Red Sox Minor Lines: Cold bats start to warm up

Worcester W 10-6

Jarren Duran, LF: 0-4, 1 BB, 1 K

Jonathan Araúz, 2B: 1-2, 1 BB, 2 R

Jeter Downs, SS: 2-4, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 R, 2 RBI

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

Rob Refsnyder, CF: 2-3, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 K

Ryan Fitzgerald, RF: 1-4, 1 R, 1 K

Connor Wong, C: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K

Christin Stewart, DH: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 K

Darwinzon Herandez (SP): 1.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 4 K (50 pitches)

Eduard Bazardo: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (20 pitches)

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

Durbin Feltman: 1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 2 K (26 pitches)

Kaleb Ort: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K (8 pitches)

This was quite the eventful game in Worcester, especially early on with 14 of the combined 16 runs coming in the first five innings, including all of Worcester’s runs. Their offense was hot early on, though, with four homers on the day. That included back-to-back shots from Downs and Casas. For Downs, it was homer number five on this season, and he’s quietly up to a very solid .826 OPS, though he is still striking out 35 percent of the time. It’s hard to buy into his performance until we see that rate go down. Casas, meanwhile, also hit his fifth of the year, and it’s nice to see him recovering from a mini slump earlier this week. More negatively, Hernandez is starting to move in the wrong direction and he’s allowed 10 runs over his last three outings, which totals just five innings.

Portland L 0-5

Christian Koss, SS: 0-4

Kole Cottam, C: 1-3

Chris Murphy (SP; L): 4 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 4 K (83 pitches)

Joan Martinez: 1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 0 K (22 pitches)

Andrew Politi: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K (18 pitches)

Portland’s offense has easily been the worst in the system — even worse than the major-league team! — and this may have been their worst day of the year. The Sea Dogs managed just one single on the day and also drew one walk. Even on the mound, Murphy just didn’t have it and showed why there is still concern about his ability to stick in the rotation. He can miss bats, and even here he was seemingly tough to square up only allowing two hits, but the four walks not only helped put runs on the board but drove up his pitch count to the point he only went four innings. It’s been more good than bad for the lefty this year, to be fair, but these outings are hard to ignore.

Greenville W 10-5

Nick Yorke, 2B: 3-5, 1 2B, 2 R, 1 K, 1 SB

Tyler McDonough, LF: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K

Ceddanne Rafaela, CF: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 R, 4 RBI

Alex Binelas, 3B: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 K

Matthew Lugo, SS: 0-4, 1 BB, 1 R, 2 K

Gilberto Jimenez, RF: 2-5, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI, 2 K, 1 E

Nicholas Northcut, 1B; 1-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI, 3 K

Brian Van Belle (SP; W): 5.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 7 K (89 pitches)

Jacinto Arredondo: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (22 pitches)

Greenville really needed this one. After getting out of the gates hot this season, their lineup has been slumping of late, so a 10-run, four-homer day is exactly what the doctor ordered. It was particularly encouraging to see Yorke break out for a three-hit day. It’s been a bit of a tough start for the 2021 breakout, who missed a little bit of time in the middle of the month and, coming into this game, had been hitless in each of his first four games since returning to the field and hadn’t had a multi-hit game since April 17. Hopefully this gets him back on track. Meanwhile, Northcut is up to eight homers already this season.

Salem W 2-0

Eddinson Paulino, 2B: 3-5, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 R, 1 CS

Brainer Bonaci, SS: 0-4, 1 RBI, 1 K

Blaze Jordan, 3B: 2-4, 1 R

Eduardo Lopez, DH: 3-4, 1 2B

Juan Daniel Encarncion (SP; W): 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K (71 pitches)

Joey Stock (SV): 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K (32 pitches)

This is a hell of an outing from Encarnacion, who had been kind of middling up to this point through his previous starts this season. The righty had an impressive year on the complex in 2021, finishing with an ERA under 3.00, and he has a solid pitch mix that could work as a starter. The issue is that he doesn’t quite have a reliable out pitch. Still, the 21-year-old can still have these days which should be enough to move him up the ladder over these next few years. Offensively, it’s nice to see Jordan follow up a golden sombrero on Friday with this game after taking the day off Saturday. He needs a big month of May to get back on track.

Player of the Day: Rob Refsnyder

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