Out on the Farm: 6/23

reachin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:29:19 -0000

Durham Bulls 10 - Toledo Mudhens 11

Rhyne Hughes homered for the second time in the 9th with two out, but the Bulls lost 11-10 in 13 innings to start an eight-game road trip on Tuesday. Hughes' homer to right, his third since a Double-A call-up, tied the score against Fu-Te Ni. Rashad Eldridge followed with a double, but was stranded on Chris Nowak's fly ball to right. Both of Hughes' homers tied the game up each time...his first tied the game at 7. Durham did not get a hit in extra innings, but left Rashad Eldridge at third in the 12th. Toledo which had second and third and none out in the 11th but couldn't win the game did come through in the 13th against Dewon Day. Clete Thomas singled to center, and scored all the way from first on Jeff Larish's double to left over Rashad Eldridge's head. It was Larish's fifth of the night. He and Thomas each reached base six times. The game saw 13 pitchers and 31 hits, as Durham fell to 39-33. The two teams square off at noon on Tuesday as Wade Davis takes the mound against Chris Lambert. Coverage on 99.9 the Fan's HD2 begins at 11:40 a.m. Durham now has lost 9 of 10 and 12 of 14.

Tennessee Smokies 0 - Montgomery Biscuits 1

The Biscuits prevailed in a pitcher's duel, 1-0, answering their shutout loss in game one with a win over the Tennessee Smokies on Tuesday night at Riverwalk Stadium. Pitching dominated into the seventh inning as both starters excelled. Biscuits' starter Brandon Mann made a perfect first trip through the Smokies order en route to 6 2/3 scoreless innings. He struck out a season-high six, all in the first four innings. The Biscuits finally broke through against Smokies' starter Marcos Mateo in the seventh inning. Mateo had matched the efforts of Mann with six scoreless two-hit innings before walking Cesar Suarez and J.T. Hall back-to-back to open the frame. After Mateo was lifted in favor of Marco Carrillo, Joe Gaetti advanced Suarez to third with a fly out to right field. Nevin Ashley then came to the plate and sent a single to centerfield to score Suarez with the eventual game-winner. When Mann departed the ballgame with two outs and two on in the seventh, Eddie Morlan was summoned to finish the inning. He did so, and also worked a scoreless eighth and recorded the first out in the ninth. With lefty Tyler Colvin coming up, the Biscuits called upon Mike Wlodarczyk to finish the ballgame. Colvin singled on the infield, but Darwin Barney lifted the second out to right field. Doug Deeds then sent a come-backer off the leg of Wlodarczyk that ricocheted to Jason Bowers at second base. Deeds reached safely, but Colvin inexplicably broke for third base and was out on a throw from Bowers to end the ballgame. Morlan (3-3) was credited with his third win of the season as Wlodarczyk posted his fifth save of the year. Mateo (1-5) was a hard-luck loser for the Smokies. Game three of the series is scheduled for 7:05 PM on Wednesday night at Riverwalk Stadium. RHP Heath Rollins (6-5, 3.74) will start for the Biscuits against RHP Casey Coleman (6-3, 3.03) for Tennessee.

St. Lucie Mets 3 - Port Charlotte Stone Crabs 7

The Charlotte Stone Crabs defeated the St. Lucie Mets 7-3 Tuesday afternoon at Tradition Field. It was the Stone Crabs that scored first by putting three runs on the board in the third inning. The inning started by St. Lucie walking the first three batters of the inning. Emeel Salem drew the first walk but was thrown out stealing second. Shawn O’Malley followed but was successful in stealing second. Then it was Shawn Williams drawing the third walk. Williams and O’Malley pulled off a double steal to give the Stone Crabs runners at second and third for Cody Cipriano. Cipriano followed through with an RBI single to center to score O’Malley. Henry Wrigley drove home Williams with a single to left which also advance Cipriano to second. Cipriano then moved over to third on a wild pitch by Scott Shawn and came home on a sac fly by Reid Fronk to give the Stone Crabs a 3-0 lead. The Stone Crabs struck with three more runs in the top of the fifth. Shawn O’Malley reached first after being hit by a pitch. Shawn Williams followed with a walk. They both advance ninety feet when Francisco Pena threw the ball away on a pick-off attempt. Cody Cipriano picked up his second RBI on the day with a single that scored O’Malley. Henry Wrigley followed with an RBI single to score Williams. John Matulia drove in the final run of the inning with a sac fly that scored Cody Cipriano and put the Stone Crabs ahead 6-0. St. Lucie final crossed the plate in the fifth inning as Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a single to center that score Brahiam Maldonado. The Stone Crabs countered with a run of their own in the sixth when Cody Cipriano singled home Shawn Williams to give the Stone Crabs a 7-1 lead. Then in the bottom of the ninth the Mets did something that everyone in the Florida State League have been trying to do all season, score off Matt Gorgen. And they did it twice. Hector Pellot singled to right allowing Brahiam Maldonado to score. Then Pellot scored off a single by Greg Veloz. But Gorgen got it together and struck out Kirk Nieuwenhuis to end the game and give the Stone Crabs a 7-3 win. Alex Cobb improved to 4-4 with the victory, pitching 5 1/3 innings and allowing 1 run on 6 hits while striking out 6. Kevin Boggan pitched 2 2/3 shutout innings and allowed 2 hits and struck out 2. Matt Gorgen surrendered 2 runs on 3 hits and recording 2 strike outs. With the 2 runs allowed tonight, Gorgen still holds a 0.78 ERA. Scott Shaw was the losing pitcher for St. Lucie. The Stone Crabs and Mets will play a doubleheader tomorrow at Tradition Field. One game will be the make up of a rainout during the May 17th series at Charlotte Sports Park, the other will be the regular scheduled game. Jesse Darcy (1-6, 5.92) and Brant Rustich (1-1, 2.61) will pitch game one. Game two will feature Jose Mejias (1-1, 5.68) against Nick Waechter (2-0, 5.75).

