Red Sox Minor Lines: A bad day for Jay Groome

Pawtucket L 5-13

Rusney Castillo: 1-6, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Blake Swihart: 2-5, 1 K

Sam Travis: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K

Bryce Brentz: 0-4, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 E

Kyle Kendrick: 6 IP, 10 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 1 BB, 4 K

Austin Maddox: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 K

Chandler Shepherd: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Spring training is just spring training. It’s often not even as good of a test as the International League can be. Kendrick was the story of camp, but that success very clearly did carry over to the regular season. Now, it’s not fair to write him off after just one start, of course. The spring training sample wasn’t all that informative, in my opinion, but neither is one start at Triple-A. Hopefully he can come back and regain our confidence as the next starter on the depth chart in his next start.

Portland W 8-5

Aneury Tavarez: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K, 1 SB

Rafael Devers: 3-4, 1 2B, 1 R, 3 RBI

Danny Mars: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 R

Tavarez has been on fire to start the season, hitting .438/.500/.625 over his first four games of the season. It was a little surprising to see him placed on the Double-A roster after spending all spring in Baltimore’s major-league camp, but he if he keeps hitting like this he’s not going to stay in Portland for very long. It also helps him that he’s the only outfielder on the 40-man roster in the minors. Oh, and Devers is pretty good.

Salem W 6-0

Josh Tobias: 2-3, 2 BB, 1 R

Josh Ockimey: 3-4, 1 3B, 1 BB, 2 R, 2 RBI

Austin Rei: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 HBP, 1 R, 1 RBI

Austin Glorius: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K

For the second straight year, Ockimey is getting off to a hot start. In 2016 with Greenville, the first baseman earned an All-Star berth before completely falling off the face of the Earth in the second half and shattering any rise he was hoping to sustain through the farm system rankings. He’ll have to stay hot for the whole season if he wants to make a big jump next year, but he’s doing everything he can at this point. How he managed to hit a triple, I have no idea.

In other Salem news, Kyri Washington and Michael Chavis are both on the DL right now, making this roster a lot less interesting for the time being.

Greenville L 4-12

Santiago Espinal: 1-4, 1 K

Tyler Hill: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI

Bobby Dalbec: 1-3, 1 R, 2 K

Lorenzo Cedrola: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 K

Jay Groome: 1.1 IP, 7 H, 9 R, 3 BB, 1 K

So, this was a disaster of a night for Groome. Last year’s first-round pick has some lofty expectations this year, and he totally fell apart on Monday night. He was awful when he was on the mound, then left the game with the trainer. The good news is that the injury appears to just be a minor lat one, which is much more encouraging than an arm injury. Hopefully he’s back soon and shows the potential that had him ranked so highly on draft boards. Also, apparently he goes by Jay? That’s how his name is listed on MiLB.com. Alex Speier of the Boston Globe says he goes be both Jay and Jason, but I’m going to try to stick to Jay. Although I’m sure I’ll call him Jason by accident at times, too. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