Minor Lines 6/1/23: Isaac Coffey Can’t Be Stopped

Louisville Bats 8, Worcester Red Sox 6

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The “openers” ahead of Chris Murphy did not prove to be successful for the Woo Sox in Louisville last night. Norwith Gudino left in the second inning with three runs in and the bases loaded, and then Oddanier Mosqueda walked two of those runners in, for a quick 5-1 deficit. The struggling Murphy came in and threw three shutout innings, while Worcester clawed back to 5-3 on home runs from MLB vets Bobby Dalbec and Bradley Zimmer. Dalbec is scorching since being sent down, slashing .379/.463/.828 with eight home runs in 15 games. Peter Gammons says the team is actively shopping Dalbec, get him while he’s hot! Louisville pulled away late but, as moral victories go, imminent call-up Elly De La Cruz was 0-for-5 with five strikeouts against Woo Sox pitching.

Somerset Patriots 11, Portland Sea Dogs 7

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With it being a Friday, we like to focus on the positives at Over The Monster and that’s what we will do here. Sterling Sharp (not to be confused with former wide receiver Sterling Sharpe, brother of avid NBA fan and cardigan-wearing Shannon Sharpe) fired five shutout innings, allowing only three baserunners in his return from the injured list. The look of many frustrated Somerset Patriots on Thursday evening:

The Sea Dogs scored early and often in this one, jumping out to a 7-0 lead in the fourth. Corey Rosier’s two-run triple, Matthew Lugo’s RBI double, and Nick Yorke’s three hits and two runs scored were a spark for the offense. A great night at the ballpark, indeed!

(Somerset then scored 11 unanswered runs over three innings off an utter meltdown from the Sea Dogs bullpen, as Christopher Troye, Ryan Miller, Ryan Zeferjahn, and Brendan Cellucci walked nine batters and allowed five hits. The Patriots won this game 11-7.)

Greenville Drive 4, Hickory Crawdads 0

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The lone victory in the Red Sox minor leagues on Thursday evening came from High-A Greenville, thanks to another sparkling outing from Isaac Coffey. Coffey now has three consecutive outings with an identical six shutout innings, with 30 K’s combined over those 18 innings. He struck out eight in this one, only walking one. That gives Coffey five out of nine outings this season with 8+ strikeouts. The tenth-round pick a year ago is known as a strike-thrower who sits at 88-91 mph with a three-quarters arm slot, mixing in a slider and a change-up. Chris Clegg, who I believe now lists the Greenville Drive stadium as his mailing address, provided some footage of Coffey’s outing yesterday.

On the offensive side, Tyler Miller popped his third home run and Brainer Bonaci stayed hot with an RBI single as part of two hits total. Bonaci is now hitting .350 with a 155 wRC+ on the season and is 7-for-13 over the past three games.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans 7, Salem Red Sox 6

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This game went back and forth all evening, with Salem going ahead 4-1 in the fifth, Myrtle Beach taking a 5-4 lead in the eighth, Salem scratching two across in the top of the ninth, and then allowing the tying run to score in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings, 6-6. In the 10th, Miguel Pabon hit a walk-off sacrifice fly off of Jonathan Brand, who took the loss. Something just doesn’t feel right about having an L on your ledger when a sac fly scores the zombie runner, who was placed on second base against your will.

For Salem, shortstop Luis Ravelo and catcher Enderso Lira each had three hits, with Lira driving in three runs as well to up his average to .317 on the season. Bradley Blalock was sharp in his second outing of the season, striking out seven in four innings, allowing three hits and one run.