Red Sox Minor Lines: Darwinzon Hernandez is still going strong

Pawtucket L 0-3

Tzu-Wei Lin: 1-3, 1 BB

Sam Travis: 1-4, 1 K

Deven Marrero: 0-3

Brian Johnson: 7 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K

Carson Smith: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K

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

The offense in Pawtucket has been abysmal lately, but the pitching was solid in this game. That’s particularly encouraging because all three of the pitchers above are on the 40-man roster and Johnson and Smith in particular figure to play a role in September. Johnson will likely serve as a long reliever, but Smith has an outside shot at playing a big role. That will depend on how well he pitches down the stretch, but the results have been outstanding in his last few outings. The last thing he’s looking for is for his strikeout total to tick up just a bit.

Portland W 9-5

Danny Mars: 3-5, 1 2B, 3 R, 1 RBI

Michael Chavis: 0-4, 1 BB, 1 K

Josh Tobias: 0-4, 1 BB, 1 K

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

Henry Owens: 6.1 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 2 K

Trevor Kelley: 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

This certainly wasn’t an overly impressive outing for Owens, but the lefty was able to make it relatively deep into the game and only allowed two walks. We’re looking for one step at a time in this process from the southpaw, and he made one little step in the right direction on Saturday. Meanwhile, Mars and Ockimey had big days at the plate, and it had to feel a little extra special for them considering it came against Matt Harvey.

Salem W 3-0

Tate Matheny: 3-3, 1 R, 1 SB

Austin Rei: 0-2, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 CS

Daniel Gonzalez: 7.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K

On offense, Matheny’s hot streak continued, which is nice to see of course. On the pitching side, we haven’t really highlighted Gonzalez this year as the scouting reports aren’t all that encouraging. However, as he’s gone back and forth between Greenville and Salem as well as back and forth between the rotation and bullpen, he’s put up solid numbers. That sounds much easier to do than it actually is.

Greenville W 4-3

Tyler Hill: 0-5

Roldani Baldwin: 1-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Bobby Dalbec: 3-4, 2 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 E

Darwinzon Hernandez: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 7 K

We’re winding down close to the end of the minor-league season, but Hernandez continues to go strong in his first full season. That is not a easy thing to do, particularly for a pitcher that has remained healthy for about the entire season. The young southpaw has been wildly impressive for Greenville this season, and this start was just another example of an efficient performance with strikeouts to boot. He’s one of the most exciting players to look forward to in 2018, provided no one surprises us and snags him in the Rule 5 draft. He is not Rule 5 eligible this winter. My mistake.

Lowell L 1-9

Zach Sterry: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K

Yoan Aybar: 0-4, 3 K

GCL Red Sox G1 PPD

GCL Red Sox G2 PPD

DSL Red Sox G1 L 2-3

Willis Figueroa: 2-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI

Freiberg Marin: 2-4, 1 RBI

Juan Morillo: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K

DSL Red Sox G2 W 5-0

Freiberg Marin: 1-3

Keibert Petit: 1-3, 1 R

Jonathan Diaz: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI

Rayniel Moreno: 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K