Pawtucket W 4-1
Will Middlebrooks: 1-3, K
Travis Shaw: 1-5, 2 K
Garin Cecchini: 0-4, K, A
Deven Marrero: 2-4, SB
Christian Vazquez: 1-3, BB
Matt Barnes: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 2 K
Alex Wilson: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
Man, even when Matt Barnes doesn't give up runs, he's pitching like he should. Walks really haven't been Barnes' biggest problem this year at all, making their role in scuttling this game's positives rather bizarre indeed.
Portland L 4-11
Sean Coyle: 0-4
Michael Almanzar: 2-3, 2B, BB
Keury De La Cruz: 1-4, 2 K
Brian Johnson: 2.1 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 HR
Still, I think both I and Brian Johnson would take Barnes' strange night over this terrible one. This is certainly the worst performance we've seen out of Brian Johnson this season. But it just goes to show how good he's been in Portland when you can add this disaster to a resume of just eleven other starts and still come out looking great with a 2.64 ERA and 55:19 K:BB.
Greenville L 3-4
Cole Sturgeon: 1-4, BB, K
Manuel Margot: 1-3, BB, SB
Margot is at 29 stolen bases in 35 attempts now. And while we know that low-minors stolen base totals are hardly a guarantee of future success, Margot actually has the speed to back those numbers up. He's not just taking the bases given to him by inattentive batteries.
Lowell W 6-3
Danny Mars: 1-5, HR, 2 K
Sam Travis: 1-4, BB
Nick Longhi: 2-5, 2B, K
In terms of production vs. expectation, Danny Mars is probably the biggest surprise in Lowell right now. But the most surprising thing for me is checking Nick Longhi's numbers and discovering that he's hitting .357/.378/.486 in his 19 games this season. He's got a nine-game hitting streak to thank for that--the sort where no one game stands out, but taken together makes for quite the boost.
DSL Red Sox L 5-10
Luis Alexander Basabe: 0-5, 2 K