Red Sox Minor Lines: Brayan Bello tosses a no-hitter

Worcester G1 W 5-4

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

Jonathan Araúz, DH: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 R

Jeter Downs, SS: 0-2, 1 BB, 1 K

Triston Casas, 1B: 0-2, 1 RBI

Rob Refsnyder, RF: 1-3, 2 K

Ryan Fitzgerald, 3B: 1-3

Jaylin Davis, LF: 0-3, 1 K

Connor Wong, C: 0-3, 1 R

Yolmer Sánchez, 2B: 0-1, 2 BB, 1 R, 1 CS

Thomas Pannone (SP; W): 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 4 K (67 pitches)

Silvino Bracho (H): 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K (16 pitches)

Kaleb Ort (SV): 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K (11 pitches)

Worcester G2 L 1-2

Yolmer Sánchez, 2B: 0-2, 1 BB

Jeter Downs, SS: 0-3

Triston Casas, 1B: 1-3, 1 2B

Jaylin Davis, CF: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 R, 2 K

Ryan Fitzgerald, RF: 1-3

Ronaldo Hernández, C: 0-3, 1 K

Josh Winckowski (SP): 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 8 K (70 pitches)

It was a split doubleheader for Worcester, but the offense was mostly quiet for both of these games, combining for 10 hits across 14 innings. In the first game, though, Duran had himself a day, contributing three of his team’s five knocks including his second homer of the year. He’s on fire right now, and the Red Sox have an interesting decision to make here. If he was right-handed it would be a no-brainer, but he’s not much of a complement to Jackie Bradley Jr., and the latter is swinging a decent bat these last few days. It seems he’s hit well enough to earn a promotion for this weekend’s series against Chicago. Winckowski also had himself a day and now has a 3.06 ERA with just about a strikeout per inning on the season. Kutter Crawford is pitching himself out of a role in the majors right now, and Winckowski could be on the list of considerations to replace him in his multi-inning role.

Portland G1 W 5-1

David Hamilton, 2B: 1-4, 1 R, 1 SB

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

Devlin Granberg, CF: 2-3, 1 3B, 1 R, 1 RBI

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

Brandon Walter (SP; W): 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 10 K (78 pitches)

Portland G2 W 3-1

David Hamilton, SS: 0-3, 1 K

Devlin Granberg, CF: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 K

Christian Koss, 2B: 1-3, 1 R, 1 K, 1 E

Hudson Potts, 1B: 2-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI

Brayan Bello (SP; W): 7 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K (96 pitches)

Pretty good day in Portland for the pitchers, eh? You know it was a good day for the pitching because one of those starting pitchers threw a no-hitter (in seven innings, but a no-hitter nonetheless), and there’s an argument he was not even the team’s best pitcher on the day! I’m not sure I’d make that argument, to be fair, because a no-hitter is a no-hitter, but Walter’s start was bananas good. This is a special one-two punch, and while I’m talking myself more and more into Walter being the better pitcher, though I’m still not quite there, Bello is doing everything in his power to make me feel stupid every time I get that feeling. It’s good for the organization that this is a debate to be had. Anyway, Bello now has a 1.95 ERA on the season, which is more than a full run above Walter’s 0.93 mark. It’s just silly.

Full BreakingT Red Sox Collection

Take a look at the entire shirt collection from our friends over at BreakingT, including the one pictured above.

Greenville W 7-4

Nick Yorke, 2B: 0-4, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB

Tyler McDonough, CF: 1-4, 1 R, 1 K, 1 SB

Ceddanne Rafaela, DH: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 K

Matthew Lugo, SS: 1-2, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 E

Nicholas Northcut, 1B: 3-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 K

Stephen Scott, C: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI

Tyler Esplin, RF: 2-3, 1 3B, 1 BB

Yusniel Padron-Artiles (SP; W): 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 6 K (89 pitches)

I’m in sort of a weird place where I simultaneously feel like I’m talking about Nicholas Northcut every day, and I’m also not talking about him enough. The power he is showing to start this season has been wild, now up to 10 homers already this season. That’s three more than anyone else in the system. His strikeouts are still concerning and I’m not sure I totally buy he’s going to be able to keep hitting when he moves up the ladder. That said, he had kind of fallen off my radar before this season in terms of legitimate prospects with major-league futures. That’s no longer the case, and he’s earned some attention moving forward to see if he can keep this going. It’s also nice to see Rafaela get back on the home run board after going 11 games without one.

Salem L 1-2

Eddinson Paulino, SS: 0-5

Eduardo Lopez, RF: 3-3, 1 HR, 2 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB

Nathan Hickey, DH: 1-3, 2 BB, 1 K

Blaze Jordan, 3B: 1-3

Niko Kavadas, 1B; 2-4, 1 2B, 2 K

Angel Bastardo (SP): 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K (60 pitches)

Jacob Webb: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K (31 pitches)

For as well as Northcut’s doing in the power department right now, Lopez might be the hottest hitter in the system to start this week. After getting off to a very slow start to his season, the outfielder has charged into May, with three hits in three of his four games. He only had one hit in the other game, but it was a home run. Lopez was the team’s top international signing in the 2018-2019 J2 period, but he’s never quite developed into the exciting prospect they were hoping for. He’s still only 20 years old though (albeit for only a couple more days), so maybe he’s made the adjustment he needs to at least put himself onto a path to be a fourth outfielder at the highest level. He’s certainly swinging that way lately.

Player of the Day: Brayan Bello

Player of the Day Tracker