Rays prospects and minor leagues 8/18: Hu pitches Montgomery to win

On the rehab front, Enny Romero threw a scoreless inning and Oswaldo Arcia homered twice for the Charlotte Stone Crabs.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (54-72)

Even with three runs in the waning innings, it wasn’t nearly enough to come back as Durham fell to the Norfolk Tides, 8-5. Justin Marks struggled, allowing three runs in the first and eight overall in just four innings. However, the bullpen was effective, as three pitchers gave up just one hit in five combined innings. Down 8-3, the Bulls showed signs of life as Curt Casali knocked a two-run double in the eighth. Casey Gillaspie hit a RBI single in the ninth, but Durham never came close to winning.

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (29-23)

Montgomery cruised to a 6-2 win over the Chatanooga Lookouts behind a solid start from Chih-Wei Hu. Montgomery opened up the scoring as Cade Gotta reached on a fielder’s choice and stole two bases, scoring on a sacrifice fly from Willy Adames. Kean Wong led the offense with three RBIs, including a two-run double. Hu was dominant in his start, giving up just three hits and an unearned run while punching out eight batters. With a game score of 71, Hu easily secured his sixth win this season. Mark Sappington allowed a run in his inning of relief, but Kyle Bird tossed two scoreless innings to help preserve the win.

Class-A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (28-24)

With a five-run opening inning, Charlotte had more than enough offense to fend off a late rally in their 9-4 win over the Jupiter Hammerheads. Oswaldo Arcia hit a two-run home run, Jace Conrad drove in two on a triple, and Grant Kay scored on an error to blow the game open in the first. Arcia hit a solo home run in the next inning as well to put the Stone Crabs up by six. Enny Romero tossed a scoreless first, then handed the ball off to Mike Franco, who posted five shutout innings with four strikeouts. Jose Alvarado struck out five in his two innings, as the Stone Crabs scored three more in the eighth to go up 9-0. Alex Smith came on in the ninth to try and preserve the shutout, but instead allowed four runs to the Hammerheads. Nick Sawyer came in to shut down the rally by striking out the last batter of the game.

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (33-19)

Bowling Green couldn’t hold onto their lead and then a tie as they lost to the South Bend Cubs, 6-4. The Hot Rods struck first with a two-run single from Zacrey Law in the third. Tyler Brashears allowed four runs to the Cubs, blowing Bowling Green’s lead. Manny Sanchez also struck for a two-run single in the sixth, but Bryan Bonnell allowed the deciding run in the eighth. Tim Ingram allowed another run in the ninth, but Bowling Green went down without a fight at the plate in the last two innings.

Short-Season Hudson Valley Renegades (35-22)

Hudson Valley racked up 17 hits in the Renegades’ 7-2 victory over the Auburn Doubledays. Noel Rodriguez allowed a run in the second, but he struck out seven batters in his six-inning effort, taking home his third win this season. Hudson Valley’s offense came alive after the fifth, with the first run coming from a Jake Fraley triple and subsequent single from Garrett Whitley. Their biggest inning came in the seventh, when the Renegades scored three runs off a ground-rule double from Chris Betts and Jose Rojas single.

Rookie Princeton Rays (27-24)

Princeton secured a 3-2 walkoff victory over the Kingsport Mets in an 11-inning game. Peter Bayer gave up a run to the Mets in the first, but Princeton got the lead with a two-run home run from Robbie Tenerowicz. Resly Linares and Sandy Brito combined for four scoreless relief innings, but Reimin Ramos allowed the Mets to tie up the game in the eighth. Dalton Moats wound up with the win as Rene Pinto hit a walk-off home run in the eleventh.

Rookie GCL Rays (22-26)

The GCL Rays split a doubleheader with the GCL Twins, losing Game One by a 6-3 score. The Rays opened the scoring with a three-run second, coming from a Gilbert Marrero two-run double and and Ryan Caldwell RBI single. Austin Franklin surrendered two runs in the fourth, being removed after 3.1 innings. Angel Rodriguez held off the Twins in that inning, but later lost the lead in the sixth, giving up two runs - the tying and go-ahead runs - as he lost his third game of the season.

