Red Sox Minor Lines: Good days for Jalen Beeks and Matt Kent

Pawtucket L 4-7

Tony Renda, 2B: 2-5, 1 K

Rusney Castillo, CF: 1-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI

Brandon Phillips, DH: 2-4, 1 2B, 2 R

Mike Ohlman, 1B: 2-4, 1 R, 1 K

Kyle Wren, LF: 2-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 1 K

Jalen Beeks: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K (96 pitches)

Robby Scott: 0.1 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 0 K (21 pitches)

Phillips had himself a solid day at the plate and he’s had himself a solid start to his career in the Red Sox organization. It’s only been 12 games between Pawtucket in Lowell, but he’s hitting .273/.320/.386. It’s far from great, but he’s been solid for a long time over his career and given the Red Sox’ issues at second base you can expect to hear his name plenty moving forward. On the mound, Beeks was good but inefficient, and Scott had a day he’ll want to forget.

Portland W 6-0

Danny Mars, RF: 2-4, 1 2B, 2 R, 1 K, 1 SB

Josh Ockimey, 1B: 2-4, 1 2B, 4 RBI, 2 K

Jhon Nunez, DH: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 K

Austin Rei, C: 2-4, 1 R, 2 K

Matthew Kent: 8 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K (95 pitches)

We’ll get to Kent a little bit further down because he was great in this game, but right now I want to focus on the offense. Mars had a nice game and Ockimey continues to bust out of his slump, but Nunez is the guy I want to talk about. The catcher has not had a great year by any stretch, but he’s heating up of late and given the utter lack of exciting catchers in the system he could be a guy to watch for a potential 2019 third catcher. I’ve liked what I’ve seen in person.

Salem L 1-6

C.J. Chatham, SS: 0-4, 2 K

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

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

It was a rough day for the Salem lineup, and the strikeouts for Dalbec are not super encouraging, but Osinski had another good day. The corner infielder and 31st round pick from 2017 has pretty quietly been good this year, spending most of his time in High-A. He’s now hitting .298/.378/.385, and while the power isn’t really there for his position the on-base ability is at least encouraging.

Greenville L 4-5

Ryan Fitzgerald, SS: 2-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 K, 2 E

Pedro Castellanos, LF: 1-3, 1 3B, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K

Tanner Nishioka, 3B: 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 K

Jhonathan Diaz: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 3 K (88 pitches)

Fitzgerald and Nishioka go deep and continue to look very good against A-Ball competition. Of course, both are a bit old for the level, but still this kind of performance is better than the alternative.

Lowell W 3-1

Jarren Duran, CF: 1-3, 1 BB, 2 SB

Grant Williams, SS: 2-3, 1 RBI, 1 SB

Tyler Esplin, RF: 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB

That’s a franchise-record 11 consecutive wins for the Spinners as they continue to get group efforts from the pitching staff and strong performances from Duran and Esplin, among others, at the plate. They also stole six bases in this game, which certainly helped matters.

GCL L 3-4

Juan Carlos Abreu, LF: 2-4, 1 SB

Jecorrah Arnold, 2B: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 RBI, 1 E

Chad Hardy, RF: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI

Zach Schellenger: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

Schellenger got back on the mound to continue his rehab, and the 2017 draftee put forth another strong performance. As I said before, he was a strong college reliever and was expected to move quickly last season before injuries derailed that plan. He’s only made three appearances this year, but he has three scoreless innings with four strikeouts and no walks. He’ll probably get another couple GCL appearances before they start to push him.

DSL 1 L 0-4

Breiner Licona, 1B: 1-3, 1 BB

DSL 2 W 1-0

Andres Fari, C: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 R

Player of the Day: Obviously, this goes to Matt Kent. The righty has been really good for the SeaDogs this year, and a start like this will start to get him noticed given his relative proximity. Don’t get too excited though, as Kent doesn’t have super impressive stuff and is 25 years old. It’s certainly not impossible that he could turn into something real, but from what I’ve seen I’d guess this is more of an organizational arm.