Rays prospects and minor leagues: McKay piggybacks Chirinos in Stone Crabs shutout

Brendan McKay’s scoreless streak reached 23 innings with his appearance on Thursday.

On Wednesday, I mentioned the catcher roster shuffling that took place the same day Willy Adames was promoted to the majors. Thursday, Chris Betts, the Rays’ 2015 second-round pick, hit his first professional home run. Because of injuries, it was just his 45th career game.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (27-18)

Gwinnett scored six unanswered runs in Durham’s 7-1 loss to the Stripers. Curt Casali’s fourth home run of the season tied the game at one in the top of the fourth, but Gwinnett went back ahead in the bottom half of the inning with three unearned runs off Forrest Snow. Snow allowed four runs — one earned — in four innings with five strikeouts.

1B Jake Bauers: 1-for-3
RF Justin Williams: 0-for-4, 2 K

RHP Forrest Snow: 4 IP, 2 H, 4 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 5 K
LHP Colin Poche: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
RHP Ian Gibaut: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
RHP Jaime Schultz: 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 4 K

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (22-25)

Montgomery used a big second inning to earn a 10-6 win over Chattanooga. In that inning, the Biscuits sent 12 batters to the plate and piled up seven runs on seven singles, including two from David Rodriguez. All but one Montgomery batter reached base multiple times in the game. Genesis Cabrera wasn’t great, allowing five runs in 4 ¹⁄₃ innings.

3B Jake Cronenworth: 1-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 SB
LF Nick Solak: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 3 RBI
2B Brandon Lowe: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB, 3 K
CF Ryan Boldt: 1-for-4, 1 BB, 3 K
SS Jermaine Palacios: 0-for-4, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K
DH David Rodriguez: 2-for-3, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB

LHP Genesis Cabrera: 4 ¹⁄₃ IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 4 K
RHP Curtis Taylor: 3 ²⁄₃ IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (22-23)

Yonny Chirinos, Brendan McKay, and Brandon Koch combined to shut out Fort Myers in a 1-0 Charlotte win. In each of his first two mound appearances with the Stone Crabs, McKay has piggybacked a rehabbing major leaguer. After Chirinos threw two scoreless innings, McKay dominated again, striking out five, walking none, and giving up just three hits in six innings. Nate Lowe doubled and scored on an error for the only run of the game.

SS Lucius Fox: 0-for-4, 1 K
CF Josh Lowe: 0-for-4, 2 K
RF Jesus Sanchez: 1-for-3

RHP Yonny Chirinos: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K
LHP Brendan McKay: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (29-17)

Bowling Green got home runs from its catcher duo in its 5-0 win over Great Lakes. Already leading 3-0, the Hot Rods got a homer from Chris Betts in the sixth. It was his first professional home run. In the eighth, Ronaldo Herenandez went deep, giving him home runs in back-to-back games. On the mound, Josh Fleming turned in another strong performance, striking out six and walking none in six scoreless innings.

2B Vidal Brujan: 0-for-3, 1 BB, 1 CS
SS Taylor Walls: 0-for-4
DH Ronaldo Hernandez: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB
C Chris Betts: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K

LHP Josh Fleming: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K

CLICK HERE FOR ALL BOX SCORES

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

Durham @ Louisville 7 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Chih-Wei Hu (0-3, 4.18) vs. TBA

Montgomery @ Chattanooga 7:15 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Zach Lee (6-1, 2.17) vs. Omar Bencomo (3-0, 2.21)

Charlotte vs. Fort Myers 6:35 p.m. ET (radio stream) DOUBLEHEADER
Kenny Rosenberg (3-1, 4.93) vs. Tyler Wells (3-2, 3.09)
TBA vs. TBA

Both games will be seven innings.

Bowling Green vs. Dayton 7:35 p.m. ET (radio stream)
TBA vs. Andrew Jordan (0-1, 1.80)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Louisville Bats (Cincinnati)
14-29 (4th in IL West)
Offense: 158 R (11th) .699 OPS (6th)
Pitching: 4.21 ERA (12th) 1.39 WHIP (13th)
Top-30 prospects: IF Nick Senzel (1), RHP Jimmy Herget (18), OF Phillip Ervin (19), RHP Jose Lopez (25)

Chattanooga Lookouts (Minnesota)
28-19 (T-1st in SL North)
Offense: 199 R (4th) .724 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 3.60 ERA (4th) 1.35 WHIP (7th)
Top-30 prospects: 1B Brent Rooker (7), LHP Tyler Jay (10), RHP Felix Jorge (12), LHP Lewis Thorpe (16), OF LaMonte Wade (17), RHP Kohl Stewart (30)

Fort Myers Miracle (Minnesota)
18-27 (6th in FSL South)
Offense: 162 R (10th) .665 OPS (9th)
Pitching: 3.70 ERA (6th) 1.33 WHIP (7th)
Top-30 prospects: 2B Luis Arraez (15), OF Aaron Whitefield (19), 1B Lewin Diaz (26), 2B Travis Blankenhorn (29)

Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati)
24-21 (4th in MWL East)
Offense: 218 R (4th) .743 OPS (3rd)
Pitching: 5.13 ERA (16th) 1.55 WHIP (16th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Hunter Greene (2), SS Jeter Downs (11), SS Jose Garcia (12), OF Stuart Fairchild (16), OF Miles Gordon (26), LHP Packy Naughton (28)

Daily news and links

ESPN subscribers can see Keith Law’s updated draft rankings. The list has been extended from 50 to 100 players.

MLB.com’s Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo reported on stock changes for several draft prospects, including South Florida lefty Shane McClanahan.