Red Sox Minor Lines: Triston Casas hits the game-winner

Pawtucket G1 PPD

Pawtucket G2 PPD

Portland L 2-4

Bobby Dalbec, 3B: 1-4, 3 K

Josh Tobias, 1B: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 K

Tate Matheny, CF: 2-4, 1 K, 1 CS

Darwinzon Hernandez: 2.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K (60 pitches)

For the second straight appearance and third time in four tries, Hernandez has failed to make it through five innings of work. This time, he couldn’t even make it through three. It’s not that the results ave been horrible in any of these outs. They ceratinly aren’t good, but the bigger issues is just the general lack of efficiency. This stems, of course, from his control issues we’ve talked so much about. For this outing in particular, he could arguably get a bit of a pass considering the week he’s had after getting called up but not being used in the majors. Still, I am starting to wonder at what point they officially convert him to relief full-time.

Greenville W 7-6

Dylan Hardy, CF: 2-5, 1 2, 1 R, 2 K

Tyler Esplin, RF: 2-5, 2 R, 2 K, 1 SB

Devln Granberg, DH: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K

Triston Casas, 1B: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI, 2 K

Jonathan Ortega, 3B: 2-3, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB

May is still going, which means Casas is still going to do the dang thing here. This time, he was was the hero after struggling for most of this game. He hadn’t gotten on base at all in this game until he came up in the ninth with a runner on and one out with the Drive trailing by a run. The 2018 first round pick blasted one out to right-center field to give Greenville the lead that they’d hold on to in the bottom of the ninth. There wasn’t much to report on the mound here, but the offense got a nice, well-rounded performance to lead the Drive to victory. They have now won eight of their last eleven games.

Player of the Day: It was a shortened day so the competition for this one is not too fierce, but there are two reasonable options here. Casas hit the game-winner, which on a day like this could be enough but I’m going to give it to teammate Jonathan Ortega instead. THe infielder got on base three times in this game and he stole a base. It’s been a rough year for Ortega, who was a 19th round pick last year. He’s hitting just .212/.309/.271 and he started the year in Salem before a recent demotion back down to Greenville. He was feeling it for this game, though.