The Undercards: The Curious Case of the Enny Romero Scratch

Most of the time, our minor league recaps here at Rays Colored Glasses about the players who actually played. This one is also mostly about them, but we have to talk about one player who didn’t: Enny Romero. The scheduled starter for the Durham Bulls, Romero instead did not pitch, and Marc Topkin notes that it’s because the Rays may call him up today. What is going on with that? We’ll speculate more later today at Rays Colored Glasses, but for now, let’s leave it as a mystery as we cover what the prospects actually did on Monday in the Rays organization.

Triple-A International League: Durham Bulls 2, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (NYY) 1

So Enny Romero is scratched and the Bulls still hold Scranton to just 1 run? Unbelievable! Jim Patterson got the start and was excellent for the first three innings, tossing shutout ball on 3 hits. Juan Sandoval did allow a run in his 2 innings of work, but Jake Thompson followed with 2 shutout frames, working around 2 hits while striking out 3. After Braulio Lara retired the two batters he faced, Enny Romero struck out 3 of the 4 that went up against him to finish the 2-1 win. So, in total, Bulls pitchers allowed 1 run on 7 hits, striking out 9 while walking 2. The offense actually struggled a lot more, and they had no excuse. Wilson Betemit was literally the entire offense with a solo homer in the 4th and an RBI single in the 5th.

Double-A Southern League: Mississippi Braves 1, Montgomery Biscuits 0

Dylan Floro finally had a great start, but the Biscuits offense got him nothing. Floro went 7 innings allowing just 1 run on 9 hits, striking out 5 while walking 1 and forcing his usual 10-2 groundout to flyout ratio. Floro has tossed quality starts in both games in which he has struck out 5 and just 1 of 6 otherwise. His ability to throw strikes and force groundballs is unquestioned, but he has to miss bats more consistently to find success at Double-A. Santiago Garrido finished the game with 2 strikeouts in a shutout 8th. On the offensive side, Cameron Seitzer went 2 for 4 while Willie Argo went 1 for 4 with 2 stolen bases. Argo is hitting just .183, but he has been a weapon on the basepaths, stealing 15 of 16 bases.

High-A Florida State League: Charlotte Stone Crabs 11, Daytona Cubs 5

On a night that the Rays lost 12-4, at least the Stone Crabs did a similar thing in the opposite direction. Of course, it was the offense leading the way in this one, and Patrick Leonard and Justin O’Conner were especially spectacular. Leonard went 4 for 4 with 2 homers, a walk, 5 RBI, a stolen base, and 3 runs scored while O’Conner went 3 for 3 with a double, a homer, a walk, and a run scored. The power is always fun, but the most encouraging thing lately has been O’Conner’s plate discipline. The walk was his 4th in his last 7 games after 2 in his last 20. He finally has his OBP above .300 at .318. Andrew Toles also went 2 for 6 with a double and an RBI.

On the mound, Austin Pruitt had a rough outing, allowing 5 runs on 6 hits in 4 innings of work, but the Stone Crabs staff recovered from there. Ben Griset worked around 3 hits and 2 walks to toss 2.1 shutout innings before Bruedlin Suero stranded 2 hits in 2.2 frames.

Low-A Midwest League: Lansing Lugnuts (TOR) 11, Bowling Green Hot Rods 4

Now back to your regularly scheduled blowout. Everyone is entitled to a bad start and this was Jacob Faria‘s as he allowed 8 runs (7 earned) in 3.1 innings pitched. Jorge Rodriguez and Aaron Griffin allowed 3 more runs in the final 5.2 innings to end this downer of a game. On offense, though, Granden Goetzman went 3 for 5 with a double and an RBI to raise his average to .341. He still couldn’t catch up to Kean Wong, who raised his average to .345 by going 2 for 4 with a walk and a run scored. All Wong does is hit. Juniel Querecuto and Alfredo Simon also had 2 hits in the loss.