Red Sox Minor Lines: Jarren Duran and Triston Casas return from Team USA

Worcester W 11-4

Jarren Duran, CF: 1-5, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 R, 3 K, 1 SB

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

Franchy Cordero, LF: 3-5, 1 BB, 2 R

Yairo Muñoz, 3B: 3-6, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Jeter Downs, SS: 1-5, 1 BB, 1 R, 2 K, 1 SB

Connor Wong, C: 1-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 4 RBI, 1 K

Johan Mieses, DH: 2-3, 1 HBP, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 K

Jonathan Araúz, 2B: 2-4, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Ryan Weber (SP; W): 7 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K (96 pitches)

Marcus Walden: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K (23 pitches)

Jarren Duran returned to the Worcester lineup, and provided a spark at the top for a big game team-wise, though he had just a fine day. This was quite the all-around effort, though, with the only player who did not reach base twice being Connor Wong. He made up for that by hitting a two-out grand slam in the third inning that really broke this game open. Wong has missed most of this season with a hamstring issue and has struggled to get going when he has played. He has an all-or-nothing profile as it is, but hopefully this grand slam can get him going at the plate. Wilson also gets a shoutout here. He’s often the forgotten member of the 40-man roster, but he’s now got eight hits over his last five games and on the season he’s got an impressive .988 OPS.

Portland W 9-8

Jeisson Rosario, CF: 1-5, 2 K

Pedro Castellanos, LF: 0-5, 2 K

Triston Casas, 1B: 2-3, 1 BB, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB

Joey Meneses, DH: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 R, 4 RBI

Ronaldo Hernández, C: 1 2B, 1 R, 1 K

Tate Matheny, RF: 2-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 K

Ryan Fitzgerald, SS: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI

Tanner Nishioka, 3B: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 3 K

Grant Williams, 2B: 3-4, 2 R, 1 E

Andrew Politi (SP): 3.1 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 5 K (84 pitches)

Joan Martinez: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K (41 pitches)

Jose Adames (SV): 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K (17 pitches)

Like Duran in Worcester, Casas made his return from Team USA back to the Sea Dogs clubhouse, and he also provided a spark for this Portland lineup. There were no extra base hits, but we won’t turn our noses up on getting on base three times. The biggest game here was from Meneses, who had been overshadowed by Johan Mieses (who was recently promoted to Triple-A), but is having a big season himself. He’s another veteran who came in on a minor-league contract like Mieses, and after hitting his sixth homer of the year he’s up to an .896 OPS. On the other side of the coin, Politi continued his all-over-the-place season with a rough one on Tuesday.

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Greenville L 4-6

Christian Koss, SS: 0-4

Cameron Cannon, 2B: 2-4, 1 R

Tyler Esplin, RF: 1-4, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K

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

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

Chase Shugart (SP): 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 5 K (70 pitches)

There really wasn’t much going on for this Greenville offense all night, as they managed just four hits total, but Granberg continues to be red hot. We’ve talked about him a bunch recently as he won Player of the Day twice last week and unsurprisingly was also our Player of the Week (in addition to being his league’s Player of the Week). He’s probably due for a promotion at this point given his age (he’s 25 and will turn 26 in September) and the fact that he has some prior High-A experience. But there’s a little bit of a log jam in front of him with Casas and Castellanos both in Portland, so he’ll have to just live with mashing for Greenville for the time being.

Salem W 3-2

Gilberto Jimenez, RF: 1-4, 1 E

Matthew Lugo, SS: 0-3, 1 BB

Jaxx Groshans, DH: 0-4, 1 K

Nick Northcut, 3B: 0-2, 1 BB

Nick Yorke, 2B: 0-3, 1 SB

Ceddanne Rafaela, CF: 2-3, 1 3B, 1 R, 1 RBI

Aldo Ramirez (SP): 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K (68 pitches)

Ramirez is quietly putting together a very nice season in this Salem rotation, and it continued here in this start. The righty was the most well-regarded pitcher on this staff to start the season, though his first start was a rough one cut short by a rain, so he didn’t even have a chance to bounce back in the outing. He’s bounced back since that start, having not allowed more than two earned runs in any of his six starts since then. To close the sample a little bit, he has not allowed a run in either of his starts in June, and he has nine strikeouts to two walks across nine innings in that time. Ramirez is one of the sleeper starting pitcher prospects in this system, but he shouldn’t be a “sleeper” for too much longer.

Player of the Day: Joey Meneses

Player of the Day Chart