Pawtucket L 1-4
Ryan Roberts: 2-4, K
Garin Cecchini: 1-4
Ryan Lavarnway: 1-4, 2 K
Christian Vazquez: 0-4, K
Alex Hassan: 0-2, K
Rubby De La Rosa: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Maybe I jumped off the "Rubby De La Rosa, starting pitcher" train early. After these last two starts, I'm willing to admit the possibility, at least. I'm still not convinced, though. There's just a lot pointing to him being more of a relief arm than anything else, both in his career history and his season-to-date.
Portland W 18-0
Mookie Betts: 2-3, 2B, 3 BB, SB
Deven Marrero: 1-3, 3 BB, K
Travis Shaw: 2-5, HR, BB
Blake Swihart: 1-4, 2 BB
Sean Coyle: 3-5, 2B, HR, K, SB
Henry Owens: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
I...don't know how much value to put into all these walks when there are just so many in a game. Were the Fisher Cats all just drunk? It's hard to say. Whatever the case, though, at face value there's not a single interesting prospect in Portland who did not have an absolute banner night. Travis Shaw has his eleventh homer of the season and it's not even June yet. Blake Swihart has now walked five times in his last ten games after walking three times in his first 36. Deven Marrero is keeping that OPS up around .800 even if he's fallen off a bit of late, and Sean Coyle is, if fragile, at least good and fragile this season.
And of course, Mookie is Mookie.
The best news of the day, however, is easily Henry Owens' performance. After allowing 14 walks in his last 15 innings, we finally get a sign that the young southpaw might be moving in the right direction control-wise even without negative results to drive home the message that even a hitless outing can be mediocre if it features a bunch of baserunners and only lasts four innings.
The upshot of both scenarios is still the same: Owens could probably use a promotion to Pawtucket before too long. But it's a lot better to have that come without the walk troubles than with them.
Greenville L 0-14
Tzu-Wei Lin: 0-3, BB, CS
Forrestt Allday: 0-3, BB
Wendell Rijo: 0-4, K
Manuel Margot: 2-3, SB
Trey Ball: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR
Trey Ball with a passable start! Trey Ball with a passable start!