Rays prospects and minor leagues: Hernandez powers Charlotte to 8th straight win

Joe Ryan was promoted to Double-A Montgomery Tuesday. He hasn’t pitched since Aug. 7, so he could make his Biscuits debut any game now. With 159 strikeouts and a 1.79 ERA in 110 ¹⁄₃ innings, he’s been one of the top pitchers in the minors all season.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (68-52)

Durham erased an early deficit in a 9-6 win over Syracuse. The Mets led 4-0 after one inning, but Kevin Padlo’s three-run homer in the second cut into that lead. Trailing 5-4, the Bulls took the lead with five runs in the fifth. Nate Lowe and Padlo each hit RBI doubles, and Jason Coats singled in a run. Vidal Nuno III opened, and Ricardo Pinto followed with two runs allowed in 5 ²⁄₃ innings.

1B Nate Lowe: 2-for-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K (.943)
3B Kevin Padlo: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI (1.088)

RHP Ricardo Pinto: 5 ²⁄₃ IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (3.88)
RHP Peter Fairbanks: 1 ¹⁄₃ IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K (3.48)

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (33-18)

Home runs from Josh Lowe, Rene Pinto, and Taylor Walls lifted Montgomery to a 5-2 win over Jackson. Lowe’s three-run homer in the second gave the Biscuits a 3-0 lead, and Pinto and Walls later went deep to add insurance. Paul Campbell allowed two runs in five innings.

SS Lucius Fox: 0-for-4, 1 K (.701)
2B Vidal Brujan: 0-for-2 (.744 — did not finish game)
DH Taylor Walls: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI (.759)
RF Josh Lowe: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI (.744)
C Rene Pinto: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K (.641)

RHP Paul Campbell: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (3.21)

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (39-15)

Charlotte crushed Daytona, 13-2. The Stone Crabs didn’t score until the fifth, when they broke the scoreless tie with seven runs. Garrett Whitley tripled in the first two runs, and Ronaldo Hernandez later started his big day with a bases-loaded walk. Hernandez hit a three-run homer in the seventh and hit an RBI single in the eighth. On the mound, Cristopher Sanchez dominated, striking out five in five, one-hit innings.

SS Wander Franco: 1-for-4, 2 R, 1 BB (.885)
DH Ronaldo Hernandez: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 1 BB (.708)
RF Moises Gomez: 1-for-5, 1 RBI (.700)
CF Garrett Whitley: 3-for-4, 2 R, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K (.751)
C Zacrey Law: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB (.545)

LHP Cristopher Sanchez: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K (1.82)

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (30-20)

Bowling Green was off.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (34-22)

Hudson Valley lost a late lead but rebounded in the 10th for a 6-5 win over Lowell. Greg Jones’ RBI double in the seventh gave the Renegades a 5-2 lead, but the Spinners scored three in the eighth to tie the game. The Renegades didn’t even need a hit in the 10th to retake the lead, and their free baserunner scored on an error. Nathan Wiles allowed a run in 2 ²⁄₃ innings.

SS Greg Jones: 1-for-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI (.911)
DH Jonathan Embry: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 BB (.656)

RHP Nathan Wiles: 2 ²⁄₃ IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K (3.00)

Rookie Princeton Rays (25-28)

Princeton couldn’t get out of an early hole in a 6-4 loss to Johnson City. The Cardinals scored in each of the first five innings and led 5-0 before the Rays got in the board in the top of the fifth, when Jelfry Marte hit a run-scoring groundout and scored on Diego Infante’s home run. Aldor Rodriguez allowed four runs in three innings.

CF Nick Schnell: 1-for-5, 3 K (.867)
RF Diego Infante: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 K (.836)
1B Jake Guenther: 3-for-5 (.875)

RHP Aldor Rodriguez: 3 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 4 K (5.89)

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (19-19)

The GCL Rays were edged by the GCL Twins, 3-2, in eight innings in Game 1 of their doubleheader. Abiezel Ramirez’s RBI triple gave the Rays a 2-1 lead in the top of the sixth, but a homer tied the game a half inning later. The Rays failed to take advantage of their free baserunner in the eighth. Ryan Sherriff was charged with an unearned run while recording two outs, but Justin Montgomery struck out four in 3 ¹⁄₃ scoreless innings.