Brooklyn Cyclones 7 - Hudson Valley Renegades 3

Hudson Valley fell to 2-2. Glenn Gibson looked like the 2008 version, walking 5 and allowing 3 runs in just 2 innings of work. Burt Reynolds, Eli Sonoqui, and Bennett Davis each collected two hits. Brett Nommensen threw out a runner at home.

Princeton Rays 2 - Burlington Royals 1 (10 innings)

Princeton begins the year 1-0. Jason McEachern started and shut Burlington out for 5 innings. He allowed four hits, struck out four, and didn't issue a walk. Former infielder Joey Callender pitched the final five innings, allowing Burlington's run but earning the win. Brian Bryles, batting leadoff, went 3-4 with a double, triple, and a walk. He tripled with one out in the 10th and scored on a Daniel Spraker bunt. Bryles, Spraker, Alejandro Torres, and Ramon Novas all had multi-hit games.

GCL Twins 4 - GCL Rays 1

The GCL Rays open the season 0-1. Wilmer Almonte started and allowed three earned runs in 4 innings. Jose Monegro and Aneuris Mercedes also pitched. Juan Cuello, Hector Gomez, Alexander Diaz, and Astin Jacobo had the only hits for the Rays. Their lone run was unearned.

**Thanks to www.raysprospects.com for the updates

Rhyne Hughes promoted to Durham

reachin — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:14:47 -0000

After the recent promotions of Jason Cromer, Calvin Medlock, Rashad Eldridge & Brandon Chaves, the Durham Bulls added another stick to their lineup. First baseman Rhyne Hughes makes way from the Montgomery Biscuits and is scheduled to arrive today in Providence. Matt Fields of the Port Charlotte Stone Crabs is the guy called up to replace Hughes in Montgomery. After leading the Southern League in HR's & RBI's, as well as leading Double-A competition in HR's and top 3 in Double-A for RBI's, the 25 year-old Hughes hopes to help out the offensive struggle at Durham. The pitching for Durham has been excellent so when the offense puts it together, the Bulls will be a force in the Indy League. Coming from a press release from www.durhambulls.com..."It's something he hasn't done. I think that's been the one thing he hasn't been able to do at the corner position is hit for power - he's always been able to hit for average," Gardner said. "He's sacrificed a little average for that, and obviously his strikeouts are up which is something we're trying to get down."

The strikeout number for Hughes is at 68 this season, but Gardner said the first baseman has the potential in his swing to cut down that number if he mentally adjusts his hitting approach with the count at two strikes. Hughes' batting average is .253 this season, down from his career best year in 2007 in which he hit .323 splitting time between Montgomery and Class A Vero Beach. His OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage), however, is at .857 this season, up from last season's .804 OPS.

"When he gets a mistake at this level, he doesn't miss it," Gardner said. "I think that's where a lot of his power is coming from."

Calvin Medlock Promoted to Durham

reachin — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:30:29 -0000

Southern League Save leader, Calvin Medlock, has been promoted from the Montgomery Biscuits to the Durham Bulls. Paul Phillips has been sent up from Port Charlotte. Per Stacy Long. Now that Medlock has been called up, this makes the fourth Biscuit to be promoted recently, who do you see getting the call next? With the All-Star Games approaching, I look for names like Jennings, Hellickson & Hughes to get called up next after the summer classic. Jennings, simply because there's no rush and it'd be nice for him to keep tearing up the competition and see if he can keep it up since he's been sloping downwards recently. Hellickson will get it after he makes a few more starts after his minor injury, and Hughes should to help out the offense Durham's lacking.

SB Nation User Blog: reachin

Out on the Farm: 6/23

Rhyne Hughes promoted to Durham

Calvin Medlock Promoted to Durham