Game Two was far less eventful, as the Rays pulled out the win in a low-scoring, 2-0 affair. The only offense came in the fourth, with Moises Gomez hitting a RBI double and Juan Carlos Arias adding a sacrifice fly. Zack Trageton hurled five scoreless innings in his second pro win, and Matt Vogel picked up his first save with two innings of relief.

The preceding stories were not generated by the Associated Press computer using data from and in cooperation with MLBAM.

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Notable Performances

Triple-A

IF Daniel Robertson: 2-for-5, R, 2B (16), 3B (2), RBI (38)
1B Casey Gillaspie: 1-for-5, RBI (8), K
UT Taylor Motter: 1-for-4, R, RBI (35), BB, K
C Curt Casali: 3-for-4, 2B (1), 2 RBI (11), K
OF Jake Goebbert: 1-for-4, 2B (12), K

LHP Dana Eveland: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K

Double-A

2B Kean Wong: 1-for-3, 2B (18), 3 RBI (52), 2 BB, K
1B Jake Bauers: 1-for-3, RBI (68), BB
OF Justin Williams: 1-for-3, 2 R, 2B (5), BB
C Armando Araiza: 1-for-3, R, RBI (6), 2 K
OF Braxton Lee: 1-for-2, BB

RHP Chih-Wei Hu: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K
LHP Kyle Bird: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

Class-A Advanced

SS Andrew Velazquez: 2-for-5, R, 3B (2), RBI (12), K
OF Oswaldo Arcia: 2-for-5, 2 R, 2 HR (3), 3 RBI (7), K
IF Grant Kay: 3-for-4, 2 R, 2B (14), 3B (1)
3B Cristian Toribio: 0-for-3, R, 2 RBI (17), K, SF
OF Jace Conrad: 1-for-3, 3B (4), 2 RBI (32), BB
C Jonah Heim: 1-for-4, RBI (2)

LHP Enny Romero: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
RHP Mike Franco: W (7-4), 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K
LHP Jose Alvarado: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K
RHP Nick Sawyer: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

Class-A

OF Zacrey Law: 1-for-4, 2 RBI (42), 2 K
C David Rodriguez: 0-for-1, BB, K
OF Manny Sanchez: 2-for-4, R, 2 RBI (36)
IF Peter Maris: 0-for-1, R, 2 BB

Short-Season

OF Jake Fraley: 2-for-5, R, 3B (5), RBI (12), K
OF Garrett Whitley: 3-for-5, RBI (25)
3B Jim Haley: 1-for-4, 2 R, BB, K
1B Nathaniel Lowe: 2-for-3, 2 R, BB, K
OF Angel Perez: 2-for-5, K
C Chris Betts: 1-for-3, 2B (2), 3 RBI (4), BB, K
C Jose Rojas: 4-for-5, 2 RBI (13)
SS Bill Pujols: 1-for-3, BB, 2 K

RHP Noel Rodriguez: W (3-1), 6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K
RHP Spencer Jones: H (2), 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K

Rookie (Princeton)

OF Eleardo Cabrera: 1-for-5, 2B (8), 3 K
C Rene Pinto: 1-for-5, R, HR (3), RBI (8), 2 K
1B Bobby Melley: 2-for-4, R
2B Robbie Tenerowicz: 1-for-4, R, HR (5), 2 RBI (33)
SS Deion Tansel: 1-for-4, 2B (2), K

LHP Resly Linares: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K
RHP Sandy Brito: H (3), 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

Rookie (GCL)

(1) IF Michael Brosseau: 1-for-2, R, 2B (7)
(1) 1B Gilbert Marrero: 1-for-3, R, 2B (6), 2 RBI (6)
(1) OF Ryan Caldwell 1-for-3, RBI (8), K

