Sports Lowdown

Corey Ray 7/4/16 Milwaukee Brewers 2016 first round pick Corey Ray made his professional debut Monday night with the Florida State League’s Brevard County Manatees. As if your pro debut isn’t big enough, Ray got to do it on July Fourth, in front of a sellout crowd of 5,760 fans. “I thought there would be jitters, but my teammates kept me calm,” Ray said after the game. “They reminded me that it’s just a game and it felt good to get out there in front of a great crowd. They told me not to do too much, just to keep it simple and remember that it’s just baseball, the game I’ve been playing for 20 years.” Ray officially went 0-for-3 on Monday, but he drove in what proved to be the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning of an eventual 3-0 win over the Dunedin Blue Jays. The fifth overall pick in this years’ draft immediately made the jump to Advanced-A, skipping both rookie ball and Low-A. “I haven’t seen live pitching in so long, I’m just wanting to get up...

Will Smith Milwaukee Brewers left-handed reliever Will Smith pitched one scoreless inning on Tuesday night, as he began his road back to the Majors with a rehab appearance in Brevard County. Smith is rehabbing a torn LCL that he suffered during spring training while taking off his shoe. Smith pitched the seventh inning of Brevard County’s 6-4 win over the Clearwater Threshers at Space Coast Stadium. “The main thing with a guy like him is his health,” said Manatees manager Joe Ayrault. “How do you feel after an outing, getting his feet back going and getting him pitching. It’s great having a guy like him… an experienced big leaguer, all the guys are gonna be watching him and it’s great for our bullpen guys to watch his routine, watching him warm up and what he does pregame. He’s had a lot of success up there, it’s great having him.” Smith did not walk a batter, struck out one and allowed one hit in his outing on Tuesday he threw 15 pitches, nine for strikes to the f...