Back injuries limited the right-handed pitcher. I missed this Thursday, but Benton Moss announced his retirement on Twitter: Yesterday I made the tough decision to retire from professional baseball due to a chronic back injury that kept me from competing to the fullest. For 20 years I have dedicated myself to a sport I love, and it has given me joy to compete and play with some of the world's greatest— Benton Moss (@benton_moss) May 23, 2019 The 2015 sixth-round pick reached Double A and had a career 3.18 ERA in 405 innings, mostly as a starter. Triple-A Durham Bulls (28-18) Durham’s comeback fell short in a 6-4 loss to Charlotte. With two runs in the first and three more in the third, the Knights built an early 5-0 lead. Nathan Lukes’ sacrifice fly in the fifth got the Bulls on the board, and after home runs by Jake Cronenworth and Jake Smolinski, it was a 5-4 game. However, Charlotte added an insurance run in the seventh. Ryan Merritt was charged with five runs — four earned — in 2 1?3 innings. 2B Nick Solak: 0-for-5, 2 K (.840)DH Nate Lowe: 0-for-4, 1 BB (.831)SS Jake Cronenworth: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K, 1 SB (1.006)1B Mike Brosseau: 2-for-3, 1 2B, 2 BB, 1 SB (1.004)RF Jake Smolinski: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB (.764) LHP Ryan Merritt: 2 1?3 IP, 8 H, 5 R (4 ER), 1 BB, 4 K (8.24) Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (29-18) Montgomery was edged by Jackson, 3-2. The Generals took a 1-0 lead in the first, but the Biscuits answered with two in the second. The first run scored on an error, and Kevin Padlo later hit a sacrifice fly. However, they only had four hits over the final seven innings. Sam McWilliams allowed all three runs in 6 1?3 innings. CF Josh Lowe: 0-for-4, 2 K (.737)RF Jesus Sanchez: 1-for-4, 1 R (.752)SS Lucius Fox: 1-for-4, 1 K (.631) RHP Sam McWilliams: 6 1?3 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (3.10) Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (26-22) Michael Plassmeyer had his best start with Charlotte yet in its 2-0 win over Palm Beach. He fired seven scoreless innings, striking out a pair and giving up just three hits and two walks. Ryan Thompson completed the shutout. Ronaldo Hernandez’s two-run homer in the sixth accounted for all the offense. SS Taylor Walls: 1-for-3, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 CS (.723)C Ronaldo Hernandez: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI (.695)RF Moises Gomez: 0-for-2, 1 BB, 1 K (.681)LF Garrett Whitley: 0-for-3, 1 K (.741) LHP Michael Plassmeyer: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K (1.83) Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (28-20) Bowling Green scored early and often in an 8-2 win over Dayton. Grant Witherspoon and Roberto Alvarez had RBIs in the second inning, starting a stretch of four straight innings with runs for the Hot Rods. Wander Franco’s RBI single capped the three-run fifth that gave them an 8-1 lead. Alan Strong allowed two solo homers in seven innings of work. SS Wander Franco: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K (.844)DH Chris Betts: 1-for-2, 2 R, 2 BB, 1 HBP (.797)LF Grant Witherspoon: 4-for-5, 1 R, 2 RBI (.763)RF Beau Brundage: 2-for-3, 1 R, 2 2B, 1 K, 1 HBP (.718) RHP Alan Strong: 7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K (1.94) CLICK HERE FOR ALL BOX SCORES Saturday’s games (probables courtesy of milb.com) Durham @ Charlotte 7:04 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)TBA vs. TBA Montgomery vs. Jackson 7:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)Kenny Rosenberg (3-1, 1.88) vs. TBA Charlotte vs. Palm Beach 6 p.m. ET (radio stream)Joe Ryan (1-1, 5.00) vs. Edgar Gonzalez (3-6, 3.18) Bowling Green vs. Dayton 7:35 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)Easton McGee (3-0, 2.29) vs. Jhon De Jesus (1-3, 4.96) *Listed as TBA on milb.com Scouting the opposition Charlotte Knights (White Sox)26-19 (3rd in IL South)Offense: 271 R (1st) .840 OPS (2nd)Pitching: 5.87 ERA (14th) 1.68 WHIP (14th)Top-30 prospects: RHP Dylan Cease (3), C Zack Collins (12), RHP Ian Hamilton (13), C Seby Zavala (15), RHP Jordan Stephens (19), RHP Spencer Adams (20), OF Joel Booker (27), RHP Zach Thompson (28) Jackson Generals (Arizona)26-20 (2nd in SL North)Offense: 195 R (T-1st) .730 OPS (1st)Pitching: 3.45 ERA (5th) 1.25 WHIP (6th)Top-30 prospects: SS Jazz Chisholm (1), C Daulton Varsho (3), 2B Andy Young (12), 1B Pavin Smith (17), 3B Drew Ellis (21), C Dominic Miroglio (23), RHP Emilio Vargas (25) Palm Beach Cardinals29-18 (1st in FSL South)Offense: 191 R (5th) .687 OPS (4th)Pitching: 2.38 ERA (1st) 1.15 WHIP (1st)Top-30 prospects: RHP Griffin Roberts (18), 1B Luken Baker (23) Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati)15-33 (8th in MWL East)Offense: 174 R (15th) .627 OPS (15th)Pitching: 4.96 ERA (16th) 1.55 WHIP (16th)Top-30 prospects: OF Mike Siani (8), OF Mariel Bautista (13), RHP Lyon Richardson (14), RHP James Marinan (16), 3B Juan Martinez (19), LHP Jacob Heatherly (20) Daily news and links MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo is the latest to produce a new mock draft, and it comes with a new pick for the Rays — high school shortstop Gunnar Henderson. It’s a common refrain that the draft is a crapshoot, but Baseball America argues teams have gotten better at it. Ethan Small, 4 Windups (quick pitch, regular, pause and long pause), Overlay. pic.twitter.com/SMD8RJx3dx— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 24, 2019 WHATEVER IT TAKES pic.twitter.com/mlKxPwqfQM— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) May 23, 2019

And a hello to Tampa Bay? The Bolts Brayden Point had an exceptional season for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Site manager Alan takes a look at just how great his season was. [Raw Charge] I have to say, if Brayden Point doesn’t get an A+ for his season, I’m not sure what possibly would. He was the fourth best player in the NHL by WAR. He was a massive play driver. His offensive impacts were outrageous. His defensive impacts were about average. I guess if you’re looking for an area of improvement, that’s it. But that’s the nittiest of nitpicking. Point did as much as we can reasonably hope for any player to do in a season. Erik Karlsson is not a Bolt, but he might be. After his season concluded with a Western Conference Final loss to the St. Louis Blues, Karlsson gave the fans of the San Jose Sharks a loving goodbye on Twitter. He’s likely to hit the open market, meaning the Lightning have a chance to bring in a player that obviously wants to be here. [The Athletic: paywall] Thank you to the entire @SanJoseSharks organization, fans, and especially teammates. It was a great run that ended too early. But lots of great memories where created. The entire Bay Area has been nothing but classy and respectful to me and my family. Thank you.— Erik Karlsson (@ErikKarlsson65) May 24, 2019 Rasmus Ristolainen is available for the right price. Should the Lightning be interested? No. They very much should not be interested. No thank you, Buffalo. [The Athletic: paywall] We know the good things about Ristolainen: He produces on the power play and he can be physical around the net and in the corners. Of his 194 career points, 95 of them have come on the power play. We also know the bad: His decision-making can be questionable. As Ryan Stimson noted recently, his puck-handling could use a little bit of work and his advanced statistics are decidedly not good. There’s also his career minus-143 plus-minus rating, which just screams about how bad the teams he’s played for have been, but also indicts his own play. Don’t mind Mathieu Joseph, he’s just out there in Slovakia making lots of friends. From @tsn_wally at #IIHFWorlds: How Mathieu Joseph's pre-game handshake rituals have helped galvanize Team Canada https://t.co/APABGNQbTT #TSNHockey pic.twitter.com/V32f4zCMsF— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) May 24, 2019 The Prospects The Lightning organization has decided to let go of Syracuse Crunch / Orlando Solar Bears forward Jonne Tammela, terminating his contract after he passed through unconditional waivers. [Raw Charge] The Tampa Bay Lightning placed forward Jonne Tammela on unconditional waivers today. Weather a buyout, or a mutual termination, it means that the Lightning and Tammela will be parting ways with one year left on his entry level contract. In 51 career games in the AHL with the Syracuse Crunch, Tammela only managed four goals and 11 points. He put up 13 goals and 26 points in 23 games for the Orlando Solar Bears in the ECHL this past season. The Game The next Winter Olympics will be in 2022 in China. The host country has been awarded a place in the Men’s Ice Hockey tournament, meaning Slovakia will be forced to play in qualifying. The odds they make the top 16 is very high, so they shouldn’t be too worried. What will be interesting is to see where Great Britain (who were in the World Championships this year and will be back next year) stands in three years time. Hopefully for the sport it’s higher than they are now. With China being granted an automatic spot in the hockey