Red Sox minor lines: A perfect day in Portland

Pawtucket L 1-2

Mookie Betts: 0-3, BB, 2 K
Travis Shaw: 0-4, 3 K
Ryan Roberts: 0-4, 3 K
Garin Cecchini: 1-3, K
Christian Vazquez: 0-2, 2 BB, K
Alex Hassan: 0-3, BB, 2 K

Felix Doubront: 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 10 K
Matt Barnes: 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Drake Britton: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 HR

That's just about the most Felix Doubront start ever. The negative is that, while he has the big strikeout and no-hit numbers, his velocity was apparently not much improved over his last outing. Given that Pawtucket was playing against one of the worst teams in the IL offensively speaking, this may just be a case of any given major league pitcher facing particularly bad minor league hitting.

Portland W 8-0

Blake Swihart: 1-3, 2 BB
Sean Coyle: 2-4, HR, BB, K
Keury De La Cruz: 2-4, 2 HR, BB, K

Brian Johnson: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

Well this is a pretty fantastic game.

It's getting pretty hard to question Brian Johnson's performance now that he's got 40 innings of 1.71 ERA ball in post-promotion. He's got a WHIP a shade under 1.00, and has seen his strikeout numbers improve with time. He's never going to be young for his level, but he may well be ready for Pawtucket already, which would basically mean he'd caught up after his late entrance to professional baseball.

Then there's the offensive side of things. Signs of Blake Swihart's patience returning are always big--that's three walks in two games after picking up just nine to this point in the season. Sean Coyle continues to show that, when healthy, he's the real deal. Five homers in 135 at bats is no small feat for a middle infielder. And if this is the way Keury is going to respond to naysaying, I'd better say nay more often. Because clearly that has an actual effect on his performance. Clearly.

(It doesn't.)

Greenville L 5-8

Tzu-Wei Lin: 1-4, BB
Wendell Rijo: 1-4, 2 K
Manuel Margot: 1-3, BB

Trey Ball: 5.1 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR

Tzu-Wei Lin now has 31 walks in fewer than 250 plate appearances. Say what you will about his game right now, if he can ever actually put the bat on the ball with even a little authority, he could be quite the tough out.

Lowell L 4-6

Nick Longhi: 2-4, 2B