Rays prospects and minor leagues: McKay dominates another lineup

For three games, Charlotte returns to the Tampa Bay area with a series in Clearwater this weekend. They’ll be back early in June with four games in Dunedin.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (23-16)

Durham’s rally fell short in a 7-5 loss to Lehigh Valley. The IronPigs scored five in the second and led by as many as six. In the eighth, the Bulls scored twice but stranded two runners on base. They scored two again in the ninth and got the potential tying run to the plate, but Mike Brosseau grounded out to end the game. Oliver Drake opened and allowed five runs in an inning, but Ricardo Pinto was sharp in bulk, striking out nine and getting charged with just a run in 5 ¹⁄₃ innings.

1B Nate Lowe: 0-for-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K (.866)
2B Nick Solak: 0-for-3, 1 RBI, 2 K (.846)
SS Jake Cronenworth: 3-for-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K (.990)
CF Nathan Lukes: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI (.664)

RHP Ricardo Pinto: 5 ¹⁄₃ IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K (1.72)
LHP Colin Poche: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K (6.11)

Durham’s site offers this recap.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (26-14)

Brendan McKay did it again in Montgomery’s 1-0 win over Jacksonville. For the third time this season and second straight start, he was not charged with a run, this time pitching six innings with six strikeouts and no walks. Benton Moss pitched two innings, and Curtis Taylor threw one. Dalton Kelly scored the only run of the game on a ninth-inning wild pitch.

RF Jesus Sanchez: 1-for-4, 2 K (.754)
SS Lucius Fox: 0-for-3, 1 BB, 1 K (.648)

LHP Brendan McKay: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K (1.51)

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (20-20)

Thomas Milone’s home run was the difference in Charlotte’s 3-1 win over Daytona. The Stone Crabs only had four hits, but he made sure some of them count. Ronaldo Hernandez led off the fourth with a single, and Milone’s two-run homer two batters later gave them a 2-0 lead. Hunter Wood struck out the side in an inning of work, and Tobias Myers allowed a run in four innings.

DH Matt Duffy: 0-for-2, 1 BB, 1 HBP
2B Vidal Brujan: 1-for-3, 1 BB, 1 SB (.743)
SS Taylor Walls: 1-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB (.696)
C Ronaldo Hernandez: 1-for-4, 1 R (.592)
RF Moises Gomez: 0-for-4 (.668)
LF Garrett Whitley: 0-for-3 (.763)
CF Thomas Milone: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K (.897)

RHP Hunter Wood: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
RHP Tobias Myers: 4 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K (3.16)
RHP Mikey York: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K (0.83)

Charlotte’s site offers this recap.

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (22-18)

Bowling Green was edged by Lake County, 5-4, in 10 innings. Entering the ninth, the Captains had scored four straight runs to go up 4-3, but the Hot Rods forced extra innings on Jake Palomaki’s RBI single. In the 10th, the Hot Rods couldn’t take advantage of their free baserunner, but the Captains’ scored on two wild pitches. Caleb Sampen struck out seven and allowed three runs in seven innings.

SS Wander Franco: 1-for-5, 1 K (.901)
CF Grant Witherspoon: 1-for-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI (.780)
RF Tony Pena: 1-for-2, 2 R, 2 HBP (.611)
C Roberto Alvarez: 3-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB (.637)

RHP Caleb Sampen: 7 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K (3.83)

CLICK HERE FOR ALL BOX SCORES

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

Durham vs. Rochester 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Devin Smeltzer (0-0, 0.00)

Montgomery @ Jacksonville 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Josh Fleming (4-2, 2.70) vs. Cody Poteet (2-3, 3.44)

Charlotte @ Clearwater 6:30 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Tommy Romero (1-1, 2.00) vs. TBA

Bowling Green @ Lake County 6:30 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Cam Sanders (2-0, 2.48)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Rochester Red Wings (Minnesota)
14-22 (T-4th in IL North)
Offense: 184 R (10th) .784 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 6.02 ERA (13th) 1.52 WHIP (12th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Brent Rooker (6), SS Nick Gordon (15), LHP Lewis Thorpe (17), LHP Stephen Gonsalves (18), OF LaMonte Wade (21), RHP Zack Littell (23), OF Luke Raley (24)

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Miami)
14-27 (5th in SL South)
Offense: 102 R (10th) .575 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 3.30 ERA (4th) 1.22 WHIP (3rd)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Sixto Sanchez (1), RHP Jorge Guzman (7), OF Brian Miller (14), RHP Jordan Yamamoto (18), RHP Robert Dugger (22), SS Joe Dunand (23), SS Bryson Brigman (26)

Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia)
19-20 (3rd in FSL North)
Offense: 157 R (4th) .719 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 3.74 ERA (7th) 1.33 WHIP (9th)
Top-30 prospects: 3B Alec Bohm (1), RHP Spencer Howard (7), RHP Colton Eastman (11), LHP Zach Warren (17), C Rodolfo Duran (20), 2B Daniel Brito (21), OF Jhailyn Ortiz (22), OF Matt Vierling (27)

Lake County Captains (Cleveland)
23-15 (1st in MWL East)
Offense: 177 R (2nd) .697 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 3.64 ERA (7th) 1.33 WHIP (8th)
Top-30 prospects: SS Tyler Freeman (3), C Bo Naylor (4), RHP Luis Oviedo (8), OF Will Benson (21), OF Quentin Holmes (27)

Daily news and links

At FanGraphs, Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel published a mock draft. They have the Rays selecting high school third baseman Keoni Cavaco, college shortstop Greg Jones, and college righty Ryne Nelson.

MiLB.com wrote about under-the-radar pitcher Josh Fleming.