Red Sox Minor Lines: Tough-luck losses for Mata and Scherff

Pawtucket L 3-4

Tzu-Wei Lin, 2B: 2-4, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K

Chris Owings, SS: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Sam Travis, 1B: 1-5, 1 K

Rusney Castillo, RF: 2-4, 1 R, 2 K, 1 SB

Bryce Brentz, DH: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 K

Jantzen Witte, 3B: 2-4, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K

Josh Smith: 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 5 K (95 pitches)

Darwinzon Hernandez: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K (18 pitches)

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

This was a tough, late game loss for the PawSox on Sunday. They would rally to tie the game a three with a three-run sixth, but then Hernandez couldn’t maintain the tie in the eighth. This was the lefty’s fourth appearance since shifting to the bullpen and the first in which he allowed any baserunners, never mind a run. You obviously don’t want to see a string of these now, but one somewhat tough outing — and really he just made a bad pitch that resulted in a solo home run — is not enough to stop being exciting about his potential in this role.

Portland L 1-3

Jarren Duran, CF: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K, 1 SB

Brett Netzer, 2B: 2-4, 1 K, 1 E

C.J. Chatham, SS: 1-4

Bobby Dalbec, 3B: 0-2, 2 BB

Joey Curletta, DH: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 RBI, 1 K

Bryan Mata: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 8 K (92 pitches)

Mata gets the L next to his name in this game, his second straight loss for Portland, but this one wasn’t really deserved. The righty had a somewhat tough first inning where he walked a guy and allowed a home run, but that was the extent of the damage. Unfortunately, the offense was unable to pick him up all day long. All in all, this was a very good day for Mata, particularly considering he had a legitimately bad outing his previous time out. He could have very well allowed that to build on itself but bounced back very, very nicely.

Salem L 0-6

Pedro Castellanos, 1B: 0-4

Ryan Fitzgerald, SS: 1-4

Edgar Corcino, RF: 2-4, 1 K

Thad Ward: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K (45 pitches)

Joan Martinez: 3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 4 K (54 pitches)

Zach Schellenger: 3 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 K (47 pitches)

Salem’s offense is very boring right now, and became even more so with the promotion of Marcus Wilson back to Portland. The pitching is still interesting, and they had a very weird game on Sunday. Ward was not close to as dominant as he as been for most of this year, but he also had his game end prematurely. The righty was hit in the hand with a ball and taken out of the game after just two innings. The two relievers each pitched more than Ward, and while each gave up a couple runs it’s hard to judge such long appearances. It was a weird game, and really the takeaway is to hope the injury to Ward is nothing serious.

Greenville L 3-4

Cole Brannen, CF: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 R

Brandon Howlett, 3B: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 R, 2 K

Triston Casas, 1B: 1-3, 1 R

Devlin Granberg, DH: 2-3, 2 BB, 1 K

Tyler Esplin, RF: 1-3, 1 2B, 2 BB, 2 RBI

Grant Williams, SS: 3-4, 2 2B

Alex Scherff: 6.1 P, 5 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 8 K (90 pitches)

This was a really tough game for the Drive, who probably win this game nine out of ten times. We just happened to see the loss on Sunday. Greenville smacked ten hits in this game and drew six walks on top of that while Lexington managed just six hits with two walks. The latter won the game, though, thanks to a pair of doubles that gave them the lead in the seventh. Scherff had a good game, despite allowing the four runs. The final run was an inherited runner his bullpen allowed to score, but the righty did allow three extra-base hits in this game. This was a good step in the right direction, without a doubt, but he wasn’t perfect.

Lowell W 3-2

Gilberto Jimenez, CF: 0-3

Jaxx Groshans, C: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K

Nicholas Northcut, 3B: 0-3, 1 RBI, 2 K

Antoni Flores, SS: 1-2, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K, 1 E

Chris Murphy: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K (38 pitches)

This game was pretty much the opposite of Greenville’s. Lowell managed just three hits on Sunday, though they did add six walks on top of that. Meanwhile, Auburn managed 12 hits with four walks, but the Spinners got the walk-off victory. The win came on a sacrifice fly from Northcut to walk it off. A little further down in the lineup, Flores is still struggling to get hits and hit for extra bases, but he is getting on base regularly right now. Over his last six games he has been on base multiple times in each contest and in total he is 5-16 with eight walks. On the year, he has a .337 OBP to go with his .191 batting average.