Rays prospects and minor leagues: Lowe brothers homer in Durham, Montgomery wins

A couple weeks ago, MLB Pipeline named a prospect who will contribute to each contending team down the stretch, and its selection for the Rays was Nate Lowe. I don’t know where he would get the at-bats, but at Durham, he’s certainly hitting like a player who’s going to be a contributor. Since being sent back down, he’s batting .327/.417/.577 with as many walks as strikeouts.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (69-56)

Durham lost a lead but rebounded for a 10-7 win over Buffalo. Nate Lowe homered in the first, and after the Bisons tied the game at two, the Bulls scored four times in the second. Buffalo retied the game — and did so again at seven — before Michael Perez’s two-run homer capped a three-run eighth that gave Durham the lead for good. Austin Pruitt allowed three runs in four innings.

1B Nate Lowe: 4-for-5, 3 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI (.948)
DH Michael Perez: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K (.798)
LF Dalton Kelly: 3-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 HBP (.785)

RHP Austin Pruitt: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (5.40)
RHP Jose De Leon: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K (3.97)

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (37-19)

A trio of Biscuits pitchers combined to shut out Biloxi, 4-0. Matt Krook opened with an inning, and Paul Campbell struck out six in six innings. Ivan Pelaez finished the last two innings. Josh Lowe hit an RBI double in the second and later hit a solo home run.

SS Lucius Fox: 0-for-3, 1 BB, 1 K (.683)
3B Taylor Walls: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB (.797)
CF Josh Lowe: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI (.766)

LHP Matt Krook: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K (3.94)
RHP Paul Campbell: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K (2.96)

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (42-17)

Charlotte rallied for a 5-2 win over St. Lucie. Niko Hulsizer made his Stone Crabs debut, and he got them on the board with an RBI single in the sixth, cutting their deficit to 2-1. In the seventh, they took the lead on Brandon Lowe’s RBI double, and Ronaldo Hernandez followed with a two-run homer. Michael Plassmeyer allowed a run in five innings.

2B Joey Wendle: 1-for-4, 1 R
DH Brandon Lowe: 1-for-3, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 HBP
SS Wander Franco: 2-for-5, 1 R (.862)
C Ronaldo Hernandez: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K (.712)
RF Moises Gomez: 1-for-4, 2 K (.699)
LF Niko Hulsizer: 3-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 K (1.500)
CF Garrett Whitley: 0-for-4, 2 K (.756)

LHP Michael Plassmeyer: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (2.23)

Charlotte’s site offers this recap.

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (32-23)

Bowling Green fell to Fort Wayne, 4-2. The TinCaps took 1-0 and 2-1 leads, but in each instance, the Hot Rods tied the game a half inning later, first on a Grant Witherspoon RBI single and then an error. However, there was no response to Fort Wayne’s two eighth-inning runs. Caleb Sampen allowed two runs in four innings.

RF Ruben Cardenas: 3-for-5, 1 R, 1 2B (.800)
CF Nick Schnell: 1-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 HBP (.583)
3B Osmy Gregorio: 1-for-2, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP (.557)

RHP Caleb Sampen: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K (2.75)

Bowling Green’s site offers this recap.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (36-26)

Hudson Valley didn’t get enough offense in a 4-1 loss to Staten Island. The Renegades only had four hits, and their lone run scored on K.V. Edwards’ bases-loaded walk. The Yankees closed the game with three unanswered runs. John Doxakis pitched 2 ¹⁄₃ scoreless innings.

SS Greg Jones: 0-for-4, 3 K (.855)

LHP John Doxakis: 2 ¹⁄₃ IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K (2.55)

Rookie Princeton Rays (27-30)

Princeton topped Elizabethton, 4-2. RBI singles from Brett Wisely and Yunior Martinez in the first and second innings gave the Rays a 2-0 lead, but the Twins tied the game in the top of the fourth. In the bottom of the fourth, Jhosner Vargas hit an RBI double and scored on another Martinez single. Taj Bradley allowed two runs in four innings.

RF Diego Infante: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 K (.848)

RHP Taj Bradley: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (3.60)
LHP Stanly Sabino: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K (3.78)

Rookie Gulf Coast League Rays (19-23)

The GCL Rays were off.

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

Durham vs. Charlotte 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA

Montgomery vs. Biloxi 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Joe Ryan (8-1, 2.40) vs. Dylan File (8-1, 2.40)

Charlotte is off.

Bowling Green @ Fort Wayne 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
TBA vs. Edwuin Bencomo (1-0, 3.04)

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

Princeton vs. Elizabethton 6:30 p.m. ET (radio stream)
TBA vs. Andriu Marin (2-2, 5.31)

GCL Rays vs. GCL Red Sox 10 a.m. DOUBLEHEADER

Both games will be seven innings.

Completion of suspended game.

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Charlotte Knights (White Sox)
69-56 (T-2nd in IL South)
Offense: 672 R (3rd) .822 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 5.38 ERA (12th) 1.53 WHIP (13th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Luis Robert (1), 2B Nick Madrigal (5), C Zack Collins (12), RHP Ian Hamilton (13), C Seby Zavala (15), RHP Spencer Adams (20), RHP Zach Thompson (28), OF Brandon Guyer, LHP Hunter Schryver

Biloxi Shuckers (Milwaukee)
35-20
Offense: 501 R (4th) .700 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 3.20 ERA (4th) 1.14 WHIP (1st)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Drew Rasmussen (12), RHP Dylan File (28), C Alexander Alvarez, 3B Patrick Leonard

Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego)
24-31 (6th in MWL East)
Offense: 509 R (7th) .683 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 4.11 ERA (11th) 1.29 WHIP (8th)
Top-30 prospects: SS CJ Abrams (6), LHP Ryan Weathers (13), 2B Tucupita Marcano (27)

Staten Island Yankees
34-28 (T-3rd in NYPL McNamara)
Offense: 233 R (3rd) .680 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 3.22 ERA (5th) 1.11 WHIP (3rd)
Top-30 prospects: OF Everson Pereira (3), IF Josh Smith (23)

Elizabethton Twins
27-30 (4th in AL West)
Offense: 291 R (2nd) .776 OPS (1st)
Pitching: 4.38 ERA (4th) 1.41 WHIP (5th)
Top-30 prospects: OF Matt Wallner (11)

GCL Red Sox
21-21 (3rd in GCL South)
Offense: 174 R (6th) .720 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 3.06 ERA (3rd) 1.21 WHIP (3rd)
Top-30 prospects: SS Matthew Lugo (18)

Daily news and links

Former Rays prospect Brock Burke could soon make his major league debut.