Red Sox Minor Lines: Only the upper levels play

Pawtucket L 4-5

Tzu-Wei Lin: 0-4, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 E

Aneury Tavarez, LF: 2-5, 1 R, 1 K

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

Mike Ohlman, C: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 K, 2 E

Sam Travis, 1B: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Cole Sturgeon, CF: 0-4, 3 K

William Cuevas: 6 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 4 K (88 pitches)

Ty Buttrey: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K (19 pitches)

It wasn’t a great day down in Pawtucket, but there were some things to be happy about. First of all, we should mention the lack of Dustin Pedroia, likely due to field conditions. If you live in the Northeast, you know we’ve been hit by some rain in the last few days, and there’s no need to risk Pedroia’s knee like that. With that out of the way, it’s always nice to see a homer from Travis. I’ve made my thoughts on him known, but if he does start hitting for power things change pretty quickly and he appears to be a much more attractive long-term piece. Finally, it’s quietly been a pretty solid year for Buttrey. He can still walk a few too many guys here and there, but he’s missing a ton of bats with 30 strikeouts in 17 innings.

Portland G1 L 8-9 (F/9)

Chad De La Guerra, 3B: 3-5, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 R, 5 RBI, 1 K

Tony Renda, LF: 3-4, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB, 1 CS

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

Tate Matheny, CF: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K

Dedgar Jimenez: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 5 K (89 pitches)

Jake Cosart: 1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K (11 pitches)

Portland G2 W 8-2

Jeremy Rivera, SS: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 K

Chad De La Guerra, 3B: 2-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 E

Tony Renda, LF: 0-5

Jantzen Witte, 1B: 3-4, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 BB, 3 R, 1 RBI

Tate Matheny, CF: 2-5, 1 R, 2 RBI

Austin Rei, C: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 K

It wasn’t a true doubleheader in Portland, with the first game just being a continuation of Wednesday’s action that had to be suspended in extra innings. Still, we’ll count those numbers today and the pitching was not that exciting. Jimenez has never been a top prospect as his stuff isn’t all that impressive, but he’s able to make it work more often than not. This was not one of those times. Cosart, meanwhile, is beyond frustrating and I’m starting to think he’s never going to be able to harness his stuff enough to be a legitimate relief arm.

Salem G1 PPD

Salem G2 PPD

Player of the Day: Not a ton of games to choose from here, but it has to go to Chad De La Guerra, who is certainly enjoying his time in Portland. His start in Pawtucket was just awful, which was a little surprising given his success in 2017, including in the Arizona Fall League. The team was hoping a demotion to Portland could kickstart his season, and it’s worked. On Wednesday he went 5-10 between his two games, and he’s now hitting .429/.535/.686 in Double-A. He hasn’t been down very long, but I’d expect him to get up to Pawtucket sooner rather than later.