Alex Torres News

There aren't many quality catchers in baseball. There are certainly more capable pitchers around.

Yan Gomes' ability to play multiple positions will keep him in Toronto so long as he proves capable of hitting major-league pitching.

Interleague play returns for 2012 and the first-place Braves will kick it off against the 24-15 Tampa Bay Rays.

The Pawtucket Red Sox' Daisuke Matsuzaka warms up in the visitors bullpen at Durham Bulls Atheltic Park, May 17, 2012.

Hideki Matsui's return to baseball was uneventful in Durham's 8-2 loss against Pawtucket.

Big news in the Rays system today was the season debut for Hideki Matsui at the Rays' Triple-A Durham franchise.

Just one pitcher in the Rays organization at all levels, including the major leagues, allowed as many as 2 earned runs.

The good news is the Rays won the game, pushing them back into first place. The bad news is the disabled list has a new member.

The Durham Bulls expect Hideki Matsui to be in the lineup tonight for the start of a home series against the Pawtucket Red Sox in International League baseball.

With the Rays looking for a catcher, they'll be looking at a multiplicity of options across baseball.

DBAP/ DURHAM - Well, not technically a doubleheader. The first game was the resumption of Saturday's prematurely rain-halted affair, and picked up Sunday at 4:05 p.m. in the top of the third inning.

From the majors down to Low-A, it was a tough day in the Rays organization, at least for the early games.

Coming into tonight, Jonny Gomes was still quite the popular guy in Tampa Bay. He was a fan favorite during his time with the Rays, and apparently many of the Rays consider Gomes one of the best teammates they've ever had .

With the Rays playing a day game, all eyes were on the Rays minor league affiliates on Thursday night.

Without a doubt, stats are a critical part of these recaps. From now on whenever I'm doing them, the links within the game paragraphs will go to milb.com's play by play pages.

DBAP/ DURHAM-Minor-league life is small-town life. The stakes are lower, the pace is slower.

Tampa Bay Rays prospect and former Biscuit Tim Beckham, the overall No. 1 pick in the 2008 draft, has been suspended 50 games after a second violation of the minor league drug program.

As the calendar flips to May, it's a good time check in with the system's top prospects.

By STEVE WISEMAN swiseman@heraldsun.com; 919-419-6671 DURHAM - On the day when the Durham Bulls ended a near historic losing streak, they also got good news about the future.

On September 24th, Torres earned his first MLB win, tossing 5 shutout innings in relief following a disaster start by Jeff Niemann , striking out 5 while walking just 1. Torres was coming off of a season at Triple-A Durham in which he led the International League in strikeouts.