Worcester: L, 1-10

Marvel Heroes Day. The WooSox were not the heroes of this one.

I’m going to say the next sentence with a period instead of an exclamation point: I attended this game. While at Polar Park, it never felt like the WooSox were going to win following Norwith Gudiño’s lackluster start. My friend asked me, knowing I’ve had to watch the WooSox a bit this year, if Gudiño was good. I called him “The Pivetta of AAA,” which, apologies to Nick, but he’s either really bad or really good, but durable.

This was not a good start, as Gudiño allowed 3 runs in the first two innings, including a solo shot to Bo Naylor that sounded like it was going to end up in Kelley Square as soon as it was hit. Gudiño’s balls were hit hard for his whole outing, but luckily, most fell foul, or this score could have been very ugly.

Greg Allen scoring on a Nick Sogard screamer made the game 3-1, but the bottom fell out on a Jarren Duran strikeout with two men in scoring position. Duran notably slammed his bat and his helmet following this strikeout, and that was a good summation of the game as a whole. Taylor Broadway came in and looked sharp at first, striking out four, but was ultimately left in too long and also got hit for three runs. Lastly, Odannier Mosqueda let three runs go as the Clippers had another field day at the plate.

The WooSox fell to 6-8 on a game that saw a lot of faulty pitching, relievers left in too long, and a failure to capitalize on runners in scoring position. If that sounds familiar, buckle up, because some of these guys are an injury away from being in the same position an hour east and in front of a lot more eyes.

Portland, L 2-3

I can’t say “it feels like the Sea Dogs are always losing” here because in reality, this series was already decided in Portland’s favor before this game. The Sea Dogs were winners of three straight games before this loss. Again, the woes at the plate continue, and again, Phillip Sikes was the only Sea Dog to garner multiple hits, going 2 for 4 with a stolen base. Nick Yorke hit a solo shot in the third inning, his first of the season, and stole a base himself following one of his two walks. Sadly, these bats were already in a hole from the first inning, when Wyatt Olds allowed two runs in that frame. Olds also committed a fielding error, one of two on the day (the other being from Matthew Lugo.)

I can’t complain about the Sea Dogs, though, because as fate would have it, I’ve written about both of their losses this season; they are now 7-2 with two series wins. Moral of the story is: I’m just bad luck for them.

Greenville: W, 4-3

Greenville saved me from having to write about four losses here, but to be fair, it would have been a less-textbook one. From reading the box score, this game seemed like a standard “team climbs ahead, lets them back in, pulls back ahead, lets them back in, closes the game out.” Such was the case with Eddinson Paulino’s first-inning home run, after which they never surrendered the lead. Blaze Jordan contributed with a run as well, going 2-for-4 to raise his average to a less-than-respectable .148.

Juan Daniel Encarnacion was dependable in this one: one earned run in five innings to grab the decision, giving up four hits, five strikeouts, one walk. Greenville left just four men on, which is to say they were efficient with the opportunities they did get, however limited. The win saw the Drive improve to 3-5 on the season.

Salem: L, 0-7

To end the Monday Minor Lines on a sour note: This game was not good. Elmer Rodriguez allowed all seven runs in one-third of one inning... the first third of an inning in the game. None were earned, and I’m going to honest: by reading this box score and a play-by-play, I still can’t figure out how he managed to get out of this disaster with the inning unscathed, and I can’t find any report of an injury. Five hits. No walks. No earned runs. How? The only errors (both by Lyonell James) point to the culprit but no mention is made of this in the play-by-play. So who’s mad at who here, besides the guys who paid to get into this game?

I need to stop letting this pessimism bug bite me and look on the bright side: The Red Sox are up 3-0 in a series against the Angels with a Marathon Monday game shortly. Yesterday’s seemingly horrible bullpen decision resulted in a clean save by Ryan Brasier (featuring a strikeout of Mike Trout), who closed out a game that took less than two hours to play. But I wouldn’t know the feeling of watching that would I? Because I went to the WooSox game and saw them lose by nine runs instead. Great judgment on my part. Have a great Marathon Monday, everyone!