And, if you’re hate watching James Tibbs, you’ll be a fan of this article.
Good morning! Thanks to everyone for their condolences on my sweet dog, Cassie. She slept most of the day before her appointment but was taken for a nice walk by the water, ate a ham and cheese sandwich, some ice cream and much chocolate, and went to sleep peacefully in my arms. I’m going to miss her immensely. To make matters worse, the Red Sox looked horrific last night on the west coast. Not a day I want to replay anytime soon, but there IS minor league baseball to recap. Things weren’t perfect, but Wilyer Abreu looked nice in his rehab outting, and so, too, did Richard Fitts in his five innings of work. Let’s get into it.
Worcester: W, 5-4 (BOX SCORE)
Richard Fitts looked pretty amazing on the mound in his five scoreless innings of work, reaching 97 MPH on that fastball, and manager Chad Tracy opted to pull him perhaps a little earlier than his pitch count of 77 may have called for. It ended up biting him a little, as the bullpen got scorched, but the WooSox’s fifth-inning explosion kept the Bisons (Jays AAA) at bay. Everyone got in on the action in that frame: a rehabbing Wilyer Abreu, whose return is imminent, Vaughn Grissom, and Nick Sogard, who opened up the game’s scoring in the third with a solo shot.
For a bonus stud of the game: how about there being a slight game delay as a hawk attacked some fans? As a regular at Polar, usually the hawks are just there for decoration, even with all the concessions being passed around. Very strange indeed.
Portland: L, 0-1 (BOX SCORE)
Portland has now scored one run in 22 innings, and an unlikely candidate got the only hit of the night: catcher Ronald Rosario, who improved his batting average to .166 with that knock. That erased yet another good start from Connelly Early and handed him his first decision loss of the year. Early struck out eight in six innings, allowing just one run on five hits. It’s the eighth time he’s recorded at least seven strikeouts. And speaking of strikeouts, even though no one was touching the Rubber Ducks’ Dan DeLucia last night (Guardians AA), I am obligated to call attention to Devers return piece James Tibbs being sat down three times in his Portland (and Double-A) debut, as well as the man in front of him in the lineup matching that output. With promotions galore to start the season, it’s going to be rough sledding offensively of the lower teams.
Greenville: L, 3-6 (BOX SCORE)
Arias was a bit cold late last week, but has seemingly recovered from that, hitting his fourth home run since being promoted. Nazzan Zanetello even contributed in a major way, reaching base four times through two walks, a double and a single. Unfortunately, it’s tough to compete with the pitching giving up thirteen Greensboro (Pirates High-A) hits, and so Salem was a victim of circumstance in this one.
Salem: Cancelled (Rain), No Make Up Date
Since Salem and Fredericksburg (Nationals A) are already making up May 3rd’s rainout tomorrow, this one was just sent into the ether, never to be played. Now if only we could have done that with last night’s Red Sox game.
Have a happy Wednesday, and hug your pets for me!