tournament as the host country, Slovakia—9th in the IIHF rankings—will have to go through qualifying for the 2022 Olympic hockey tournament. Jaromir Jagr works for the Chinese federation and supported their host placement. https://t.co/uVQVnNsA5j— Gord Miller (@GMillerTSN) May 24, 2019 The Boston Bruins are going to be serving their fans some terribly tasty food in the Stanley Cup Final. Just look at their menu. [Russian Machine Never Breaks] As the Boston Bruins enter the Stanley Cup Final, TD Garden has released a new menu at concession stands. The food options go from strange to stranger, but there is one item on the list that caught my eye: A DOUGHNUT BURGER. This is a burger. Using doughnuts. As buns. Sign me up. These items will be at concession stands at TD Garden during the Stanley Cup Final. I may or may not make my way to a concession stand at some point, or at a lot of points. pic.twitter.com/jRFJsU5oca— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) May 24, 2019 For the contract nerds (aka: me), here is the complete list of NHL draft picks that must be signed by 5pm on June 1st in order for teams to retain their rights. The Bolts do not have a player in this category. If they’re smart, they’ll keep an eye on some of the unsigned players and try to snatch some of the extra talent for the depth charts. With 8 days to go, here's the current list of previously drafted players who must be signed to an Entry Level contract by June 1st at 5pm ET by their respective clubs.If unsigned by the June 1st deadline, the drafting club will lose their signing rights to these players. pic.twitter.com/kRFOXc3C8j— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) May 24, 2019

Two strange 2019 trends continue in a tough loss It happened again. (But it didn’t play out the same.) For the 30th time this season, the Rays scored first. They had previously won 22 of those 29 games. Even more impressively: it happened again. (But, again, it didn’t play out the same.) For the 23rd (23rd!) time this season, the Rays scored a run in the first inning. They had previously won 18 of those 22 games. Looking over the Rays first-inning stats this season is like looking upon a Salvador Dali painting for the first time. It makes no sense, but your brain loves it. Through yesterday’s games, the Rays lead all of baseball with a 148 wRC+ in the first inning. That’s the equivalent of sending Honus Wagner, then Mike Schmidt, then Albert Pujols to the dish (well, career numbers—thankfully not 2018 Pujols). But it’s not just on that side of the ball. The Rays pitchers have a 3.52 xFIP and have allowed just a .242 wOBA to opposing batters in the first frame this season (again, through May 23). Both of those figures lead the league, the latter by 20 whole points. To bring in historical comps again, Jim Palmer had a career 3.50 xFIP, while the .242 wOBA is less than Cy Young had for his career as a hitter! Needless to say, the Rays first inning success may not be sustainable at this level all season, but let’s not look a first-inning horse in the mouth — it’s been tantamount to their success so far. On Friday, it was Austin Meadows who got things going right off the bat with a leadoff double, with Avisail Garcia bringing him around two batters later with a single. Reigning Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell (who is beginning to look more and more like a candidate for this year’s award several months from now) did his part as well, retiring the side in order in the first and boosting those already bonkers first-inning numbers. However, from there, things weren’t quite as easy as some of the other first-inning leads have been. Despite seemingly being in trouble every single frame, Cleveland starter, Shane Bieber managed to hold the Rays off the board for the rest off his shorter-than-usual five innings. That should’ve been the first sign. The teenage girl looking eerily in her rearview mirror in the Blumhouse Film of a night the Rays were about to live through. A home run from “Cleveland Joey Rickard” aka Jordan Luplow tied up the game in the fourth, and the score stayed that way through the rest of Snell’s outing when he departed (much to his chagrin) with two outs in the seventh. Of course, the longer it got in the game with the score tied, the more Rays fans were going to be nervous. It’s become a running joke (laugh through the pain) that the Rays should just avoid one-run games (and really close games at all) this year. They came into Friday night 3-8 in one-run games this season, despite a bullpen that ranks second-best by fWAR and