Red Sox Minor Lines: Salem stays alive for postseason big

Worcester W 4-0

Jarren Duran, CF: 1-2

Tate Matheny, PH/CF: 2-2, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 R

Jonathan Araúz, DH: 0-3

Franchy Cordero, RF: 0-4, 1 K

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

Connor Wong, C: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K, 1 SB

Jeter Downs, SS: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 K

Connor Seabold (SP; W): 5 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K (91 pitches)

Yacksel Ríos (H): 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K (11 pitches)

Colten Brewer (H): 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K (24 pitches)

John Schreiber (H): 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K (11 pitches)

Kaleb Ort: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (10 pitches)

This was a great showing from the pitchers in Worcester, and in particular it was encouraging to see this kind of outing from Seabold. You’d probably like to see him be a little more efficient, but that’s picking nits. The righty is coming off a tough showing in his big-league debut, and it wouldn’t have been a huge surprise to see a rookie carry that with him into his next start. But if he did, he channeled it in a positive way. He’ll be back in the majors, and I’m willing to bet it’ll be better. On offense, Downs continues to get hot as he tries to salvage some positivity out of this season.

Portland W 12-5

Grant Williams, 2B: 1-6, 1 R, 1 K

Pedro Castellanos, RF: 4-4, 2 2B, 1 BB, 3 R

Triston Casas, 1B: 1-3, 1 HR, 2 BB, 4 R, 3 RBI

Devlin Granberg, LF: 4-5, 2 2B, 1 HR, 2 R, 5 RBI, 1 K

Hudson Potts, 3B: 0-5, 2 K

Ryan Fitzgerald, SS: 3-4, 2 2B, 1 R, 3 RBI

Jeisson Rosario, CF: 1-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K

Tyreque Reed, DH: 0-4, 1 R, 3 K

Jay Groome (SP): 4.2 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 7 K (86 pitches)

Frank German: 1 IP, 0 H , 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (10 pitches)

Joan Martinez: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (14 pitches)

This game was carried by the offense, and Castellanos and Granberg in particular stood out among a bunch of strong performances. For Granberg, he just continues to hit. The ceiling is still not that high, but frankly he wasn’t expected to be this interesting for this long, and he’s getting to the point where it’s hard to bet against production. Meanwhile, Castellanos is having a huge end to his season. He’s got a .250 Isolated Power (SLG - AVG) this month and has multiple hits in four of his last five games. As for Groome, he was so dominant in his first two Double-A starts, but command issues caught up to him here. Still, the stuff was still seemingly there, so there’s a little positive there.

Greenville W 3-2

Nick Yorke, 2B: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K

Christian Koss, SS: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 K

Tyler Dearden, LF: 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 K

Stephen Scott, 1B: 1-4

Jaxx Groshans, C: 0-4, 2 K

Nick Sogard, 3B: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 E

Chase Shugart (SP; W): 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 8 K (87 pitches)

Jacob Wallace (H): 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (20 pitches)

Shugart isn’t someone we’ve talked about a ton here this year, but he’s closing out his season with a bang, and really has been putting up some impressive numbers over the last couple of months. While his season ERA is 4.78, he’s been much better, really since July 23. Over that time he’s pitched to a 3.31 ERA over 51 ¹⁄₃ innings, striking out 46 while issuing only 10 walks. Shortening the sample a bit he’s been even more impressive, striking out 31 and walking two over his last five starts and 25 innings of work. I’m still a little skeptical he can stick as a starter, but he’s seemingly been putting it together of late and he’ll be a deep sleeper to remember in Portland for next year.

Salem W 11-5

Ceddanne Rafaela, LF: 2-5, 1 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 K

Tyler McDonough, CF: 2-5, 1 3B, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 K

Nick Decker, RF: 1-5, 1 RBI, 2 K

Tyler Miller, DH: 2-4, 1 BB, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Matthew Lugo, 2B: 3-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI

Nicholas Northcut, 1B: 2-4, 1 2B, 2 K

Brainer Bonaci, SS: 0-4, 1 R, 2 K

Alex Erro, C: 3-4, 2 2B, 2 R, 1 RBI

Shane Drohan (SP): 4 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 5 K (71 pitches)

Jacob Webb: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K (22 pitches)

It was a big day for Salem, who is fighting for a postseason position. If they can win tomorrow, they will indeed be moving on to the Low-A East championship next week against Charleston (Tampa’s affiliate). They were led by the offense here, with McDonough in particular impressing. The 2021 third rounder continues to excel while playing all over the diamond, and he’s now hitting .298 with an .887 OPS. It’s also nice to see Lugo with a homer here as he finished off his season strong.

FCL G1 W 4-3

Yorberto Mejicano, C: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K

Marcelo Mayer, SS: 0-1, 1 K

Ryan Zeferjagn (SP): 2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 3 K

Tyler Uberstine (H): 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

Michael Gettys (H): 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K

FCL G2 CANC

This ends the FCL schedule, as they don’t play on Sundays and did not make the postseason. Barring a promotion to Salem, who has a chance for a berth in the Low-A championship series next week, Mayer’s first professional season is in the books. He finished things off (if this is the end, which I’d expect it is) hitting .275/.377/.440. We’ve talked a lot lately about potential 2022 sleepers. Mayer obviously is not, but he’ll probably be the most anticipated prospect in the system.

DSL Red W 9-4

Enderso Lira, C: 1-5, 1 3B, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI

Helison Mota, 3B: 3-4, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 BB, 3 R, 1 SB

Kelvin Garcia, 1B: 2-4, 1 BB, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 E

Jose Mendez, SS: 1-1, 4 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 E

Alvaro Mejia (SP): 3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 0 K

DSL Blue L 4-9

Juan Chacon, DH: 2-4, 1 3B, 2 R, 1 SB

Lyonell James, 3B: 2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI

Johnfrank Salazar, SS: 2-3, 2 E

Jean Carlos Reyes (SP): 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 1 K

This was yet another meeting between the two DSL squads, with Red finally getting a game back. Blue had won six in a row, and even with this loss they have a 7-2 record against their fellow Red Sox affiliates. They play twice more before the season closes on October 2. As for the game itself, Mota obviously stood out the most. This has not been the norm for him this year, and even after the big day his OPS sits below .700.

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Player of the Day: Devlin Granberg

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