Red Sox Minor Lines: Tyler Thornburg gets back on the mound

Pawtucket L 4-7

Tzu-Wei Lin, SS: 1-5, 3 K, 1 SB, 1 CS

Cole Sturgeon, RF: 1-5, 2 K

Rusney Castillo, CF: 5-5, 2 2B, 2 R, 1 SB

Adam Lind, 1B: 3-5, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 K

Mike Ohlman, DH: 2-3, 1 BB, 1 RBI

Oscar Hernandez, C: 2-3, 1 BB, 1 RBI

Mike Miller, 2B: 2-4

Tyler Thornburg: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (9 pitches)

Ty Buttrey: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R 0 BB, 2 K (12 pitches)

There were a ton of good offensive performances in this game, but the story is Thornburg. The righty was shut down for about a week in order to restart his rehab, but he made his return on Tuesday. He looked great as eight of his nine pitches went for strikes and he made quick work of his opponent. A few more outings like this and he’ll be back in the majors. On offense, Castillo had a huge day and Lind hit his first homer in the Red Sox organization.

Portland L 1-7

Jeremy Rivera, SS: 1-3

Chad De La Guerra, 2B: 0-4, 3 K, 1 E

Josh Ockimey, 1B: 0-3, 1 R, 1 E

Tate Matheny, CF: 0-2, 2 BB

Dedgar Jimenez: 6 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 4 K (105 pitches)

This was an ugly day for the Sea Dogs who couldn’t get anything going on offense and didn’t get a whole lot from their starting pitcher. Jimenez wasn’t awful to be fair, and he was able to limit damage, but ten baserunners in six innings isn’t going to get the job done. It’s been a somewhat disappointing year for the righty, though his scouting reports never matched the results he put up last year so this is likely more regression to the mean than anything else.

Salem L 5-6

Santiago Espinal, DH: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K

Brett Netzer, 2B: 1-2, 2 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI

C.J. Chatham, SS: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 E

Bobby Dalbec, 3B: 1-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 K

Roldani Baldwin, C: 1-5, 1 K

Tyler Hill, RF: 1-3, 1 BB, 2 SB

Darwinzon Hernandez: 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 7 K (102 pitches)

Daniel Gonzalez: 3.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K (60 pitches)

A rough ending for Salem as they gave up a walk-off single in the ninth that came immediately after a bad pickoff throw. Hernandez had another confusing outing as he is not taking the step forward many of us were hoping for this year. He showed off the strikeout stuff we know he has on Tuesday, which is nice because it hasn’t always been there this year, but the lack of command continues to be an issue. On a more positive note, Bobby Dalbec continues his torrid pace of late.

Greenville G1 L 0-2

Lorenzo Cedrola, CF: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 K

Tanner Nishioka, 2B: 3-3, 2 2B, 1 E

Kutter Crawford: 6 IP, 3 H 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K (88 pitches)

Greenville G2 W 5-2

Lorenzo Cedrola, CF: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 K

Michael Osinski, 1B: 3-4, 1 3B, 1 PO

Tanner Nishioka, 3B: 1-2, 1 BB, 2 R

Ryan Fitzgerald, SS: 2-2, 1 R, 1 SB

Enmanuel De Jesus: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 4 K (78 pitches)

Another big day on the mound for Crawford, who received some good news on Tuesday. The South Atlantic League announced their All-Star squads this week, and Crawford will represent Greenville along with pitcher Denyi Reyes and outfielder Victor Acosta. It’s a well-deserved honor for all of them, and Crawford in particular. Nishioka also had a big day for the Drive and he’s been on fire over his last few days with 10 hits in his last 14 at bats.

DSL 1 W 2-0

Erick Flores, DH: 1-2, 1 3B, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI

Emerson Ortiz: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

DSL 2 L 2-6

Nelfy Abreu, CF: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 CS

Antoni Flores, SS: 1-3, 1 BB

Danny Diaz, 3B: 0-4, 1 K

Oscar Rangel, C: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 SB, 1 E

Johan Martinez: 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K

A couple of impressive pitching performances in the Dominican on Tuesday despite the position players really being focus of Boston’s crop of signings last summer. Martinez in particular was impressive given the innings and strikeouts, and it actually came out of the bullpen after the starter couldn’t make it out of the third.

Player of the Day: Nishioka certainly has a case to be made, particularly spreading his performance across two games, but this has to go to Rusney Castillo. It’s been a little bit of a disappointing year for the outfielder after a relatively impressive 2017, though it ultimately didn’t matter because he never had a real chance at a call-up. He gave a big boost to his numbers in this game, though, and he’ll catch the attention of some fans for a week or so because of this performance.