Tampa Bay Rays MLB/MiLB Recap: Biscuits Rally in Extras

The Tampa Bay Rays and Charlotte Stone Crabs endured rough losses on Saturday, but at least the Montgomery Biscuits rallied to avoid the same fate.

Boston Red Sox 10, Tampa Bay Rays 4

You’re probably heard the basic story of this game–Matt Moore had a rough outing, giving up 8 runs, 6 earned, in 5 innings. He gave up 4 home runs, 2 each on his fastball and curveball, but he actually threw a lot of strikes, hitting the zone with 65 of his 95 pitches overall. Moore hasn’t had bouts of wildness in the same way since returning, and now it will be a matter of him making less mistakes and throwing more quality strikes.

On the positive side, Kirby Yates, Matt Andriese, and Andrew Bellatti each tossed a shutout relief inning, John Jaso homered, and a pair of rookies delivered big hits. Luke Maile drilled an RBI double in the seventh for his first big league hit while Richie Shaffer, who has been struggling quite a bit of late, drilled a 96 MPH fastball from Heath Hembree into the right field seats. Hopefully he is starting to make an adjustment to his swing after it got too long in recent games.

Double-A Southern League Postseason: Montgomery Biscuits 6, Chattanooga Lookouts (MIN) 5 (11 innings; Series Tied 1-1)

This was a back-and-forth affair, and luckily the Biscuits were able to come out on top. Jacob Faria got off to a rough start, surrendering 3 first-inning runs, but he recovered to toss 4 shutout innings afterwards. Ryan Garton followed with 2 shutout innings, getting past a hit and a walk while striking out 2, and while he was in the game, the Biscuits tied the game at 3 on a Juniel Querecuto 2-run single. Matt Lollis got the Biscuits through 9 innings with 2 more shutout frames, striking out 3 while walking 2, and Montgomery felt good about its chances after the top of the 10th.

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After an error and a single, Daniel Robertson came through with the biggest hit of the season for the Biscuits, drilling a 2-run single to make it a 5-3 game. Then Mark Sappington gave it back in the bottom of the frame, giving up a Jorge Polanco 2-run homer. However, Dayron Varona followed by coming through with an RBI single in the 11th, and while 2 runs wasn’t enough, 1 did turn out to be. Jeff Ames tossed a perfect 11th as the Biscuits tied up their first-round, best-of-5 series with Chattanooga at a game apiece. Varona went 3 for 6 with an RBI and a run scored in the win while Querecuto went 1 for 3 with a walk and 3 RBI.

High-A Florida State League Championship Series Game 3: Daytona Tortugas (CIN) 6, Charlotte Stone Crabs 1 (Charlotte Leads 2-1)

The Stone Crabs were unable to complete a sweep of the Tortugas to win the FSL title. One loss is fine–but for the sake of our sanity, this better be the only loss. Hunter Wood started and tossed 5 shutout innings before departing after giving up 2 baserunners in the sixth. Mike Franco let in both of them and another run of his own before Josh Kimborowicz gave up 3 more runs later in the game. Wood looked good before he left, striking out 8 while walking 2 and giving up just 3 hits, while Colton Reavis tossed 2 shutout innings, striking out 2 while walking 1.

There wasn’t much offense for the Stone Crabs in the loss. Justin Williams went 2 for 4 while Braxton Lee and Granden Goetzman had the other 2 hits. Charlotte broke the shutout in the ninth on an error.

Today, the Tampa Bay Rays will go up against the Boston Red Sox at 1:10 PM EST, with Drew Smyly opposing Rich Hill. On the minor league side, meanwhile, Brent Honeywell will hope to lead the Stone Crabs to the championship at 6:00 PM while Austin Pruitt goes for the Biscuits at 6:35.

Next: Tampa Bay Rays: What Do We Make of Chris Archer’s Struggles?

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