Rays prospects and minor leagues: Brujan returns, McClanahan dominates in Charlotte win

After being sent back to Triple A following his first promotion to the majors, Nate Lowe struggled. His May OPS in the minors was .644. After another brief call-up for a day in June, he’s been great for Durham. He’s been striking out a bit more than usual, but his power stroke has returned. His OPS for the month is 1.127.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (45-27)

Brendan McKay’s fourth home run of the season punctuated Durham’s 10-inning, 11-7 win over Pawtucket. McKay was the fifth Bull to go deep. Nick Solak’s got Durham on the board in the fifth, and Jake Smolinski, Nate Lowe, and Mike Brosseau all homered in the five-run seventh. Ryan Merritt allowed three runs — two earned — in 3 ²⁄₃ innings.

1B Nate Lowe: 2-for-6, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 K (.897)
LF Nick Solak: 1-for-3, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB (.879)
RF Joe McCarthy: 0-for-4, 1 R, 1 BB (.586)
DH Brendan McKay: 1-for-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 3 K (.884)
SS Jake Cronenworth: 3-for-6, 1 2B, 1 SB (1.021)
2B Kean Wong: 3-for-6, 1 R, 1 3B, 1 K (.943)
3B Mike Brosseau: 1-for-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K (.985)
CF Jake Smolinski: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K, 1 HBP (.805)

LHP Ryan Merritt: 3 ²⁄₃ IP, 5 H, 3 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 1 K (6.43)
RHP Ian Gibaut: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K (4.50)

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (0-0)

Montgomery’s game was postponed.

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (3-1)

Shane McClanahan had another great start in Charlotte’s 4-0 win over Lakeland. In his second appearance with the Stone Crabs, he again held his opponent off the scoreboard. In 6 ¹⁄₃ innings, he struck out seven, walked none, and yielded just three hits. It was his first outing this season without issuing a walk. In his first game in four weeks, Vidal Brujan reached base three times and tallied his 22nd steal.

2B Vidal Brujan: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB, 1 CS (.766)
SS Taylor Walls: 1-for-3, 1 BB, 1 K (.779)
C Ronaldo Hernandez: 0-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 K (.736)
RF Moises Gomez: 0-for-3, 1 BB, 2 K (.656)
LF Garrett Whitley: 1-for-2, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB (.716)

LHP Shane McClanahan: 6 ¹⁄₃ IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K (0.00)

Charlotte’s site offers this recap.

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (1-0)

A pair of Bowling Green pitchers shut down South Bend in a 2-0 Hot Rods win. In his second start of the season, Miller Hogan struck out three in five innings. In relief, Cristopher Sanchez was even better, striking out six in four innings. Beau Brundage hit an RBI single, and Grant Witherspoon hit his eighth home run.

SS Wander Franco: 0-for-4 (.895)
CF Grant Witherspoon: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K (.754)

RHP Miller Hogan: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K (1.69)
LHP Cristopher Sanchez: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K (2.56)

Bowling Green’s site offers this recap.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (3-4)

Hudson Valley broke out for eight runs in the ninth in a 9-1 win over Vermont. The Renegades had four of their 11 hits in the big inning, but just as problematic for the Lake Monsters were the four consecutive bases-loaded walks. After those run-scoring walks, Jacson McGowan and Raider Brito each drove in two runs with hits. Nathan Wiles worked two scoreless innings in his pro debut, and Zack Trageton followed with eight strikeouts in six, one-run innings.

1B Jacson McGowan: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 1 K (.684)
3B Carlos Vargas: 3-for-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 BB (.561)

RHP Zack Trageton: 6 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K (0.82)

Rookie Princeton Rays (1-2)

Princeton rallied for a 3-2 win over Danville, its first of the season. The Braves led 2-0 through five innings, but Princeton got on the board in the sixth on Diego Infante’s RBI double. In the eighth, Brett Wisely tied the game with a sacrifice fly, and Logan Allen drove in the go-ahead run. Matthew Peguero struck out five and allowed two runs in four innings.

SS Jelfry Marte: 2-for-4, 1 CS (.750)
RF Diego Infante: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB (1.117)

RHP Matthew Peguero: 4 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K (4.50)
RHP Angel Felipe: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K (0.00)

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

Durham @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA

Montgomery @ Tennessee 6 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream) DOUBLEHEADER
Riley O’Brien (3-4, 4.02) vs. Justin Steele (0-5, 5.80)
Paul Campbell (1-0, 4.15) vs. Oscar De La Cruz (3-3, 4.30)

Both games will be seven innings.

Charlotte vs. Lakeland 6:30 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Stephen Woods Jr. (4-1, 2.56) vs. Tarik Skubal (3-4, 3.08)

Bowling Green @ South Bend 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Peyton Remy (2-3, 3.70)

Hudson Valley vs. Aberdeen 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA

Princeton vs. Burlington 6:30 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Jose Lopez (0-0, -.--) vs. Rylan Kaufman (0-0, -.--)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Yankees)
42-28 (1st in IL North)
Offense: 392 R (4th) .841 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 4.47 ERA (3rd) 1.33 WHIP (2nd)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Michael King (5), RHP Chance Adams (15), SS Thairo Estrada (27), C Erik Kratz, 1B Logan Morrison

Tennessee Smokies (Cubs)
0-0
Offense: 283 R (6th) .669 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 4.03 ERA (9th) 1.30 WHIP (6th)
Top-30 prospects: SS Nico Hoerner (1), RHP Cory Abbott (8), LHP Justin Steele (9), RHP Oscar De La Cruz (21), RHP Thomas Hatch (22), 1B Jared Young (24), C Jhonny Pereda (26), RHP Keegan Thompson (29)

Lakeland Flying Tigers
0-4 (6th in FSL South)
Offense: 241 R (11th) .656 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 3.81 ERA (10th) 1.24 WHIP (6th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Franklin Perez (4), 2B Kody Clemens (12), LHP Austin Sodders (20), OF Brock Deatherage (28), RHP Jason Foley (29)

South Bend Cubs
0-1 (T-6th in MWL East)
Offense: 268 R (15th) .679 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 3.87 ERA (8th) 1.32 WHIP (10th)
Top-30 prospects: LHP Brailyn Marquez (3), OF Cole Roederer (4), OF Brennen Davis (5), OF Nelson Velazquez (13), RHP Jose Albertos (15), OF Edmond Americaan (16), RHP Riley Thompson (20)

Aberdeen IronBirds (Baltimore)
4-3 (2nd in NYPL McNamara)
Offense: 24 R (6th) .644 OPS (6th)
Pitching: 2.55 ERA (5th) 1.26 WHIP (6th)
Top-30 prospects: SS Jean Carmona (26)

Burlington Royals
3-0 (1st in AL East)
Offense: Will update next series
Pitching: Will update next series
Top-30 prospects: LHP Rylan Kaufman (25)

Daily news and links

Baseball America calculated minor league park factors at the midpoint of the season. It really shows how much the ball is flying in Triple A now.