Red Sox Minor Lines: Good pitching throughout the system

Worcester W 6-5

Jarren Duran, CF: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 BB, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB

Connor Wong, C: 0-3, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 SB, 1 E

Ryan Fitzgerald, 1B: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Rob Refsnyder, DH: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 RBI, 1 K

Jeter Downs, SS: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 3 K

Jaylin Davis, LF: 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Jonathan Araúz, 2B: 0-4

Thomas Pannone (SP; W): 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K (59 pitches)

Michael Feliz: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K (12 pitches)

Eduard Bazardo (H): 1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (35 pitches)

Frank German (SV): 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K (17 pitches)

It’s getting kind of hard to figure out how I feel about Downs. I came into the season with an open mind, ready to write off last season as just a down year for a number of factors, and he hasn’t really been bad this season. His homer in this game was his eighth of the year, and his .742 OPS, while not a standout number, is fine. But he also struck out three times in this game, which comes on the heel of a four-strikeout night, and was moved down in the lineup after spending most of the season hitting second. He has improved this year, but he’s still striking out more than a third of the time and it’ll be hard for me to be too confident until and unless he cuts down on that rate. On the mound, Pannone has been really good of late, going five innings in each of his last five starts and allowing no more than two runs in any of them and issuing just one walk across all of those innings. Unfortunately for him, this is about the worst year to be a standout veteran in Boston’s Triple-A rotation.

Portland L 3-4

Nick Sogard, 2B: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 CS, 1 E

Devlin Granberg, LF: 0-4, 2 K

Pedro Castellanos, RF: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K

Christian Koss, SS: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 R, 1 RBI

Kole Cottam, C: 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 K

Brett Kennedy (SP; L): 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 K (74 pitches)

Brendan Nail: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (10 pitches)

Not really too much to say about this one, but Koss is worth mentioning. It feels like we’ve talked about him a bunch lately as he’s heated up. He now has four multi-hit games in a row, and he has four extra-base hits in that span as well. Koss is a potential future bench player, someone the organization has always liked, and he’s hitting .308/.339/.487 on the year.

Greenville L 0-1

Tyler McDonough, 2B: 0-4

Ceddanne Rafaela, CF: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 K

Matthew Lugo, SS: 0-4

Alex Binelas, 1B: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 SB

Nicholas Northcut, 3B: 0-4, 2 K

Gilberto Jimenez, RF: 0-3, 1 K

Brendan Cellucci (SP): 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K (29 pitches)

Shane Drohan (L): 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 K (72 pitches)

Cody Scroggins: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (19 pitches)

That’s a tough-luck loss for Drohan, who was actually quite good as he continues his rollercoaster of a season. The 2020 draftee has a 4.50 ERA on the season which is a little bit underwhelming, but he’s now had a number of starts like this where he’s limited damage. In fact, he’s now allowed just the one run over his last two starts and 10 innings, striking out 13 with three walks. But prior to that, he allowed eight runs across two starts. That’s just been what kind of year it’s been for him. We should also point out the cold streak Northcut is currently on, having had just one hit over his last seven games. He could use another homer run.

Salem W 6-1

Eddinson Paulino, 3B: 0-4, 1 BB, 1 R, 2 K, 1 SB, 1 E

Brainer Bonaci, 2B: 0-4, 1 BB, 1 R

Marcelo Mayer, SS: 1-4, 2 K, 1 SB, 1 E

Nathan Hickey, C: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K

Blaze Jordan, 1B: 1-2, 2 BB, 1 R

Eduardo Lopez, CF: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 SB

Niko Kavadas, DH: 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI

Tyler Miller, LF: 2-4, 1 R

Tyler Uberstine (SP; W): 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K (64 pitches)

Jacob Webb: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K (38 pitches)

Graham Hoffman: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K (14 pitches)

Let’s start with Uberstine here, who I’ve kind of neglected on these pages but he’s been having a nice season. He had been struggling a bit of late, though, pitching to an ERA of 5.92 in the month of May. That came on the heels of a good April, though, and he’s off to a good start in June. I think the 2021 19th rounder profiles better out of the bullpen, but he’s now showing perhaps he can fulfill some sort of multi-inning role. Offensively, this was largely a collective effort, with Kavadas having the big swing with his fifth homer of the year. He’s now up to an .894 OPS on the year.

Player of the Day: Tyler Uberstine

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