Pawtucket L 1-4
Gorkys Hernández, CF: 2-4, 1 BB, 1 R, 2 SB
Sam Travis, DH: 0-5, 2 K
Josh Ockimey, 1B: 1-4, 1 BB, 2 K
Bryce Brentz, LF: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 R, 2 K, 1 E
Jantzen Witte, 3B: 2-4, 2 2B
Mike Shawaryn: 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (79 pitches)
Travis Lakins: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (28 pitches)
Jenrry Mejia: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (10 pitches)
The PawSox offense may be missing guys like Michael Chavis and Tzu-Wei Lin right now. They couldn’t get anything going against Syracuse on Sunday, and even with the pitching holding the Mets off for the final half of the game it wouldn’t matter. On a positive note, the bullpen was fantastic with Lakins and Mejia each tossing scoreless outings in relatively efficient manners, too. Hernández also had a nice game towards the top of that lineup in what’s been a tough start to the year. However, Shawaryn wasn’t great and was hurt by some bad defense, but defense or no striking out three and walking three over five innings generally won’t get the job done. The righty may get a chance in the bigs if Nathan Eovaldi misses extended time, but he’ll need better outings than this one to get that opportunity.
Salem L 2-4
Jarren Duran, CF: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 CS
Marco Hernandez, DH: 0-3, 1 BB
Pedro Castellanos, 1B: 0-4, 1 R
Garrett Benge, 3B: 1-2, 1 2B, 2 BB, 1 R, 1 K
Kutter Crawford: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K (82 pitches)
Salem is struggling right now and losing a lot of close games, this one because the offense just couldn’t get going. They did get out to a 1-0 lead, but Frederick went up 2-1 in the fourth. Then, after Salem tied it up in the top of the sixth the Keys put two more on the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning and that was the game. Crawford was just too hittable in this game, and the results weren’t terrible but the efficiency left something to be desired. On the other end, Duran hit a home run! The speedster, whose caught stealing came because he overslid the bag not because he got beat, is not going to hit a ton of home runs but every once in awhile he’ll run into one.
Player of the Day: I supposed I have to pick somebody here. Part of me wants to pick Mejia because he was perfect, but one inning is tough even on a tough day like this. Instead, I’ll give this to Garrett Benge, who reached base three times for Salem including with a double. A 13th round pick in 2017, the corner infielder was an on-base machine with a .466 OBP in Greenville last year. That’s carrying over early on in 2019, too, as he boasts a .371 OBP despite batting just .235.