Red Sox Minor Lines: Tyler Thornburg makes his second rehab appearance

Pawtucket W 7-6

Rusney Castillo, DH: 1-5, 2 K

Ivan De Jesus, 2B: 2-5, 2 R, 1 K, 1 E

Ramon Flores, LF: 2-3, 1 R, 1 K

Jordan Betts, 1B: 3-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI

Aneury Tavarez, CF: 4-4, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 SB

Brandon Workman: 2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 0 K (30 pitches)

Tyler Thornburg: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K (20 pitches)

Robby Scott: 1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 1 K (28 pitches)

It was no Mookie-type day, but Tavarez enjoyed himself a little success Wednesday night with four hits including a double and a homer. The outfielder is one of the few on this Triple-A roster jockeying for position in case the Red Sox need to call an outfielder up to their active roster. It had been a tough start to the year for him, but perhaps this can get him going. On the mound, things were less impressive. Thornburg wasn’t quite as dominant as he was in his first rehab start and both Workman and Scott continue to take a step back every time they seem to be getting in a groove.

Portland L 8-9

Cole Sturgeon, CF: 4-5, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Josh Ockimey, 1B: 0-3, 3 BB, 1 R, 2 K

Tate Matheny, RF: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Luke Tendler, LF: 1-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 K

Jhon Nunez, C: 3-5, 2 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB

Jake Cosart: 3.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (62 pitches)

Trey Ball: 2 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K (43 pitches)

This was an ugly game for the SeaDogs, who were up big early and then slowly but surely coughed up the lead in the late innings. Ball in particular was disappointing. He appeared to be settling in nicely to his new role at the start of the year, but he’s now allowed multiple runs in each of his last three outings and he has more walks than strikeouts in two of them. Hopefully he can get back on track, but it’s not something I’m getting my hopes up for.

Salem L 0-3

Brett Netzer, 2B 1-4, 2 K

Roldani Baldwin, C: 2-3, 1 2B

Bobby Dalbec, 3B: 0-4, 3 K

Tyler Hill, RF: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 CS

Tanner Houck: 5 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 1 K (82 pitches)

Joan Martinez: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 K (32 pitches)

Houck had been coming off his best start of the year and the hope was that he’d turned the corner and could build off the performance. This outing wasn’t terrible, and the results in particular weren’t too bad, but the underlying numbers aren’t great. He gave up a bunch of hits and more walks than strikeouts. Being able to work out of trouble is good — and based on the number of baserunners he allowed he did just that — but hopefully he can start to consistently miss bats. At a certain point you have to wonder if the Red Sox didn’t make a mistake by not starting him in Greenville to allow him to gain a little confidence, not that it’d make a massive difference either way.

Greenville L 3-4

Lorenzo Cedrola, CF: 2-4

C.J. Chatham, DH: 0-4, 1 K

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

Emmanuel De Jesus: 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 K (82 pitches)

With days off being given to Cole Brannen and Pedro Castellanos, this roster thins out pretty quickly. Chatham is probably the most exciting prospect in the lineup for this game, and he’s been struggling of late. Injury concerns are keeping him out of the field defensively, and his OPS has dropped 113 points since April 18 when he originally went down and had to sit for a week. Not a great sign for a guy who missed a year of development last year due to injury and is already behind the eight ball in terms of age compared to his point on the developmental cycle.

Player of the Day: It was a pretty easy choice today as Aneury Tavarez had a huge game for the PawSox, which also happened to be the only win in the system. The outfielder almost made the majors last year as a Rule 5 pick of the Orioles, but he’s struggled to make a name for himself in this Red Sox organization. Given their lack of high-end outfield depth, he could very well be the best option they have in Triple-A, but his ceiling is likely that of a fourth outfielder.