Red Sox Minor Lines: Brandon Walter dominates for Greenville

Worcester L 1-5

Yairo Muñoz, 3B: 1-4

Jonathan Araúz, 2B: 0-2, 2 BB, 2 K

Marcus Wilson, RF: 0-4, 3 K

Jeter Downs, SS: 0-4, 3 K

Hirokazu Sawamura (SP): 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (13 pitches)

Kutter Crawford (SP; L): 6 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 5 K (85 pitches)

Durbin Feltman: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K (11 pitches)

If you’re looking for some good news out of this game, particularly from the offense, they did not get no-hit. Perhaps that doesn’t sound like that great of news, but it appeared there was a chance of it happening as late as the eighth inning, when they finally broke it up. But there were some good things on the mound. For one thing, Sawamura had no issues at all in his rehab appearance, and he’s been out for a short enough time that hopefully the one rehab spot is all he’ll need. We’ll keep an eye on that. This was also the first Triple-A start for Crawford. Those numbers don’t look good, but according to people in the park yesterday those nine hits were misleading and were almost entirely off weak contact. You still would like to miss enough bats to not be in a position to be beaten by weak contact, but it will be interesting to see how he looks the last time out.

Portland G1 L 1-6

Jeisson Rosario, CF: 0-3

Pedro Castellanos, LF: 3-3, 1 3B, 1 R

Devlin Granberg, RF: 0-3

Tyreque Reed, 1B: 1-2, 1 2B, 1 K

Hudson Potts, 3B: 0-3, 2 K, 1 E

Ronaldo Hernández, DH: 1-2, 1 BB

Frank German (SP; L): 4 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (96 pitches)

Zach Schellenger: 0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K (24 pitches)

Portland G2 L 2-3

Jeisson Rosario, CF: 0-3, 3 K

Pedro Castellanos, LF: 0-3, 1 K

Devlin Granberg, RF: 0-3

Tyreque Reed, 1B: 0-3, 2 K

Hudson Potts, 3B: 0-3, 3 K

Ronaldo Hernández, C: 1-2, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K, 1 CS

Ryan Fitzgerald, SS: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 K

Brayan Bello (SP): 4.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 10 K (95 pitches)

Joan Martinez (L): 2.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K (28 pitches)

This was a tough day for the Portland offense, managing just three runs across two games. That said, it was nice to see this kind of stuff from Bello, even if you’d like to see a little bit more efficiency to go with it. As one of the top potential trade chips the Red Sox could use this season, and this being his final outing before the deadline, teams will be intrigued by the strikeouts. Over in the first game, this continues to be a rollercoaster of a year for German. He’s now got a 4.97 ERA on the season, which is not great, though he’s been better over the last couple months with a 3.91 ERA in June and an even 3.00 ERA for July. Also, the year is 2045 and I still am a Schellenger believer. I don’t know why, but I just can’t quit.

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Greenville G1 W 5-3

Christian Koss, SS: 1-3, 1 R, 1 K, 1 E

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

Tyler Dearden, LF: 1-2, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 R, 3 RBI

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

Joe Davis, 1B: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI

Tyler Esplin, CF: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 E

Brandon Walter (SP; W): 6 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 12 K (91 pitches)

Greenville G2 L 2-3 (F/10)

Christian Koss, SS: 1-4, 1 K

Tyler Dearden, LF: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 E

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

Joe Davis, 1B: 0-4, 1 K

Jaxx Groshans, C: 1-4, 2 K

Brian Van Belle (SP): 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K (91 pitches)

Zach Bryant: 2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K (34 pitches)

Well, hello there Brandon Walter. While this wasn’t the best of days for Greenville, they got a monster performance from the southpaw in their first game to help lead them to victory. He has burst onto the scene this year, starting the season as a reliever for Salem before striking out 15 over eight one-run innings as a starter (over two starts) and getting promoted to Greenville. There’s been a little bit more hard contact in general against him in High-A, but he’s still striking guys out and avoiding walks. This was definitely his best start since the promotion, but overall he’s got 33 strikeouts and only three walks over 18 innings. It should also be mentioned, though, Walter is 24, so while he’s not way too old for the level, you’d probably like to see him doing this against Double-A competition. If he keeps this up, he may get that chance this year. Dearden also deserves a shout out, of course, smashing two homers on the day. Van Belle does as well, and he went through the whole month of July without allowing a run, striking out 24 and walking four in the process over 22 innings of work.

Salem W 6-4

Nick Yorke, 2B: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 R

Gilberto Jimenez, RF: 2-4, 1 BB, 2 RBI, 1 K

Matthew Lugo, SS: 1-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K, 2 E

Ceddanne Rafaela, CF: 0-4, 1 BB, 2 K

Alex Erro, C: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 K

Antoni Flores, 3B: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 R

Dean Miller, DH: 2-2, 1 BB, 2 R, 1 RBI

Bradley Blalock (SP; W): 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K (46 pitches)

This was a nice win for Salem, though there isn’t a whole lot that’s standing out here. It is nice to see a multi-hit game from Jimenez, though he continues to be more solid than great this season. Miller has not had a good season, but he was our player of the day yesterday and now with a perfect three for three in terms of getting on base, he’s officially on a mini-hot streak. And it was a nice performance from Blalock as well, who has looked a little uneven all season but has two straight solid outings under his belt now.

Player of the Day: Brandon Walter

Player of the Day Chart