They were swept in the doubleheader with a 5 ¹⁄₂ -inning, 3-0 loss in Game 2. JJ Goss allowed all three runs in two innings.

SS Abiezel Ramirez (1): 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 2 SB (.770)
CF Shane Sasaki (2): 0-for-2 (.301)

LHP Ryan Sherriff (1): two-thirds IP, 1 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 0 K
RHP JJ Goss (2): 2 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (9.00)
RHP Justin Montgomery (1): 3 ¹⁄₃ IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K (3.14)

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

Durham @ Syracuse 6:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Drew Gagnon (6-4, 2.15)

Montgomery @ Jackson 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Matt Peacock (8-4, 2.56)

Charlotte @ Daytona 7:05 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Stephen Woods Jr. (9-2, 2.12) vs. Jared Solomon (0-7, 4.89)

Bowling Green vs. Dayton 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Adrian Rodriguez (5-2, 3.95)

Hudson Valley @ Connecticut 7:05 p.m. ET (radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA

Princeton @ Johnson City 6:30 p.m. ET (radio stream)
TBA vs. Jake Sommers (2-2, 4.30)

GCL Rays vs. GCL Orioles 12 p.m. DOUBLEHEADER

Completion of suspended game followed by seven-inning game.

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Syracuse Mets
59-61 (5th in IL North)
Offense: 597 R (8th) .771 OPS (11th)
Pitching: 4.64 ERA (2nd) 1.45 WHIP (8th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Walker Lockett (13), OF Braxton Lee, TE Tim Tebow

Jackson Generals (Arizona)
29-19 (2nd in IL North)
Offense: 520 R (2nd) .712 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 3.33 ERA (5th) 1.25 WHIP (5th)
Top-30 prospects: C Daulton Varsho (3), RHP J.B. Bukauskas (6), 1B Seth Beer (11), 1B Pavin Smith (17), RHP Josh Green (19), 3B Drew Ellis (21), C Dominic Miroglio (23), RHP Emilio Vargas (25)

Daytona Tortugas (Cincinnati)
22-32 (T-5th in FSL North)
Offense: 460 R (5th) .668 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 3.87 ERA (12th) 1.31 WHIP (12th)
Top-30 prospects: SS Jose Garcia (11), C Hendrik Clementina (21)

Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati)
21-29 (T-6th in MWL East)
Offense: 448 R (16th) .637 OPS (16th)
Pitching: 4.26 ERA (12th) 1.44 WHIP (14th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Mike Siani (8), OF Mariel Bautista (13), RHP Lyon Richardson (14), RHP James Marinan (16), 3B Juan Martinez (19), LHP Jacob Heatherly (20), OF Bren Spillane (27)

Connecticut Tigers
27-30 (2nd in NYPL Stedler)
Offense: 211 R (12th) .624 OPS (13th)
Pitching: 3.68 ERA (9th) 1.40 WHIP (12th)
Top-30 prospects: IF Nick Quintana (18)

Johnson City Cardinals
28-25 (1st in AL West)
Offense: 265 R (5th) .733 OPS (5th)
Pitching: 4.75 ERA (8th) 1.40 WHIP (6th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Jhon Torres (13), 3B Malcom Nunez (20), OF Trejyn Fletcher (23), SS Mateo Gil (24)

GCL Orioles
26-13 (1st in GCL South)
Offense: 195 R (2nd) .720 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 2.83 ERA (2nd) 1.27 WHIP (6th)
Top-30 prospects: SS Gunnar Henderson

Daily news and links

To the surprise of no one, MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo identified Greg Jones as one of the 2019 draft picks off to a good start in professional ball.

Nick Schnell and the recently promoted Joe Ryan were on both MLB.com’s prospect team of the week and Baseball America’s Hot Sheet.