Red Sox Minor Lines: Portland sweeps the double-header

Pawtucket L 4-6

Rusney Castillo, CF: 0-5, 3 K

Tzu-Wei Lin, SS: 0-5, 1 K

Mike Ohlman, C: 0-2, 3 BB, 1 PB

Aneury Tavarez, RF: 2-4, 1 3B, 1 R, 1 RBI

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

Brandon Workman: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K (37 pitches)

Bobby Poyner: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K (16 pitches)

Williams Jerez: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 0 K (15 pitches)

Lin is back down in Pawtucket, and while it wasn’t a great day at the plate we know what he provides at this point. What I’m really interested in seeing while he’s back in the minors is how much time he gets in the minors. Adding to his versatility is key to maximizing his own value, so don’t be surprised if he gets some time in center field moving forward. As for the pitching, Workman has been settling into a bit of a groove, though every time I start to think this he has a multi-run blow-up.

Portland G1 W 7-2

Danny Mars, LF: 2-3, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 R

Chad De La Guerra, SS: 1-3, 1 K

Cole Sturgeon, RF: 2-4, 1 2B, 2 R, 1 RBI

Tate Matheny, CF: 2-4, 2 3B, 1 R, 3 RBI

Luke Tendler, DH: 2-2, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 R

Tyler Thornburg: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 0 K (24 pitches)

Portland G2 W 7-2

Jeremy Rivera, SS: 2-4, 1 R, 1 E

Chad De La Guerra, 3B: 2-3, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K

Tony Renda, 1B: 2-3, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K

Cole Sturgeon, DH: 2-4, 1 R, 2 K

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

Luke Tendler, LF: 2-3, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 K

Danny Mars, RF: 0-3, 1 K

Dedgar Jimenez: 7 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 9 K

The Sea Dogs played two against Tim Tebow’s Rumble Ponies on Thursday and won both by identical scores. Standing out first and foremost is of course Thornburg, who struggled in this rehab outing. One step back isn’t a huge deal as long as he can recover from this. He’ll head to Toronto from here to throw in front of the major-league coaching staff before getting back to his rehab. In Game Two, Jimenez was utterly dominant like we don’t usually see from him. He’s had plenty of success over the last couple years, but most of that has come on the back of command rather than pure stuff, but striking out nine in seven innings is no joke. It was also a big day for Luke Tendler, a former Rangers minor leaguer who signed with the Red Sox before the season.

Salem L 5-11

Santiago Espinal, SS: 1-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 E

Brett Netzer, 2B: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 RBI, 1 K

C.J. Chatham, DH: 1-5, 1 K

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

Tyler Hill, RF: 1-3

Bryan Mata: 1.2 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 1 K (39 pitches)

Daniel Gonzalez: 3.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K (75 pitches)

Joan Martinez: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K (26 pitches)

......Yikes. For the second straight outing, Mata didn’t make it through two full innings, and this time the results were much worse. This was a straight-up disastrous outing for the 19-year-old righty. It’s been a bit of a disappointing year for Mata, though it’s possible the expectations were impossibly high after his impressive age-18 season. Given the issues at the top of the system right now, though, they could use a quick rebound from Mata. On the other side, it’s always nice to see Dalbec hit one out without also having a K or two next to his name.

Greenville L 0-2

Lorenzo Cedrola, LF: 0-4

Cole Brannen, CF: 1-4, 1 K, 1 SB

Victor Acosta, 1B: 0-4, 1 K

Jagger Rusconi, RF: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 K

Kutter Crawford: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K (95 pitches)

Greenville’s offense continues to be....less than ideal, particularly with Pedro Castellanos still on the shelf. Crawford took the mound though, so Kutter Night was fully in effect. He wasn’t quite as dominant as he’s been for much of the year, but the fact that 6 ²⁄₃ with two runs is a bit of a letdown tells you everything you need to know about his season to date.

Player of the Night: There were a couple of players in Portland who had a case for this one, but I’m giving it to the pitcher. Dedgar Jimenez was absolutely dominant for the Sea Dogs and he doesn’t really seem to need a ton more time in Double-A. He pitched there a little bit last year after surprisingly breezing through Sale, and he got a Triple-A appearance earlier this year when Pawtucket needed a spot start. The big 22-year-old doesn’t have glowing scouting reports, but he just continues to out pitch what everyone expects from him.