(2) OF Jesus Sanchez: 1-for-2, BB
(2) IF Michael Brosseau: 1-for-2, 2B (8), BB, K
(2) 1B Jonathon Arrowood: 2-for-3, R
(2) OF Moises Gomez: 2-for-3, 2B (5), RBI (9)

(2) RHP Zack Trageton: W (2-0), 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K
(2) RHP Matt Vogel: S (1), 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

Today's probables (All probables courtesy milb.com)

Durham v. Norfolk 7:05 PM ET (milb.tv, radio stream)
Jaime Schultz (5-5, 3.02) v. Mike Wright (3-3, 3.28)

Montgomery @ Chattanooga 7:15 PM ET (radio stream)
Brent Honeywell (2-1, 2.45) v. Kohl Stewart (6-6, 3.25)

Charlotte v. Bradenton 6:35 PM ET (radio stream)
TBA v. Stephen Tarpley (5-3, 4.60)

Bowling Green v. Great Lakes 7:35 PM ET (radio stream)
Jose Mujica (6-3, 3.55) v. TBA

Hudson Valley v. Auburn 7:05 PM ET (radio stream)
TBA v. Dane Dunning (1-1, 3.68)

Princeton v. Kingsport 7:00 PM ET (radio stream)
TBA v. Jake Simon (1-5, 4.84)

GCL Rays @ GCL Orioles 12:00 PM ET

Scouting the opposition

Norfolk Tides (Baltimore)
55-71, 3rd in IL South
Offense: 456 R (12th) .687 OPS (11th)
Pitching: 3.58 ERA (8th) 1.30 WHIP (8th)
Top 30 Prospects: 1B Trey Mancini (8), RHP Mike Wright (10), OF Dariel Alvarez (13), 1B/OF Christian Walker (14), RHP Oliver Drake (21), RHP Parker Bridwell (22), OF Mike Yastrzemski (25)

Chattanooga Lookouts (Minnesota)
27-25, 3rd in SL North
Offense: 552 R (3rd) .701 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 3.68 ERA (6th) 1.31 WHIP (6th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Tyler Jay (5), RHP Kohl Stewart (8), LHP Stephen Gonsalves (9), RHP Nick Burdi (10), C Stuart Turner (16), SS Engelb Vielma (18), RHP Felix Jorge (24), RHP Trevor Hildenberger (27), LHP Mason Melotakis (28), RHP Ryan Eades (31)

Bradenton Marauders (Pittsburgh)
25-29, 4th in FSL South
Offense: 568 R (1st) .716 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 3.64 ERA (8th) 1.32 WHIP (8th)
Top 30 Prospects: SS Cole Tucker (7), RHP Nick Kingham (13), 3B/OF Jordan Luplow (14), RHP Yeudy Garcia (16), LHP Stephen Tarpley (17), 2B/3B Kevin Kramer (28)

Great Lakes Loons (Dodgers)
25-27, 4th in MWL East
Offense: 474 R (11th) .656 OPS (13th)
Pitching: 3.49 ERA (9th) 1.23 WHIP (4th)
Top 30 Prospects: 2B Omar Estevez (10), IF Brendon Davis (25)

Auburn Doubledays (Washington)
22-34, 5th in NYPL Pinckney
Offense: 190 R (13th) .604 OPS (13th)
Pitching: 3.88 ERA (11th) 1.33 WHIP (11th)
Top 30 Prospects: OF Blake Perkins (12), RHP Dane Dunning, 3B Sheldon Neuse

Kingsport Mets
19-35, 5th (Last) in AL West
Offense: 246 R (7th) .695 OPS (8th)
Pitching: 4.65 ERA (8th) 1.46 WHIP (10th-Last)
Top 30 Prospects: None

GCL Orioles
21-27, 4th (Last) in GCL South
Offense: 192 R (10th) .607 OPS (16th)
Pitching: 3.00 ERA (4th) 1.22 WHIP (6th)
Top 30 Prospects: RHP Brennan Hanifee (4th Round Pick), SS Alexis Torres (5th Round Pick)