Red Sox minor lines: A win above, but swept below

Yesterday may have gone well for the big league team, but down below in the minors, things went quite rotten.

Portland Game 1 L 2-3 (In 8)

Box Score

Xander Bogaerts: 1-4, K
Michael Almanzar: 0-3, K
Kolbrin Vitek: 1-3, K
Christian Vazquez: 0-3

Extra innings in a shortened game it would seem. Oh how silly these schedules have gotten.

Portland Game 2 L 0-1 (In 7)

Box Score

Xander Bogaerts: 1-2, BB, K
Michael Almanzar: 0-3
Travis Shaw: 0-2, K

But not even the rain can disrupt Xander's patient streak. Five walks in 28 tries, and that's just in this past week.

Salem L 5-9

Box Score

Deven Marrero: 2-4, 2B, K, SB
Garin Cecchini: 0-2, 2 BB, K, E
Keury De La Cruz: 3-4, 2B
Brandon Jacobs: 0-4, 2 K
Blake Swihart: 1-4, K
Henry Ramos: 1-4

Noe Ramirez: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

Is Marrero on the rise? We can hope that it's so. But after last month he's got a long way to go. Sure the same can be said for Ramos and Cruz, but expectations weren't as high, so they had less to lose.

Greenville L 5-10

Box Score

Jose Vinicio: 0-4, K
Cody Koback: 2-4, K

Francellis Montas: 4 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
Austin Maddox: 5 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 3 HR

And then there is Greenville, so desperately wanting, that Montas' six strikeouts are all that's fit for flaunting. One hopes that the draft picks are fast on their way, since otherwise when promotions come they'll be even worse than in May.

Oh look, there is more on the Red Sox to be read:

• Like if the minors were a tournament, might Trey Ball be first seed?
• And how about the rest of the young drafted players? Those ones drafted later facing all the nay-sayers.
• Or if the majors is what floats your scene, Middlebrooks vs. Iglesias, which way does Farrell lean?
• And now back to Trey Ball? Oh give it a rest.
• After all it's Xander who's best of the best.