Red Sox Minor Lines: Brandon Walter bounces back

Worcester W 6-2

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

Jeter Downs, SS: 0-4, 3 K

Ryan Fitzgerald, 3B/RF: 1-3, 1 3B, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 K

Rob Refsnyder, RF: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K

Jonathan Araúz, 2B; 0-1

Connor Wong, C: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 K

Yolmer Sánchez, 2B/3B: 2-4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 K

Thomas Pannone (SP; W): 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 5 K (74 pitches)

Taylor Cole (H): 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (25 pitches)

Andrew Politi (H): 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (8 pitches)

Kaleb Ort: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K (17 pitches)

This was a nice all-around win for Worcester, with no real standout performances but a lot of good ones. Among them was from Wong, who is looking for some momentum in his season. This is a big year for him as he looks to prove to the Red Sox that he will be worth a permanent role on the major-league roster next season, but he hasn’t really shown that yet this year. Even after this game he is hitting just .209/.293/.239, with that lack of power really striking. Hopefully this is the shift he needed in his performance. Politi also continues to transition to Triple-A, and he’s a sneaky late-season option for relief depth if he continues to pitch like this, though there are certainly others on the Triple-A depth chart he’ll need to leapfrog.

Portland G1 L 2-7

David Hamilton, SS: 0-3

Nick Sogard, 2B: 2-3, 1 K

Devlin Granberg, CF: 0-3

Pedro Castellanos, 1B: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI

Christian Koss, 3B: 2-3, 1 3B, 1 R, 1 SB

Victor Santos (SP; L): 5.1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 4 K (99 pitches)

Brendan Nail: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (19 pitches)

Portland G2 L 1-3 (F/8)

David Hamilton, 2B: 0-4, 1 K

Nick Sogard, RF: 0-4

Devlin Granberg, CF: 0-2, 1 K

Christian Koss, SS: 2-3, 1 SB

Brandon Walter (SP): 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 11 K (79 pitches)

Frank German (L): 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K (20 pitches)

This was a rough doubleheader for Portland, but we had one big positive with Walter, and it was a welcome sight. The lefty really struggled in his two starts last week, which has been an extremely rare occurrence for him. Over those two starts he combined for seven innings, allowed 11 earned runs (plus four more unearned), striking out 10 and walking two. While you never want to see a player struggle, it is nice to see how they are able to bounce back from tough situations. I’d say Walter bounced back pretty well with arguably his best outing in what’s been mostly a spectacular season. We should also shout out Koss, who not only had four hits but also swiped a pair of bags.

Greenville L 7-9

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

Tyler McDonough, LF: 0-5, 1 R, 3 K

Ceddanne Rafaela, SS: 2-4, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB

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

Gilberto Jimenez, RF: 1-4, 1 2B, 1 R, 3 K

Shane Drohan (SP): 4.2 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 6 K (46 pitches)

This Greenville season was supposed to revolve around Yorke, who to be fair has been turning things around lately, though he’s still got a fine but unspectacular .713 OPS on the year. Instead, it’s been mostly about Rafaela, with some Binelas mixed in. The former is now hitting .314 with a .938 OPS. It was nice to see him draw a walk in this one as well, as that’s really been the only part of his game that’s been missing to any extent. Binelas, meanwhile, doesn’t have an average that will jump off the page, but he’s been drawing plenty of walks, and while it didn’t happen today he’s also hit for big-time power.

Salem L 9-10

Brainer Bonaci, SS: 0-5, 1 R, 3 K

Blaze Jordan, DH: 3-5, 1 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 K

Nathan Hickey, C: 2-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, 2 K, 1 E

Eduardo Lopez, CF: 0-4, 1 E

Tyler Uberstine (SP): 4.1 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 3 BB, 5 K (85 pitches)

The month of May has been all about Jordan, who has totally turned around a season that started extremely poorly for the young 19-year-old. Jordan has just one game this month in which he did not get a hit, and in the month of May he’s now hitting .364/.394/.561. It hasn’t really been the big home run we were expecting, though presumably some of that is playing in Salem, which isn’t a great park for hitters. But either way, he’s hitting plenty of doubles, now up to seven this month. It’s also nice to see a homer from Hickey. The 2021 fifth rounder has quietly had a really nice season, now hitting .262/.417/.462.

Player of the Day: Brandon Walter

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