Red Sox minor lines: Strong debuts for Henry Owens, Anderson Espinoza

Pawtucket W 2-0

Deven Marrero: 1-4, 2 K
Marco Hernandez: 0-2, 2 BB
Christian Vazquez: 1-2, 2B, 2 BB, K
Sam Travis: 0-3, BB, K
Sean Coyle: 1-3, HR, 2 K

Henry Owens: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K
Anthony Varvaro: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Heath Hembree: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Henry Owens is off to a good start, and the Red Sox will probably be especially happy to see it after Joe Kelly's start last night. Of course, we always expected the Red Sox would need some starting help from the minors this year, so at most that's just confirmation, with Owens and Kelly not even likely to line up for much longer. But it's certainly something to keep an eye on.

Portland L 3-8

Justin Haley: 2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

Not entirely sure why Haley was pulled so early, aside from general mediocrity. He's coming off a rough 2015, and has always been on the fringe of prospect status to begin with despite some gaudy ERAs earlier in his career. Not where you want to be to start the season...but Portland has so little going for it right now that you've gotta watch someone.

Salem L 2-5

Yoan Moncada: 0-3, BB, K, SB, CS
Mauricio Dubon: 1-2, 2 BB, SB
Andrew Benintendi: 0-4, K
Nick Longhi: 2-4, 2B, K
Rafael Devers: 0-2, 2 BB, 2 K

Travis Lakins: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
Yankory Pimentel: 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 K

Well, certainly a different game from the opener. Some walks going around, at least, but a reminder that even the best players don't really hit .400 anymore. Frankly Lakins' performance is the most disappointing of the bunch. He's got a lot of nice pieces that could be put together into a good starting pitcher, but this is the first we've seen of him in professional baseball, and this outing would certainly imply there's some work to be done. Then again, even if he's 21, this is a bit of an aggressive placement for Lakins, so he's got some leeway to work with.

Greenville L 4-6

Michael Chavis: 2-3, 2 2B
Josh Ockimey: 0-4, K, E
Austin Rei: 0-4, 4 K
Luis Alexander Basabe: 0-4, 2 K
Kyri Washington: 1-3, 3B, E

Anderson Espinoza: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Jake Cosart: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

Anderson Espinoza only got one shot at low-A in 2015, and it didn't go well, as he allowed as many earned runs in three innings with Greenville as he'd allowed over 40 in the GCL. With Espinoza needing just 63 pitches to get through his six scoreless frames, the SAL might be feeling a bit more like the GCL these days.

Too bad his team allowed six runs (four unearned) a couple innings after he left the game. Sloppy.