third-best by ERA. We laugh because obviously there’s no reason the Rays should be so cursed in one-run games. For the most part, these games are coin flips, and the slight edges a team can get (strong bullpen, good coaching) are areas where the Rays excel anyways. But it is a continuation of a strange streak. The Rays haven’t posted a winning record in one-run games in any season since 2014, and they have a combined 91-120 record in one-run games over that stretch. That’s a .429 winning percentage, or a 69-win team. I bring this up** not to suggest that we should consider the Rays the moral equivalent of the 2018 Texas Rangers in one-run games moving forward, but rather to say: That’s really weird, right?! ** This is when you yell at me for going on this rant in what was actually a two-run loss, but it certainly felt like a one-run loss. Cycling back to the actual action on the field: In the eighth, Cleveland took advantage of Jose Alvarado looking a bit like he did in the New York series (we may need to actually talk about this soon, but not just yet), and Brad Hand shut the door in the ninth, leaving the series tied at 1-1 heading into Saturday. In the preview I said a split was a must, three out of four should be the goal, and a sweep would be nice. Well, now it’s up to the weekend crew to make sure things don’t go awry. Other Collected Notes This, just this: Fans spending more money drinking tonight than front office did on the roster this winter pic.twitter.com/VvGJr1GhTe— Jason Collette (@jasoncollette) May 25, 2019 Brandon Lowe got peppered with breaking balls by Bieber tonight, and didn’t have his best showing against them. Following up what I wrote yesterday, I wouldn’t be surprised if that starts happening more and more until Lowe adjusts. At one point in the middle innings tonight, Snell had half the pitch count of Bieber. Considering the times early in his career that the case was reversed, that had to feel good for Snell (although rather empty after the end result). The broadcast crew called out Tommy Pham for never smiling between the lines. Hey, that’s not true! We caught him at least once… Ok, I think this was the only time Try to channel your inner Tommy and smile despite a tough loss. Life still goes on.

Injuries have been a factor for the pesty winger’s stalled development. The Tampa Bay Lightning placed forward Jonne Tammela on unconditional waivers today. Weather a buyout, or a mutual termination, it means that the Lightning and Tammela will be parting ways with one year left on his entry level contract. In 51 career games in the AHL with the Syracuse Crunch, Tammela only managed four goals and 11 points. He put up 13 goals and 26 points in 23 games for the Orlando Solar Bears in the ECHL this past season. Tammela was drafted 118th overall in the fourth round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft by the Lightning. He was viewed as being a fourth line, energy winger. He was a gritty player with a good bit of pest in him, despite not being overly large at 5’11” and 185 pounds. He remained in Finland for one more season after his draft year and debuted with the Syracuse Crunch for three games at the end of the 2015-16 season after signing a three-year entry level contract. Tammela suffered a knee injury prior to the start of the 2016-17 while training that required surgery. He returned to action for two games with the Peterborough Petes in the OHL before re-injuring his knee and requiring a second surgery. The second injury kept him out until well into the 2017-18 season. He was able to return to action for the latter part of the season and put up three goals and six points in 28 games for the Crunch. This past season, he bounced around between the Syracuse Crunch and the Orlando Solar Bears and finally seemed to be getting on track with the Solar Bears as he excelled in the ECHL. Unfortunately, losing a year and a half of playing time likely stalled his development on top of any longer term impacts of the knee surgeries. We saw a similar situation with a former Lightning prospect in Dana Tyrell who twice tore his ACL and was never the same player again. For Tammela, this will likely mean a return to his native Finland for professional hockey. It would not be a surprise to see him return to Liiga hockey with KalPa. It was unfortunate that things did not work out for him in the Lightning organization. He was an intriguing prospect when he was drafted and was often seen laughing and having a good time when he was on the ice. We’d like to wish Jonne the best of luck in the rest of his hockey career.