two runs in six innings.

1B Kaleo Johnson: 2-for-3, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB (.903)
3B Connor Hollis: 3-for-4, 2 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 1 K (.901)

RHP Alan Strong: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K (2.14)

CLICK HERE FOR ALL BOX SCORES

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

Durham @ Columbus 12:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream) DOUBLEHEADER
TBA vs. Shao-Ching Chiang (0-2, 8.55)
TBA vs. Cody Anderson (0-0, 0.00)

Both games will be seven innings.

Montgomery vs. Birmingham 3:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Brendan McKay (0-0, 3.29) vs. Felix Paulino (2-1, 3.13)

Charlotte @ Lakeland 1 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Tobias Myers (0-1, 4.41) vs. TBA

Bowling Green vs. Lansing 3:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Juan De Paula (2-1, 7.71)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Columbus Clippers (Cleveland)
14-7 (1st in IL West)
Offense: 118 R (3rd) .825 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 4.56 ERA (7th) 1.37 WHIP (6th)
Top-30 prospects: 1B Bobby Bradley (7), SS Yu Chang (11), OF Oscar Mercado (16), C Eric Haase (25), RHP Chih-Wei Hu, C Dioner Navarro

Birmingham Barons (White Sox)
9-14 (5th in SL North)
Offense: 68 R (8th) .655 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 3.60 ERA (5th) 1.37 WHIP (8th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Micker Aldofo (6), OF Blake Rutherford (8), OF Luis Gonzalez (9), 1B Gavin Sheets (14), SS Laz Rivera (16), OF Joel Booker (27), RHP Zach Thompson (28), RHP Tyler Johnson (29), LHP Kodi Medeiros (30), LHP Hunter Schryver

Lakeland Flying Tigers
9-12 (4th in FSL North)
Offense: 64 R (10th) .625 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 3.81 ERA (8th) 1.09 WHIP (3rd)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Franklin Perez (4), 2B Kody Clemens (12), OF Brock Deatherage (28)

Lansing Lugnuts (Toronto)
11-11 (5th in MWL East)
Offense: 96 R (2nd) .797 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 3.95 ERA (10th) 1.47 WHIP (14th)
Top-30 prospects: SS Jordan Groshans (5), RHP Sean Wymer (26)

Daily news and links

Baseball America wrote about Wander Franco after his two-homer game last week ($).