Red Sox Minor Lines: A rough day on the farm

Pawtucket W 7-4

C.J. Chatham, SS: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 R, 3 RBI

Jantzen Witte, 3B: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 K

Rusney Castillo, RF: 1-4

Bobby Dalbec, 1B: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 K

Josh Ockimey, DH: 0-3, 1 BB, 2 K

Gorkys Hernández, 3-3, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 R, 1 RBI

Óscar Hernández, C: 1-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 E

Mike Shawaryn: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K (64 pitches)

Colten Brewer: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K (32 pitches)

Jenrry Mejia: 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K (35 pitches)

Tanner Houck: 2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K (44 pitches)

As the major-league roster continues to look desperately for starting pitching help, most of the depth in Pawtucket that is already on the 40-man has been pitching out of the bullpen. That puts them in a similar spot in which they find themselves with guys like Brian Johnson and Nathan Eovaldi. It looks like they are going to try and stretch Shawaryn back out before September, though, to give themselves another option. It’s not a bad idea, particularly considering the righty wasn’t exactly dominating in shorter stints anyway.

Portland L 1-7

Jarren Duran, CF: 1-3, 1 3B, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K

Marcus Wilson, RF: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K

Tommy Joseph, 1B: 1-4, 2 K

Joey Curletta, DH: 0-4, 1 K

Luke Tendler, LF: 2-4, 1 2B

Denyi Reyes: 5.2 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 0 BB, 6 K (98 pitches)

Eduardo Bazardo: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (19 pitches)

Well, so much for that momentum Reyes had been building throughout this entire second half. With the way he had been consistently throwing six innings and almost always getting the quality start to boot, I thought the righty had an outside shot at major-league starts in September. He could still get called up since he’s already on the 40-man, but I don’t think we’re going to see him in anything more than a mop-up role in 2019 and even that might be a bridge too far.

Salem L 5-6

Garrett Benge, 3B: 2-4, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI

Ryan Fitzgerald, 2B: 0-5, 1 K

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

Keith Curcio, CF: 2-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Victor Acosta, RF: 2-4, 1 R

Devlin Granberg, LF/1B: 2-4, 1 RBI

Kole Cottam, C: 1-2, 2 RBI, 1 K

Dylan Thompson: 6 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K (69 pitches)

Joan Martinez: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 0 K (19 pitches)

Not a whole lot going on with the big names in this one, but one of the smaller ones in Curcio is having a great year. A minor-league signing this past year and former Braves draft pick, the outfielder struggled in an initial assignment at Portland but has killed the ball with Salem. In 57 games at High-A he is now hitting .304/.364/.441. There’s likely not a major-league future here, but at the same time he’s likely bought himself another year in affiliated ball if he wants it.

Greenville L 1-4

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

Tyler Esplin, RF: 0-3, 1 BB, 2 K

Triston Casas, 1B: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 K

Kevin Biondic: 6 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 2 K (104 pitches)

Another game without much going on, but Biondic is a guy I’d like to talk about. The undrafted righty has made 12 starts plus six relief appearances with Greenville this year and I’m not sure I’ve ever even included him in the box scores, never mind the writeups. I was, however, unaware he is a knuckleballer! Sox Prospects’ Chris Hatfield was at the game last night and gave some thoughts on Biondic, who apparently has always thrown a few but is shifting to being a full-on knuckleballer.

GCL L 2-3

Bramdon Perez, RF: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 RBI, 1 K

Dominic D’Alessandro, 1B: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 RBI, 2 K

Matthew Lugo, DH: 1-4, 2 K

DSL 1 W 5-2

Eduardo Lopez, CF: 1-3, 1 3B, 1 BB, 2 RBI, 1 SB

DSL 2 L 3-9

Bryan Gonzalez, RF: 1-4, 1 R, 1 K

Danny Diaz, 3B: 2-3, 2 2B, 1 R, 2 E