Red Sox Minor Lines: Esteban Quiroz leaves the yard twice

Pawtucket L 8-14

Rusney Castillo: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 R, 2 RBI

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

Sam Travis: 1-5, 1 R

Jeremy Barfield: 1-5, 2 K

Chad De La Guerra: 0-5, 4 K

Jantzen Witte: 2-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 E

Chandler Shepherd: 5 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 6 K (85 pitches)

Brandon Workman: 0 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 0 K (24 pitches)

Ty Buttrey: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K (28 pitches)

Robby Scott: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K (20 pitches)

So, uh, yikes. No one had a good day on Pawtucket’s pitching staff for Wednesday afternoon’s game, but Workman was particularly bad. He faced six batters and allowed all of them to reach, including allowing a grand slam. Bad outings are going to happen from time to time, but this was on another level and is going to kill his stats for the foreseeable future. Despite all that, I’d think he’s still the top bullpen option on the depth chart at the moment. On the other end, it makes me sad whenever Castillo has a good game because I am desperate to know if he actually turned a corner last year or if it was just an older player taking advantage of minor-league pitching. It seems we’ll never truly know.

Portland L 4-12

Cole Sturgeon: 2-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Danny Mars: 2-4, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K

Esteban Quiroz: 2-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI

Tate Matheny: 0-3, 1 BB

Teddy Stankiewicz: 4.1 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 1 BB, 3 K (85 pitches)

Trevor Kelley: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K (29 pitches)

Quiroz is easily the most exciting position player on the Portland roster right now with Michael Chavis suspended and Josh Ockimey injured, which may or may not say more about the SeaDogs roster than anything else. Still, the former Mexican League player is someone to watch as infield depth in the organization, and he seems to be well-suited for the Eastern League at least, smashing two home runs on the day to already give him three on the year. I’m going to see them next Monday, and I’ll be really upset if he’s not in the lineup. On the other end, I really hope they can get another starting pitcher on that roster at some point soon, because it’s clear that Stankiewicz’ best chance to succeed will be in short stints. The starting thing just isn’t working out in Double-A, even in his third time through the league.

Salem W 7-4

Chris Madera: 2-3, 3 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB

Brett Netzer: 2-4, 1 RBI

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

Tyler Hill: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 SB

Roniel Raudes: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 6 K (86 pitches)

Raudes is having sort of a weird start to his season, as the results have been very good but he is having some of the same relatively control problems that led him to repeating High-A. The righty doesn’t quite have the stuff to get away with walking too many guys in every outing, and when he broke out two years ago he showed off incredible command. This is certainly not me saying I’m worried about him — if anything it’s encouraging that he still gets results without being at his best — but mostly just me being bummed if this means there’s a lesser chance he’ll get a promotion up here to Portland. On offense, Dalbec had a nice day, and even better is that it came without a strikeout.

Greenville L 6-9

Kervin Suarez: 1-4, 1 BB, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Michael Osinski: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 R, 4 RBI

Pedro Castellanos: 1-5, 1 RBI, 1 E

Cole Brannen: 0-1, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K, 1 SB

Kutter Crawford: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 8 K

Not really too much of note in this one. Brannen came in off the bench which is why he only got two plate appearances, though he is up to three stolen bases already this season. Osinski has had a nice start to his year after being selected in the 31st round last year, as his homer gives him a hit in every game so far in 2018. Suarez, meanwhile, has just one game without a hit. The bullpen blew this one for Crawford, but last summer’s 16th round pick now has 13 strikeouts and just two walks through his first nine innings of work this year.

Player of the Day: I didn’t really have to think too hard about this one. Esteban Quiroz hit two dingers, and that is going to be enough on most days to get this very fake award. Quiroz is certainly showing that he is someone to watch as the minor-league season goes on and someone who could potentially get a call to Boston as soon as this summer.