Worcester: W, 12-6 (BOX SCORE)
Saturday’s WooSox game in Louisville against the Bats (Reds AAA) gave Boston fans a lot to be excited for, since Adam Duvall hit a home run, as did Bobby Dalbec (his 14th, by the way.) Wouldn’t you know it, Duvall did it again, going long in his second consecutive game. This is very encouraging considering he was mashing before he broke his wrist on a botched fly ball two months ago, and he appears to be starting to mash in Triple-A, as well. Although he just had the one hit on the day, he walked twice and scored on each of those opportunities. It’s only a matter of time before the Major League outfield has one more unit at the plate.
Not that Louisville had a particularly sound pitching staff today; after becoming exhausted yesterday, they were forced into using their entire bullpen, as nine pitchers took the mound. Ronaldo Hernandez got the start at catcher with Jorge Alfaro departing over the weekend, and all he did was hit two home runs for 3 RBIs in this one. Bradley Zimmer joined the party, too, for his second of the year. Add in Shane Drohan’s best performance yet (even with three earned runs) and his first win in Triple-A, and you have a feel-good performance from a team that it seems will indubitably see a few more members get some depth call-ups as Boston’s season trudges on.
Portland: L, 4-5 (10) (BOX SCORE)
For those looking for bad news, the Sea Dogs’ bullpen twice choked a lead and surrendered the game in the tenth inning despite Grant Gambrell’s impressive showing to start the game in Somerset, NJ against the Patriots (Yankees AA.) But, if you’re looking for good news, Marcelo Mayer had three hits on the day and was sent running on all of those base appearances, stealing 2nd twice, and getting caught once. It’s nice that his running is also given a thought on a Sea Dogs team that features base bandits such as Ceddanne Rafaela (who himself had two hits tonight) Corey Rosier, and Philip Sikes, all of whom ave at least 20 stolen bases. This is a team that is known to light up the base paths, which Mayer wasn’t really doing in Greenville. It’ll be intriguing to see how often they get his legs going in Double-A. It’s also of note Rafaela (who knows how to play most of the infield) is now Portland’s leadoff guy in exchange for Sikes, who seems to be batting lower. Just things to keep our collective eye on as the season grows older...
Greenville: W, 9-3 (BOX SCORE)
I want to highlight that, although he went hitless Sunday and saw his 12-game hit streak come to an end (he did draw a walk and score, though) Blaze Jordan had a fantastic Saturday, hitting an absolute no-doubter as Greenville gathered 18 hits. Though tonight they were a bit more reserved, they still routed the Crawdads (Rangers High-A) and won by six runs on eleven hits. Though Angel Bastardo gave up two runs in the 1st inning, he recovered nicely, and after giving a home run up in the 5th inning he was replaced by Jordan DiValerio, who pitched 2 1⁄3 hitless innings to allow Greenville the opportunity to seal the deal in the 8th and score 3 more. Also worth noting is that the Drive’s designated hitter, Ronald Rosario, who batted eighth, went 4-for-4 with 3 runs. By the way, Jordan is slashing .314/.356/.872, and during his hitting streak, was hitting significantly north of .400. He’s also got 36 runs batted in, almost doubling up the next closest Drive... and that’s not even a slight on the Greenville team, either, since they’ve gone 21-8 since May 1. Citing those numbers for no particular reason...
Salem: L, 3-6 (BOX SCORE)
In perhaps the least remarkable Sunday farm game, Salem earned just three hits on the day and struck out 14 times, going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. To make matters worse, each of their 3 pitchers allowed at least a run, and the Pelicans (Cubs A) got 5 runs out of their 9 scoring opportunities. It truly is a game of numbers, and Myrtle Beach was simply better than Salem at using what was given to them.
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