Red Sox Minor Lines: Alex Binelas is pushing his way up

Worcester L 2-6

Jarren Duran, LF: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 3 K

Jonathan Araúz, SS: 0-4, 2 K

Ryan Fitzgerald, 1B: 1-4, 2 K

Rob Refsnyder, RF: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI

Connor Wong, C: 1-4, 1 K

Josh Winckowski (SP; L): 6 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 0 BB, 6 K (87 pitches)

Andrew Politi: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K (22 pitches)

Silvino Bracho: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (22 pitches)

Nothing is official at this point, but as of now it appears likely that Winckowski will be making his major-league debut next weekend against the Orioles with a doubleheader on the schedule for Saturday. If it’s still up in the air, this wasn’t a great final audition, though with six strikeouts and no walks it doesn’t seem quite as bad as the runs allowed seem anyway. Either way, it’s overall been a strong year for the righty, who has a 3.13 ERA over seven starts and 31 ²⁄₃ innings, striking out 34 with only six walks. He’s earned this chance in the majors, and presumably he’ll still get it even after a lackluster start in Triple-A.

Portland W 4-2

Devlin Granberg, CF: 2-4, 2 2B, 1 R, 1 K

Pedro Castellanos, DH: 2-4, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K

Christian Koss, SS: 1-4, 1 3B, 1 RBI

Chris Murphy (SP; W): 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 4 K (89 pitches)

Jake Thompson (H): 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K (23 pitches)

Chase Shugart (SV): 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K (12 pitches)

A nice all-around effort here for the Portland pitching staff, being led by Murphy who should not be lost in this rotation. It wouldn’t be hard to get lost among Brayan Bello and Brandon Walter, and you can even throw Jay Groome in there for name value, but Murphy is certainly a pitcher to watch. The lefty just continues to keep runs off the board, even in a start like this when his swing and miss stuff, while fine, wasn’t great. He’s typically a guy who will work around command issues by just missing tons of bats, but he’s performed in a number of different ways this season with a 1.91 ERA. He’ll get his chance in Triple-A at some point, and I’d guess it’ll be sooner than later. Offensively, Castellanos keeps his hot streak going while Granberg continues his somewhat quietly strong season, putting up a .957 OPS.

Greenville L 5-8

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

Tyler McDonough, DH: 0-5, 3 K

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

Alex Binelas, 1B; 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI

Matthew Lugo, SS: 2-4, 1 K, 1 CS

Nicholas Northcut, 3B: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 K

Brendan Cellucci (SP; L): 2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 3 K (44 pitches)

A lot of the early promotion talk in the minors so far this year has been around pitching with guys like Brayan Bello, who did indeed get an early promotion, and some others still waiting for theirs. There hasn’t been a ton on the position player side making a push, but Binelas may be there. The slugger has been hitting the ball better as the season has gone along and smashed his tenth homer of the season on Sunday. That’s second in the system, trailing only Northcut. Throw in a walk rate that is approaching 20 percent, and the 21-year-old may be ready for a new challenge at Double-A. While I’m not sure a promotion is imminent, I wouldn’t be surprised to see one within the next four weeks or so.

Salem W 9-8

Eddinson Paulino, SS: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 R, 1 K, 1 CS, 1 E

Brainer Bonaci, 2B: 1-5, 1 RBI, 1 E

Blaze Jordan, 3B: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 E

Nathan Hickey, DH: 0-4, 1 BB, 2 K

Tyler Miller, LF: 1-3, 1 HR, 2 BB, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Yorberto Mejicano, C: 2-3, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K

Felix Cepeda (SP): 3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 2 K (58 pitches)

This was an exciting one for Salem, with a back-and-forth game throughout that wound up tied heading into the bottom of the ninth. Miller led off that inning and hit a solo homer to walk it off. It was his fifth homer of the year, and second straight game with a homer. Jordan also continues to just scorch through May, a month in which he hit .365/.400/.554 with eight doubles and two homers in 18 games played. His overall line is still more fine than good thanks to a slow April, but make no mistake. He’s finding his groove.

Player of the Day: Alex Binelas

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