7/6 MiLB Gameday: Owens for #12

[Cuzittt]

Today's Games:

IL:Pawtucket (Rubby de la Rosa) @ Columbus (Zach McAllister) [6:05pm]
EL: Portland (Henry Owens) vs. New Britain (Taylor Rogers) [1:05pm]
CL:Salem (Corey Littrell) @ Carolina (Adam Plutko) [2:05pm]
SAL: Greenville (Trey Ball) @ Augusta (Carlos Diaz) [2:05pm]
NYPL: Lowell (Jake Drehoff) @ Tri-City (Luis Ordosgoitti) [5:05pm]
GCL: GCL Sox - OFF
DSL: DSL Sox - OFF

Notes:


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

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

Dominant outing by Owens
 
8IP, 3H, 1ER, 1BB 11K
 
It's time.

 

[RoDaddy]

Time for AAA or Fenway

And how about some love for Derrik Gibson! Hitting well over .300 with an OBP north of .400, good defensively, can play multiple positions, and has some speed to boot. He looks like a decent utility prospect for the bigs and seems deserving of promotion to AAA

 

[Cuzittt]

Portland wins 6-1.

Boxscore

Henry Owens went 8 innings, allowing a run on 3 hits, a walk and a WP; striking out 11. Noe Ramirez pitched the 9th, giving up 2 hits and striking out one.

Keury de la Cruz and Heiker Meneses each went 2/4; Meneses with a double. Derrik Gibson went 2/5 with a double. Shannon Wilkerson went 1/3 with a sacrifice. Sean Coyle went 1/3 with a SF. Michael Almanzar went 1/3 with a walk. Peter Hissey went 1/3 with a HBP. David Chester went 1/4. Blake Swihart went 0/4.

 

[Cuzittt]

Salem wins 8-2.

Boxscore

Corey Littrell went 7 innings, allowing a run on 3 hits and 2 walks; striking out 4. Matty Ott went 2 innings, allowing an unearned run on 2 hits and a walk; striking out 2.

Mike Miller went 2/4 with a double and a HBP. