Red Sox Minor Lines: Brian Johnson shines for Pawtucket

Pawtucket W 2-1

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

Bryce Brentz: 0-4, 1 K

Deven Marrero: 2-4, 1 RBI

Brian Johnson: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8 K

Brandon Workman: 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K

Johnson had to leave his last outing early after being hit in the head with a line drive. Luckily, he was okay and able to make his next start. That was on Thursday, and he showed no ill effects of the incident. The lefty is fighting for a chance to play in the majors, and this start went a long way towards making sure that’ll happen for him. He showed the strikeout stuff that isn’t always there but didn’t sacrifice any of his strong command. He now has 15 strikeouts to just 4 walks through his first 10 ²⁄₃ innings. It’s also nice to see Workman pitching well, and reportedly his velocity is trending back upwards, too. Him coming through as a second-half weapon would be a huge bonus for the Red Sox.

Portland L 4-6

Aneury Tavarez: 1-2, 2 BB, 1 R, 1 CS

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

Nick Longhi: 0-4, 1 RBI

Danny Mars: 0-3, 3 K

Jalen Beeks: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 7 K

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

Well, Devers appears to be taking the jump to Double-A quite nicely. With Andrew Benintendi surpassing the threshold to be considered a prospect, Devers is not number one in Boston’s system and he looks up to snuff. He’s now hitting .400 with a .640 SLG to start the young season. The one piece of bad news is that he’s yet to draw a walk, but that patience will come as the season rolls on. On the flip side, Beeks couldn’t keep things going after his great first start of the season.

Salem L 1-2

Josh Tobias: 1-5, 3 K

Josh Ockimey: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 K

A big chunk of Salem’s roster is hurt right now, with Michael Chavis, Kyri Washington and Tate Matheny all finding themselves on the disabled list. That’s not good for that team’s chances of winning games, and more importantly it’s not good for my ability to make this section seem remotely exciting. Ockimey and Tobias are the only two moderately interesting players that appeared in Thursday’s game, and they were extremely mediocre-to-not-good.

Greenville L 1-3 (F/10)

Tyler Hill: 2-4

Bobby Dalbec: 1-3, 2 CS, 1 PO

Yoan Aybar: 0-3, 1 K

Lorenzo Cedrola: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K

Mike Shawaryn: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K

Dalbec has been fine at the plate, and is looking like the boom-or-bust guy most of us believed he was before the season got started. What’s really strange, though, is how aggressive he’s been on the base paths. I’m not sure if this is his strategy or the team’s, but it’s not working out. He was thrown out on the bases three times on Thursday, which makes sense because this is not a player known for his speed. It’ll be interesting to see if that continues. In other news, Shawaryn recovered nicely from his horrific first start. It’s always good to see when a young player can put a bad start in his rearview and move on.