Red Sox Minor Lines: The losses pile up

Pawtucket G1 L 3-6

Tzu-Wei Lin, 2B: 1-4, 1 RBI, 2 K

Aneury Tavarez, DH: 1-4, 3 K

Rusney Castillo, CF: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K

Ivan De Jesus, 3B: 1-1, 2 BB, 2 R

Cole Sturgeon, RF: 2-3, 1 3B, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 SB

Williams Jerez: 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K (28 pitches)

Austin Maddox: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K (38 pitches)

Ty Buttrey: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (5 pitches)

Pawtucket G2 L 2-6

Rusney Castillo, CF: 1-4

Tzu-Wei Lin, SS: 0-3, 2 K

Sam Travis, 1B: 0-3, 2 K

Jordan Betts, DH: 2-3, 1 R, 1 K

Ivan De Jesus, 3B: 1-2, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 R, 2 RBI

Cole Sturgeo, RF: 1-3, 1 K

Jalen Beeks: 6 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 8 K (98 pitches)

Bobby Poyner: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K (26 pitches)

It was a rough doubleheader down in Pawtucket on Saturday, with many of the big names on offense doing a whole lot of nothing. One guy who did do something was De Jesus, who has had a mostly rough season but was a force in both of these games. On the pitching side, Beeks was surely the focus. The lefty showed off his swing-and-miss stuff that makes him so intriguing, but also struggled a bit with command with four walks and two home runs in six innings. Still, he’s on the same schedule as Drew Pomeranz right now, which will open up some speculation that he could get a chance in the majors at some point in the near-future. Also, shoutout to Jerez for a big-time relief appearance in the first game.

Portland G1 L 2-3 (F/8)

Danny Mars, RF: 0-3, 1 BB

Chad De La Guerra, SS/3B: 0-4, 1 K

Josh Ockimey, 1B: 1-2, 1 BB

Tate Matheny, CF: 0-3, 1 K

Dedgar Jimenez: 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K (95 pitches)

Portland G2 L 3-6

Josh Ockimey, 1B: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 K

Tate Matheny, DH: 0-2, 1 R, 2 K

Jhon Nunez, C: 2-3, 2 RBI, 1 K

Travis Lakins: 3 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 5 K (58 pitches)

Josh Taylor: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K (20 pitches)

Oh look, another doubleheader in which the Red Sox affiliate was swept. Fun! Much like the one in Pawtucket, Portland saw their bats go largely quiet for these games with no real standout performances. Lakins’ performance on the mound was particularly notable to me. He had a really rough first inning where he allowed all of those runs, but then he settled down after two more innings. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see how long he could keep that rolling as he’s still not going deep into games. He’s yet to throw more than three innings in a start, and it’s starting to become curious.

Salem L 1-6

Santiago Espinal, SS: 1-4

Brett Netzer, 2B: 0-3, 1 K, 1 E

C.J. Chatham, DH: 1-4, 2 K

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

Tyler Hill, RF: 0-3, 1 K

Tanner Houck: 5 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 6 BB, 1 K (87 pitches)

Daniel Gonzalez: 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K (35 pitches)

We’ve talked a lot about Houck’s delivery changes initiated by the team this spring and how that was going to take some time to really take hold. Patience was always going to be needed this year. So, Houck pitching poorly pretty much all year is not a reason for extreme panic. That being said....it’s definitely not great! The strikeouts seem to be going in the wrong direction as the year goes on, and over his last two starts he has nine walks and one strikeout in 11 innings. Patience, Matt. Patience.

Greenville L 2-9

Victor Acosta, DH: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI

Michael Osinski, 1B: 0-4, 1 K

Charlie Madden, C: 2-3, 1 BB

Madden probably isn’t someone to be overly exciting about, but I was mildly excited about the catcher heading into the year and he’s played very well in a small sample in 2018. He’s only played 11 games, but the 2017 24th round pick has hit .387/.537/.548 to start his season. There’s not much going on in Greenville, so might as well follow him for as long as this lasts.

Player of the Day: What an awful day in the system, but we must hand out fake awards. I’ll give this one to Ivan De Jesus, who was the one good hitter for both of Pawtucket’s games on Saturday. It’s still been something of a disappointing year for the infielder after he made a name for himself in spring training, but there’s plenty of time for him to turn it around.