Red Sox Minor Lines: Travis Lakins shines again

Pawtucket W 5-4

Rusney Castillo: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Blake Swihart: 2-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI

Sam Travis: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K

Bryce Brentz: 0-4, 1 K

Hector Velazquez: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K

Edgar Olmos: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K

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

Red Sox catchers are hitting at every level, apparently. On the big-league roster, both Sandy Leon and Christian Vazquez are swinging hot bats to start off the year. Down in Pawtucket because of those two, Swihart has been hitting well enough and slugged his first homer of the year. Eventually, something will have to give with the Red Sox catching situation. In the meantime, Swihart can keep raking in Triple-A.

Sticking with Swihart, he collided with Travis on a defensive play late in the game, and apparently both players were bleeding. The former stayed in the game, but the latter wasn’t so lucky. We’ll keep our ears to the ground waiting to hear more info on Travis.

Portland W 3-2 (F/10)

Aneury Tavarez: 2-5, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB

Rafael Devers: 1-4, 2 K

Nick Longhi: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 R

Danny Mars: 1-3

Luis Ysla: 1 IP, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K

There’s been a lot of talk about the Red Sox’ lack of minor-league depth in the outfield. It’s mostly fair, but Tavarez is worth keeping an eye on if a need ever arises for another call-up. The speedy outfielder has made an impact in all aspects of the game in the early going for Portland in 2017. At the very least, he should be promoted to Pawtucket sooner rather than later since he spent last year in Portland.

Salem W 11-5

Josh Tobias: 2-6, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 K

Josh Ockimey: 4-5, 1 2B, 1 R

Austin Rei: 2-5, 2 2B, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Travis Lakins: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K

Gerson Bautista: 1.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 1 K

Another strong outing for Lakins, who undoubtedly had something to prove coming into 2017. In a repeat appearance against High-A competition this year, he’s making his case to be among the first promotions when those roll out in a month or two. He’s now thrown 11 ¹⁄₃ innings over his first two starts with 17 strikeouts and just one walk. That’ll do.

Greenville W 4-3

Santiago Espinal: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 R

Tyler Hill: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K

Bobby Dalbec: 0-4, 2 K

Yoan Aybar: 0-3

Lorenzo Cedrola: 1-3

Shaun Anderson: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K

Stephen Nogosek: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K

Unlike Lakins, Anderson was not impressive in his first outing of the season. Last year’s third round pick needed a bounce-back in his second start, and he certainly got that. He was dominant, and more importantly he got that control back in order after losing it in his debut. Anderson doesn’t have an enormous ceiling, but he has the potential to be a relatively fast riser if he can string together some starts like this.