Plus, Franklin Arias is promoted to Greenville.
The Red Sox offense went to work Tuesday, hitting five home runs through their first three innings. Most of the farm did not quite do this; runners were stranded and hits were hard to come by, unless your name was Nazzan Zanetello, Miguel Bleis or Ronald Rosario. Meanwhile, Connor Wong was back on the field after suffering a broken pinky; he rehabbed last night among a less-than-enthralling set of games, and it looks that he did not lose much off his swing. Let’s get into it!
Worcester: L, 2-4 (BOX SCORE)
Connor Wong hit a double in his rehab appearance but the WooSox bats were quite outside of a heating-up Nate Eaton, who homered. The WooSox struggled against the Mud Hens (Tigers AAA) pitching and looked pretty flat, as they stranded ten, including three chances with runners in scoring position by the faltering Nick Sogard that could have made the difference in this game. That, combined with Robert Stock’s four earned runs in four innings, slowed down Worcester’s momentum following a dynamic weekend at the plate.
Portland: W, 9-5 (BOX SCORE)
The top four in the lineup went 9-for-16 with three walks. On a night when Connelly Early had a rare hiccup and lasted just three innings, the lineup as a whole capitalized off their eight total walks, including two in the first two innings of the game, exploding to a 6-3 lead that softened but did not let up. Mikey Romero had a home run of his own in the eighth inning and that was enough to keep New Hampshire (Blue Jays AA) at bay.
Greenville: W, 6-4 (BOX SCORE)
Franklin Arias has gotten the call! He did not get a hit in his High-A debut against Asheville (Astros High-A) after slashing .329/.396/.375. in Salem, instead settling for his first walk with the team. The Drive got a fantastic, if not short, outing from lefty Eduardo Rivera, who struck out eight in 51 pitches, and got solid long relief coverage from Max Carlson. Speaking of something long-awaited, the strikeout-plagued Nazzan Zanetello, dropping from first to third in the lineup in a few weeks, has mashed his first High-A home run behind a surging Yophery Rodriguez; Miguel Bleis also stayed hot with his two singles.
Salem: L, 5-9 (BOX SCORE)
Three of Salem’s five hits last night were doubles, but ultimately, it was driving those doubles in that proved to be a challenge as the Sox fell to the Nationals. Shea Sprague, who struck out nine and allowed two runs, got unlucky thanks to Nick Judice’s horrific outing, in which he walked five, all of whom scored, and recorded just one out. If you take out that appearance, Salem wins by three runs, but unfortunately, them’s the brakes in baseball; it truly is a 27-out game.
Happy Wednesday!