Red Sox Minor Lines: Kutter Crawford’s return to Worcester goes well

Worcester W 3-2

Jarren Duran, CF: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K

Rob Refsnyder, RF: 0-4, 2 K

Ryan Fitzgerald, 3B: 0-4, 2 K, 1 E

Christin Stewart, DH: 1-2, 2 BB, 1 K

Jonathan Araúz, SS: 1-4, 1 K, 1 SB

Ronaldo Hernández, C: 0-2, 1 BB, 2 K

Roberto Ramos, 1B: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 K

Kutter Crawford: 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (35 pitches)

Silvino Bracho: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (21 pitches)

Michael Feliz (H): 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (14 pitches)

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

Not much going on here offensively, although that home run from Ramos came in the bottom of the ninth with the team trailing by a run, giving him a two-run walk off. It’s his fourth homer of the year, which makes up half of his hit total for 2022. But more impressive here was the performance from the pitching, and specifically Crawford. The righty has spent most of this season in the majors, but was recently demoted and the team is now trying to stretch him back out for a starting role and get him back on a regular schedule. The plan was for him to go three innings in this game, but he was so efficient he got to go an extra inning. I think we’ll see him at some point again this season, though he’s got some competition on Worcester’s roster with Connor Seabold, Josh Winckowski, and eventually Brayan Bello.

Portland PPD

Greenville L 4-9

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

Matthew Lugo, SS: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI

Ceddanne Rafaela, CF: 0-4, 3 K

Alex Binelas, DH: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K

Antoni Flores, 3B: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 K

Chih-Jung Liu (SP; L): 3.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 0 BB, 5 K (69 pitches)

Ryan Zeferjahn: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K (46 pitches)

The good news for the Greenville offense on Thursday is that they were able to hit three home runs. The bad news is that they were all solo homers and they accounted for 75 percent of their runs. For Binelas, it was the ninth homer of his season as he continues a somewhat quietly impressive year. He’s not racking up a ton of hits, with a .245 batting average, but he’s got a .919 OPS thanks to his power and patience. He should be in Double-A at some point later in the year. As for Liu, it’s been a rollercoaster of a season. This was his worst outing of the year, but he’s really struggling to get deep into games and it might be time to at least start thinking about a shift to the bullpen. Granted, that’s always easier said than done because someone has to make these starts.

Salem L 4-6

Eddinson Paulino, 3B: 1-5, 2 K

Brainer Bonaci, 2B: 0-5

Marcelo Mayer, SS: 1-5, 2 K, 1 E

Nathan Hickey, DH: 0-3, 1 BB

Blaze Jordan, 1B: 1-4, 1 R, 1 SB, 1 E

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

Karson Simas, RF: 2-3, 1 BB, 2 R, 1 K, 1 SB

Phillip Sikes, LF: 3-4, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 1 SB

Juan Daniel Encarnacion (SP): 4 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 4 K (75 pitches)

Really not much to say about this one. Salem got some good performances at the bottom of their lineup from players who largely have not done much of anything this year, and their big names struggled. Sikes was the best player here, and probably in the whole system for the day, but he’s got only a .623 OPS on the year.

Player of the Day: Phillip Sikes

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