Red Sox Minor Lines: Jarren Duran just misses a cycle

Worcester W 8-6

Jarren Duran, CF: 4-5, 1 3B, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 SB

Jeter Downs, SS: 0-4, 1 BB,1. R

Triston Casas, 1B: 1-4, 1 BB

Ryan Fitzgerald, RF: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 R, 2 K

Connor Wong, C: 3-5, 1 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 CS

Yolmer Sánchez, 2B: 3-4, 1 E

Christin Stewart, LF: 2-4, 2 RBI, 1 K

Ronaldo Hernández, DH: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 K

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

Josh Winckowski (SP): 2.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K (55 pitches)

Silvino Bracho (H): 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 3 K (39 pitches)

Zack Kelly (H): 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K (15 pitches)

Kaleb Ort (SV): 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (18 pitches)

Worcester’s offense was all over Buffalo’s pitching staff in this game, racking up a whopping 17 hits. Three players had at least three hits, with two more adding on a pair each. Duran certainly led the way, coming just a double shy of the cycle in a four-hit effort and blasting his first homer of 2022. He missed some time early in the year after testing positive for COVID so we haven’t talked about him too much, but he’s off to a solid start with a 1.017 OPS, while also carrying a reasonable 22 percent strikeout rate. They’ll want to see more before he gets the call, but I’m expecting him to get another chance in the majors at some point within the next four to six weeks or so. Speaking of pushing for the majors, Bracho is sneakily on that push as well. His 4.35 ERA isn’t too inspiring, but he’s got 14 strikeouts to just two walks over 10 ¹⁄₃ innings, though he’s also allowed two homers. Not being on the 40-man hurts his cause, but I think he’s relatively high up on the bullpen depth chart.

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Portland L 1-7

Christian Koss, SS: 0-4, 4 K

David Hamilton, 2B: 0-2, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB, 1 E

Devlin Granberg, CF: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 BB

Brayan Bello (SP; L): 5.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 8 K (92 pitches)

Jacob Wallace: 1 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 1 K (32 pitches)

This was another lackluster day for the Portland offense, which has been happening basically all year, though Hamilton did get stolen base number 14 (and also error number four). On the mound, Bello had a little bit of a mixed bag kind of day. The stuff was clearly on point, but his issue throughout his career has been an inconsistency with command, and that showed up here both with the walks and allowing a home run. The good news is that if this is what constitutes a bad outing for the righty this year then it will be a very big 2022 for him. As for Wallace, it had been a nice bounce-back year for him up to this outing, but this was clearly a disaster of a day. The key with these kinds of outings is to see how he bounces back his next time out.

Greenville L 1-6

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

Tyler McDonough, CF: 1-4, 1 K

Ceddane Rafaela, SS: 1-4, 2 K, 1 SB

Gilberto Jimenez, RF: 0-3, 3 K

Nicholas Northcut, 3B: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 E

Yusniel Padron-Artiles (SP; L): 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K (83 pitches)

It’s been a bit of an underwhelming start to the year for Yorke after his massive breakout in 2021. He missed a little bit of time last week and early this week, but when he has played he’s hitting just .245/.344/.283. The good news is he’s still drawing walks and his 21 percent strikeout rate, while higher than you’d like to see from him, isn’t at any egregious level. Instead, he’s yet to really make a ton of hard contact, at least based on the stat line. He’s still looking for his first homer, and 13 of his 15 hits have been singles, with the other two being doubles. More positively, Northcut’s power continues to impress. This was his seventh homer of the year already, and his OPS is up to .957.

Salem L 2-8

Eddinson Paulino, SS: 1-4, 3 K, 1 E

Brainer Bonaci, 2B: 0-3, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 E

Nathan Hickey, DH: 0-3, 1 BB

Blaze Jordan, 3B: 0-4, 4 K

Niko Kavadas, 1B: 1-2, 2 BB, 1 R, 1 K

Yorberto Mejicano, C: 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 K, 1 E

Angel Bastardo (SP); 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K (72 pitches)

We’ve talked about Jordan’s struggles a bit this year, but it’s largely come with at least some positive hedging as he’s managed to keep his strikeout rate relatively low even while posting a rough overall line. Given that the biggest question with his profile is his ability to make consistent contact, that’s a big deal. It’s also changing. After striking out just seven times in his first 11 games, he’s now struck out 11 times in his last six after the golden sombrero on Friday. Now, the most important thing to remember with Jordan throughout this season is how young he is. The youngest member of the 2020 draft class, he’s still only in his age-19 season. That said, things are clearly not trending in the right direction. It feels like he needs a big game to snap him out of this slump.

Player of the Day: Jarren Duran

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