4/30 MiLB Gameday: Two on, Two off

[Cuzittt]

Today's Games:

IL:Pawtucket - OFF
EL: Portland (Miguel Pena) vs. Reading (Severino Gonzalez)[6:05pm]
CL:Salem - OFF
SAL: Greenville (Teddy Stankiewicz) @ Greensboro (Sean Townsley) [7:05pm]
NYPL: Lowell - Opening Day - June 13th vs. Vermont
GCL: GCL Sox - Opening Day - June 20th vs GCL Twins
DSL: DSL Sox - Opening Day - May 31st

Notes:

Mookie Betts has reached safely in 51 consecutive regular season games. He has reached safely in 56 consecutive games (including playoffs).

Scoreboard:

Boston Red Sox Minor League Scores

Media:

MiLB TV
MiLB Radio

Local Media:

Pawsox:

Providence Journal
Pawtucket Times

Seadogs: Portland Press Herald

Salem: Roanoke Times

Greenville: Greenville Online

Lowell: Lowell Sun

 

[Cuzittt]

Mookie extends the streak with a first inning single.

 

[ItOnceWasMyLife]

He's now 2 for 3 and the average is back up to .430.  Looks like the slump is officially over.

 

[Manzivino]

Let's not bury the lede, Kendrick Perkins is making his 2014 debut!
 
 
Edit:
 

He's now 2 for 3 and the average is back up to .430.  Looks like the slump is officially over.

 

 
Adds a 4 pitch walk in the 8th, but gets caught stealing second. He's been caught 3 times this month when he was only caught 4 times all of last year; curious how much of that is just facing better catchers in AA or if he's running more this season.

 

[Cesar Crespo]

He had 38sb last year, on pace for 60 this year.

Merrero's ISO is .106, good to see.

 

[Cesar Crespo]

Rijo is the nth youngest player in the league.

What is n?

I didn't realize he was a full year younger than Margot.

Also is Asuaje a prospect? 11th round pick, already 22 but has more walks than ks, and more xbh than ks.

 

[Merkle's Boner]

Wendell is the 4th youngest player in the SAL.

 

[Manzivino]

He had 38sb last year, on pace for 60 this year.

Merrero's ISO is .106, good to see.

 
Good point, but he's also getting on base more than he did last year which could inflate the SB totals. You motivated me to do the math, though. For a quick calculation for his SB attempt rate, I looked at his SB+CS numbers against how many times he reached first or second base (H + BB  + HBP + ROE minus HRs and triples since he has never attempted a steal of home that I can find mentioned). Here are the results:
 

Mookie Betts Stolen Base Attempt Rate

Year	Team	H	BB	HBP	ROE	3B	HR	SB Opp.	SB Att.	SB Att. Rate
2013	Greenville	82	58	1	7	1	8	139	20	14.39%
2013	Salem	63	23	1	6	3	7	83	22	26.51%
2014	Portland	40	11	0	1	1	4	47	13	27.66%

 
 
So he's running at a slightly higher rate than he did in Salem last year, but both of those are almost double the rate he was stealing in Greenville for the first half of the year.
 
****
 
On a separate note, while Swihart went 0-3, he drew his second walk of the season. The only thing missing from his game this year has been walks, while last year he sported a 2:3 BB-to-K ratio, so it would be great to see that part of his skillset reemerge.

 

[Cuzittt]

Portland loses 3-2.

Boxscore

Miguel Pena went 5 innings, giving up 5 hits, 2 walks, a WP and a Balk; Striking out 7. Robby Scott went 2 1/3 innings, allowing 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks; striking out one. Michael Olmsted went 1 2/3 innings, giving up 3 hits and striking out one.

Mookie Betts went 2/3 with a walk and a CS. Henry Ramos went 1/3 with a walk and a CS. Deven Marrero and Carlos Rivero each went 1/4 with a double; Marrero adding a SB. Derrik Gibson went 1/4. Stefan Welch and Blake Swihart each went 0/3 with a walk; Swihart adding a SB. Travis Shaw went 0/4. Peter Hissey went 0/3.

 

[Cuzittt]

Drive lose 7-2.

Boxscore

Teddy Stankiewicz went 5 innings, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits, a walk, a WP and a Balk; striking out 3. Jacob Dahlstrand went 3 innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits, a HBP and a walk; striking out 4.

Jantzen Witte went 2/3 with a walk. Bo Greenwell went 2/4 with a SB. Manuel Margot and Kendrick Perkins each went 1/4; Margot with a CS. Jimmy Rider went 1/3. Jordan Weems went 0/3. Tzu-Wei Lin, Carlos Asuaje, and Wendell Rijo each went 0/4.

 

[Cuzittt]

STORIES

SEADOGS

Game Story

The Portland Sea Dogs trailed 3-1 in the eighth inning Wednesday, but Mookie Betts led off with a walk and appeared to have stolen second base.

But he slid past the bag and was tagged out.

“Just kept sliding,” Betts said.

It was that kind of game for the Sea Dogs in their 3-2 loss to the Reading Fightin Phils on a frigid night at Hadlock Field.

Portland scored once in the ninth on Henry Ramos’ two-out, RBI single. But he was stranded when Derrik Gibson struck out.

The two teams are scheduled to play at 11 a.m. Thursday, if the rain holds off.

Wednesday’s game stayed mostly dry, but the 40-degree temperature did not make it comfortable.

The Sea Dogs (15-8) still have the best record in the Eastern League, percentage points ahead of the Trenton Thunder (16-9), who were rained out Wednesday night in New Hampshire.

Betts entered Wednesday’s game leading all minor leagues in batting and improved that average to .430 by going 2 for 3. His on-base percentage also jumped to .481 as he also walked.

Betts opened the first with a single and scored on Deven Marrero’s RBI double.

That 1-0 lead looked like it might hold up with Portland left-hander Mickey Pena on the mound.

While he stranded at least one runner in every inning – six in scoring position – Pena did not allow a run. He gave up four hits and two walks, striking out seven.

“I was mixing in pitches well and getting ahead of hitters,” Pena said.

But Pena’s pitch count hit 92 and he left after five innings.

DRIVE

Game Story

After a successful homestand, the Greenville Drive (13-10) have struggled to get things going on the road so far, as they dropped their second straight game to the Greensboro Grasshoppers (14-11), 7-2.

The Grasshoppers struck early, scoring a pair in the bottom of the first against Teddy Stankiewicz (3-2). Justin Bohn led off with a single and moved to third on Austin Dean's double, and RBI groundouts by Kentrell Dewitt and Juan Avila made the score 2-0.

In the top of the third, the Drive came back and scored two runs to tie the game. Jimmy Rider and Bo Greenwell hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners. After Greenwell swiped second base, Jantzen Witte hit an infield single to score Rider, and a throwing error by the Greensboro third baseman allowed Greenwell to trot home as well.

Those were the only runs the Drive could muster, as they were stifled by the Greensboro bullpen, particularly Matt Milroy (3-1), who fired five scoreless innings to finish the game while allowing only two hits and striking out five.

Greensboro added two more runs in the fifth against Stankiewicz and three more against reliever Jacob Dahlstrand. Dean's RBI single in the fifth plated Yefri Perez, who led off with a bunt single, and Avila hit another RBI groundout to push the score to 4-2.

Another RBI groundout, this one by Bohn, extended the Grasshoppers' lead to three, and RBI singles by Chad Wallach and Rehiner Cordova in the seventh tacked on even more insurance.

Greenwell and Witte had two hits apiece for the Drive. Greensboro was led offensively by Wallach and Avery Romero, who each had three hits. Bohn and Dean chipped in with two hits as well.