Red Sox Minor Lines: Xander is back

Pawtucket L 2-9

Rusney Castillo, CF: 0-3

Xander Bogaerts, SS: 2-3, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI

Sam Travis, DH: 0-4, 1 K

Jeremy Barfield, LF: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 K

Chad De La Guerra, 2B: 0-3

Aneury Tavarez, RF: 1-3, 1 RBI

Justin Haley: 6 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 6 K (90 pitches)

Ty Buttrey: 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K (41 pitches)

Williams Jerez: 1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 1 K (26 pitches)

This game was obviously all about Bogaerts, who got in his first game action since injuring his ankle a couple weeks ago. He had some mildly concerning comments prior to the game about still feeling pain in the foot, but he sure looked fine once the game got started. They only kept him in for five innings but a home run and a double sure will do. There is some weather in Pawtucket expected on Wednesday so they may not play what was supposed to be his second rehab game, but he said he’ll be good to go on Friday either way. Elsewhere, it was a tough day on the mound for the PawSox, though Buttrey looks like he was better than the two runs allowed may indicate.

Portland L 1-4

Josh Tobias, 3B: 0-2, 2 BB

Cole Sturgeon, RF: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 PO

Josh Ockimey, 1B: 1-4, 2 K

Tate Matheny, CF: 0-3, 1 BB, 3 K

Danny Mars, LF: 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 K

Travis Lakins: 3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K (39 pitches)

Teddy Stankiewicz: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 5 K (72 pitches)

It wasn’t as high-profile a return from injury, but the SeaDogs getting Lakins back in the mix in their rotation is certainly exciting. The results from the former Ohio State ace have been inconsistent over the last few years, but the stuff and the arsenal is there by all accounts. They are clearly easing him back into action, which is understandable, but the line looks good for the short amount of time he was out there. After him, Stankiewicz couldn’t build off his last, tremendous outing, and I wonder if he’ll transition to a more traditional bullpen role with Lakins being back in the rotation.

Salem PPD

Greenville L 2-5

Cole Brannen, CF: 0-4, 2 K, 1 E

Everlouis Lozada, SS: 0-4, 2 K, 2 E

Pedro Castellanos, 1B: 0-4, 1 E

Kervin Suarez, 2B: 2-4, 1 K

Charlie Madden, C: 2-2, 1 BB, 1 RBI

Kutter Crawford: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K (81 pitches)

I’m officially intriguing by Crawford, who is off to a scorching start down in Greenville. Drafted in the 16th round out of Florida Gulf Coast last summer, the righty now has his ERA down to 2.84 and more importantly he has 30 strikeouts and only 3 walks (!) in just 19 innings of work. There’s not a ton of scouting out there on the 22-year-old, and he’s not particularly young for the level, but this start is tremendous and he’s certainly someone to keep an eye on. With one or two more starts like this he’ll officially be on promotion watch when the Red Sox start shuffling players through different levels.

Player of the Day: The easy, and probably real, answer here would be Bogaerts, but that feels like cheating. I’m not cheater. So I’ll go with Kutter Crawford. I talked a little bit about him above, but I will add that he has the same alma mater as Chris Sale and the two have met because of that. He also just recently started throwing a cutter despite, ya know, being named Kutter. Both of these facts have been brought to you by Ian Browne. Thanks Ian.