Red Sox Minor Lines: Mike Shawaryn shines on the mound in Portland

Pawtucket L 0-4

Rusney Castillo, CF: 0-4, 1 K

Aneury Tavarez, RF: 0-4

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

Ivan De Jesus, 2B: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 E

Jeremy Barfield, DH: 0-3

Chad De La Guerra, SS: 0-3, 1 K, 2 E

Jalen Beeks: 4 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K (82 pitches)

Brandon Workman: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (29 pitches)

Ty Buttrey: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (29 pitches)

An ugly day for the offense in Pawtucket, as those two hits from Travis and one from De Jesus were the only three on the day for lineup. The group (plus Beeks) also combined to make five errors on the day, leading to zero (0) runs being charged to PawSox pitching. All things considered, it was a good day for Beeks beyond the fact that he couldn’t make it deep into the game. Still, he now has 16 strikeouts and just three walks over his first eight innings. Seems pretty good. Also, it’s nice to see a bounce-back outing from Workman after the disaster his last time out. His numbers will be majorly skewed for a little while, but this is a step in the right direction.

Portland W 3-0

Cole Sturgeon, RF: 2-4, 1 BB, 1 K

Esteban Quiroz, 2B: 2-2, 2 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI

Tate Matheny, CF: 2-2, 2 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 CS

Danny Mars, LF (PH): 0-1

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

Mike Shawaryn: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K (88 pitches)

It was an interesting day for the SeaDogs lineup, who was the only Red Sox minor-league lineup to score a run on Saturday. It seems like they should have scored more, though, as they had 11 hits and seven walks, though all of the hits were singles. Most notably, Quiroz continues to look too good for the Eastern League. The main story here was Shawaryn, though. The 2016 fifth round pick came into this season as someone with some possible command issues but who could miss bats. This year, he’s allowed just two runs over 10 ²⁄₃ innings with eight strikeouts and one walk. In other words, it’s a great start for the former University of Maryland ace, and Shawaryn was somewhat forgotten coming into the year but he won’t be forgotten for long.

Salem L 0-5

Brett Netzer, 2B: 0-4, 1 K

Bobby Dalbec, 3B: 0-3, 1 K

Tyler Hill, LF: 0-4, 1 K

Trenton Kemp, RF: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 K

Tanner Houck: 5 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 5 BB, 3 K (84 pitches)

Joan Martinez: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K (20 pitches)

Houck was the highest-profile arm to take the mound among Red Sox minor leaguers on Saturday, but he didn’t have the best of days. He was able to limit the damage and allowing three hits isn’t terrible, but two of them were home runs. Plus, a walk per inning and fewer strikeouts than free passes is never a good sign. Obviously it’s too early to make any definitive statements about any players, but the Houck’s season isn’t getting off to the start he was hoping for, with nine walks and seven strikeouts over his first nine innings of work.

Greenville L 0-4

Kervin Suarez, 2B: 0-4, 4 K

Cole Brannen, CF: 0-4, 2 K

C.J. Chatham, DH: 1-4

Pedro Castellanos, 1B: 1-4, 1 K, 1 E

Michael Osinski, 3B: 1-3, 1 K

Nick Duron: 5 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K (65 pitches)

The top of the lineup (Suarez/Brannen/Chatham/Castellanos) in Greenville is generally pretty exciting, but they didn’t do much of anything in this game. Suarez and Brannen in particular were disappointing with their lack of contact, but that’ll happen for young players from time to time. Duron, meanwhile, got lit up for six runs over three innings in his first start, so it was nice to see him come back with a solid, and really efficient, outing on Saturday.

Player of the Day: I think it goes without saying that this is not going to a batter today. Honestly, it’s not much of a contest this time around, with Mike Shawaryn being the obvious choice. The righty is off to a strong start in Double-A and while we haven’t reached the point just yet, eventually he’ll have to be mentioned among the high-minors pitching depth that could help at the highest level sooner rather than later.