Red Sox Minor Lines: Pedro Castellanos homers twice

Worcester W 5-3

Jarren Duran, DH: 0-5, 1 K

Marcus Wilson, RF: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 R, 2 K

Franchy Cordero, LF: 0-3, 2 BB, 1 R, 2 K

Michael Chavis, 1B: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 K

Jeter Downs, SS: 0-4, 2 K

Connor Wong, C: 0-4, 1 K, 1 E

Yairo Muñoz, 3B: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 R

Jonathan Araúz, 2B: 0-0, 1 BB

Jack López, 2B: 2-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB

Stephen Gonsalves: 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K (87 pitches)

Marcus Walden (W): 2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K (35 pitches

Kaleb Ort (SV): 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

It was nice to see Chavis continue his hot run down in Triple-A over the last few days, but the pitching is what stands out about this game. First of all, Gonsalves continues to work after an opener, which continues to be interesting to me. There must be at least some consideration for him being the guy to come up if there’s a rotation injury before Tanner Houck is set to return. And Gonsalves is making his case, too, having tossed five scoreless innings in each of his last two outings. The lefty has interesting stuff, and he may not be able to give more than four or five even in a best-case scenario, so getting him used to coming in after an opener may be best for everyone involved. It’s interesting that he seems to be the only one getting this treatment. And then at the end of games, Ort continues to rack up saves and may be the most intriguing reliever in Worcester right now. He has an 0.60 ERA over 15 innings with 21 strikeouts and seven walks.

Portland L 6-14 (F/10)

Jeisson Rosario, CF: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 R, 2 K

Pedro Castellanos, LF: 2-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 K

Triston Casas, 1B: 1-5, 1 2B, 1 R, 2 K

Hudson Potts, 3B: 1-4, 1 BB, 2 RBI, 3 K

Ronaldo Hernández, C: 3-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

This was not a great day for Portland pitching. We didn’t highlight any of the pitchers here because on an individual basis there weren’t any of note, but collectively they allowed two runs in the ninth to tie the game before exploding for eight runs in the 10th, although half were unearned. Still, an ugly way to lose a game. More positively, Castellanos is showing off that power somewhat consistently this year. He hasn’t turned into J.D. Martinez or anything, but he’s up to six on the year with his multi-homer game, already matching his total from 2016 through 2018 combined. He’s still having more of a good season than a great one even with the power, but it’s still nice to see some of those gains from late in 2019 shining through.

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Greenville W 5-1

Cameron Cannon, SS: 1-5, 1 2B, 1 R

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

Brandon Howlett, 3B: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 K

Devlin Granberg, 1B: 2-4, 1 3B, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI

Dominic D’Alessandro, DH: 3-4, 1 3B, 1 BB, 1 RBI

Chris Murphy (SP; W): 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K (78 pitches)

Jacob Wallace: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 2 K (37 pitches)

We talked about Howlett in this space yesterday so we don’t have to go too deep again, though he deserves a shoutout for leading this offense on Friday. That said, the pitching more than held its own as well, led by Murphy. The lefty continues to be a bit up and down this year, but he’s now been solid for three starts in a row, allowing two or fewer runs in all of them. There are still some concerns, mainly for me a lack of stuff with only 11 strikeouts in 14 innings, but he’s also pairing it with better control than expected (five walks), and so far the payoff has been working. All in all, I’m still a bit on the fence with Murphy, but at the very least he’s worth continuing to monitor.

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Player of the Day: Pedro Castellanos

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