The Undercards: Dylan Floro Dominant As Biscuits Roll

The Tampa Bay Rays offense has been struggling lately, and it seems that some of those struggles reverberated throughout their minor league system on Monday. In 5 games, their affiliates would get shut out 3 times and score a total of 7 runs, 5 by the Montgomery Biscuits. Not a great day for the offenses, but at least the affiliates got good performances out of their starters.

Triple-A International League: Lehigh Valley IronPigs (PHI) 3, Durham Bulls 0

This game was a pitcher’s battle from the beginning, as starters Matt Andriese and Brad Lincoln pitched brilliantly. Andriese would go 6.0 innings for the Bulls, allowing no runs while striking out 3, and Lincoln would throw 7.0 shutout innings. The difference in the game would come down to Braulio Lara, who gave up 3 runs behind Andriese while only getting one out. Jake Thompson and C.J. Riefenhauser kept the IronPigs’ lead at 3-0, but the offense could never mount any attack. Mikie Mahtook had a nice 3-4 day with a double to raise his average on the season to .337. His OPS for the year is at an outstanding .918, and it’s an unreal 1.293 in his last 10 games. But other than him, only Curt Casali would manage a single hit, and the Bulls couldn’t take advantage of a strong pitching performance.

Double-A Southern League: Montgomery Biscuits 5, Mississippi Braves 1

Dylan Floro was outstanding once again for the Biscuits, going 7.2 innings and allowing just 1 run while striking out 6 and walking none. He also maintained his usually impressive groundout-flyout ratio, this time inducing 11 groundballs against just 2 flyballs. Floro had struggled at the beginning of the year, and it looked like skipping him over High-A was a mistake. But now, he has give up 0 or 1 runs in 4 of his last 5 starts while throwing at least 7.0 innings in all 5. Behind him, Matt Ramsey threw 1.1 innings while striking out 3. Ramsey has been a nice surprise this year, putting up a stellar 1.13 ERA so far.

On offense, Willie Argo led the way thanks to a 2-4 performance that included a 2-run homer. Argo started out the year stone cold, but in his last 10 games he is hitting an outstanding .417/.462/.556. Ryan Brett added a 3-run homer, his only hit, and Jake Hager went 3-4 to cap off a nice day for the Biscuits.

High-A Florida State League: Game 1: Port Charlotte Stone Crabs 2, Brevard County Manatees (MIL) 1 in 10 innings

The Stone Crabs would play two games on the day to makeup a Sunday rainout, both planned to go 7 innings. In game 1, the Stone Crabs received a strong outing from Reinaldo Lopez, who went 7.0 innings while giving up just 1 run. However, the offense wouldn’t do much, and the game would go into extra innings, where Kevin Brandt threw 3.0 scoreless innings. The Stone Crabs managed just 5 hits, but a key double by Jonathan Quinonez in the 10th allowed Marty Gantt to score for the walk-off win.

Game 2: Manatees 3, Stone Crabs 0 in 7 innings

The offense hoped to take a step forward after their subpar game 1, but instead they would only manage 3 hits in game 2. Marcus Jensen gave the Stone Crabs a chance to win, going 4.o innings while allowing 2 runs. After him, Nick Sawyer had one of the weirder outings in recent memory. He would go 2.2 innings, allowing no hits. But, he walked an ugly 8 batters, which led to him giving up a run. Even with the ugly walk numbers, the Stone Crabs offense had plenty of chances to win the game.

Low-A Midwest League: South Bend Silver Hawks (ARI) 3, Bowling Green Hot Rods 0

German Marquez would earn the loss in this start, but it was hardly his fault. He would go 4.0 innings, allowing just 1 run while striking out 4 and posting a solid 5-0 groundout-flyout ratio. Colton Reavis would then throw 3.0 scoreless innings, and Stone Speer would allow a pair of runs in his inning, but both were unearned. On offense, Ariel Soriano would go 2-3 with a double. But, the Hot Rods would get just 3 hits total, and that is rarely going to get the job done.