Red Sox Minor Lines: Eduardo Lopez makes his debut

Pawtucket W 4-1

Chad De La Guerra, 3B: 3-4, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 K

Marco Hernandez, 2B: 0-4, 1 R, 2 K, 1 SB, 1 E

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

Rusney Castillo, RF: 1-4

Josh Smith: 5 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 11 K (94 pitches)

Bobby Poyner: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K (18 pitches)

Travis Lakins: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K (15 pitches)

Trevor Kelley: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (17 pitches)

This was an exciting game in Pawtucket, as the Red Sox Triple-A club starts to heat up. It was tied at one for the majority of the night before De La Guerra and Ockimey came through with a pair of doubles to put three runs on the board and take the lead. It was a big night for De La Guerra at the plate, but the work the pitching did here — particularly Smith — is the biggest story from this contest.

Salem L 1-6

Ryan Fitzgerald, SS: 1-5

Pedro Castellanos, 1B: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 SB

Marcus Wilson, CF: 1-1, 1 2B

Kutter Crawford: 5 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K (98 pitches)

Zach Schellenger: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (12 pitches)

Salem’s roster became a whole lot less fun to follow on Monday, as Jarren Duran was sent on up to Portland. They still have the three guys listed in the lineup above plus some good pitching, but Duran was the guy on that team. Meanwhile, Crawford has started to stumble a bit after a dominant start to the season. Over his last four starts the 2018 draftee has pitched to a 5.19 ERA over 17 ¹⁄₃ innings with 17 strikeouts and 15 walks. His overall ERA is still 3.30 for the season, but that’s compared to a mark of 1.96 at the end of April.

Greenville L 2-7

Cole Brannen, CF: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K

Triston Casas, 1B: 0-4

Devlin Granberg, DH: 0-3

Tyler Esplin, RF: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 R

Brandon Howlett, 3B: 0-3, 2 K

Yoan Aybar: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K (11 pitches)

Logan Browning: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (13 pitches)

Yikes. Not a whole lot of good going on here. Casas had a huge month of May in general, but over the last few days he’s starting to fall back down to Earth again. Last year’s first round pick has just one hit over his last four games and his OPS has fallen back down to .827. Of course, for a 19-year-old fresh out of high school, bumps in the road are to be expected.

DSL 1 W 9-5

Brainer Bonaci, SS: 3-5, 1 3B, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB

Eduardo Lopez, CF: 1-2, 1 3B, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Darel Belen, RF: 2-3, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 CS, 2 E

Moises Castellanos: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K

DSL 2 L 7-11

Bryan Gonzalez, RF: 1-1, 1 HR, 2 BB, 2 R, 2 RBI

Noelberth Romero, SS: 2-4, 2 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 E

Andres Gari, 1B: 2-3, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 E

The big story in the Dominican on Monday was the debut of Eduardo Lopez, the top international signee last July. The center fielder got himself a triple in his debut, but he also left after just six innings. Unfortunately, there’s not much reporting that comes out of the DSL so it’s unclear the reasoning for his early exit. Hopefully it wasn’t anything too concerning. Meanwhile, on the other DSL roster, Bryan Gonzalez has three homers in his first two games with a 3.578 OPS. Seems pretty good!

Player of the Day: This one really came down to a battle between Josh Smith and Chad De La Guerra, but I’ll give it to the latter. Smith allowed more than a baserunner per inning, which obviously was fine but you gotta draw a line somewhere. De La Guerra had some heat coming into last season with the organization and was seen as a potential utility player, and soon. Then, he struggled mightily in Pawtucket, eventually was sent back down to Portland and has fallen out of favor ever since. It’s unclear where he stands now, but if he can string together a month of games like this, he could be right back in the good graces of the organization.