Rays prospects and minor leagues: McKay scoreless streak continues in Triple-A debut

Triple-A Durham Bulls (31-19)

Brendan McKay was sharp in his Triple-A debut, and he was backed by a lot of offense in Durham’s 18-3 win over Louisville. McKay threw five more scoreless innings, striking out five and walking none. All three hits he allowed were singles. The Bulls jumped out to a 15-0 lead, and a half inning after the Bats finally got on the board, Durham scored three more runs. Christian Arroyo hit a grand slam in the seven-run sixth.

1B Nate Lowe: 2-for-5, 3 R, 1 BB (.825)
2B Kean Wong: 2-for-4, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K (.943)
DH Mike Brosseau: 1-for-1, 4 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB (1.029)
3B Christian Arroyo: 5-for-5, 3 R, 3 2B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 1 BB (1.016)

LHP Brendan McKay: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K (0.00)

Durham’s site offers this recap.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (29-21)

Montgomery allowed three runs in the ninth in a 5-4 loss to Birmingham. In the fifth, Dalton Kelly’s RBI single put the Biscuits ahead 3-2, and he drove in an insurance run in the seventh. However, it wasn’t enough. In the ninth, Curtis Taylor allowed hits to four of the five batters he faced, including a walk-off, two-run double. Matt Krook opened with two scoreless innings.

CF Josh Lowe: 1-for-4, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2 SB (.770)
RF Jesus Sanchez: 1-for-4, 1 K (.747)
SS Lucius Fox: 0-for-4, 1 K (.617)
1B Dalton Kelly: 3-for-3, 2 RBI, 1 HBP (.819)

LHP Matt Krook: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (4.64)

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (27-24)

Charlotte pitching dominated in a 7-0 win over Clearwater. After Tommy Romero struck out four, one-hit innings, Tobias Myers pitched three innings, striking out two. Alex Valverde finished the game with three strikeouts over the final two innings. In his first rehab appearance, Mike Zunino reached base in all five plate appearances and scored three times.

C Mike Zunino: 3-for-3, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 BB
SS Taylor Walls: 3-for-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 K (.767)
DH Ronaldo Hernandez: 1-for-4, 1 RBI (.677)
RF Moises Gomez: 2-for-5, 2 RBI, 3 K (.689)
PR Garrett Whitley: 1-for-2, 1 K (.746)

RHP Tommy Romero: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K (2.27)

Charlotte’s site offers this recap.

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (32-20)

Chris Betts stayed hot in Bowling Green’s 6-3 win over Great Lakes. A day after hitting two home runs, he hit his fourth homer in three games, tying the game at one in the first inning. Later in the game, he gave the Hot Rods the lead for good with an RBI double that started the scoring in the three-run seventh. Against his old organization, Caleb Sampen allowed three runs in six innings.

SS Wander Franco: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 2B (.870)
DH Chris Betts: 2-for-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI (.874)
1B Kaleo Johnson: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI (.774)
C Roberto Alvarez: 2-for-4, 2 2B, 1 RBI (.684)

RHP Caleb Sampen: 6 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 6 K (3.63)
LHP Trey Cumbie: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K (2.63)

Bowling Green’s site offers this recap.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL BOX SCORES

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

Durham vs. Louisville 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Aaron Slegers (2-1, 6.21) vs. Rob Wooten (0-1, 18.69)

Montgomery @ Birmingham 1:30 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Riley O’Brien (1-3, 4.87) vs. Jimmy Lambert (3-3, 4.04)

Charlotte vs. Clearwater 1 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Paul Campbell (4-4, 4.70) vs. TBA

Bowling Green vs. Great Lakes 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Andre Jackson (4-1, 1.91)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Louisville Bats (Cincinnati)
20-31 (4th in IL West)
Offense: 237 R (10th) .760 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 5.17 ERA (9th) 1.48 WHIP (9th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Vladimir Gutierrez (7), RHP Keury Mella (15), RHP Jimmy Herget (17), OF Aristides Aquino (18)

Birmingham Barons (White Sox)
20-30 (5th in SL North)
Offense: 167 R (7th) .645 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 3.95 ERA (8th) 1.39 WHIP (9th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Luis Robert (5), OF Micker Aldofo (6), OF Blake Rutherford (8), OF Luis Gonzalez (9), 1B Gavin Sheets (14), SS Laz Rivera (16), RHP Alec Hansen (17), RHP Zack Burdi (18), RHP Tyler Johnson (29), LHP Kodi Medeiros (30), LHP Hunter Schryver

Clearwater Threshers (Philadelphia)
26-25 (3rd in FSL North)
Offense: 210 R (2nd) .714 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 3.72 ERA (9th) 1.30 WHIP (8th)
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)

Great Lakes Loons (Dodgers)
30-19 (T-2nd in MWL East)
Offense: 262 R (1st) .741 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 4.22 ERA (11th) 1.40 WHIP (11th)
Top-30 prospects: 3B Miguel Vargas (21), RHP Zach Willeman (22), LHP Robinson Ortiz (23), SS Jacob Amaya (30)

Daily news and links

Brendan McKay and Shane Baz both landed on Baseball America’s latest Hot Sheet.

BA subscribers can also read about the demographics of next week’s draft and a breakdown of the NCAA baseball tournament bracket.

ESPN subscribers can read Keith Law’s latest mock draft, which includes a new pick for the Rays.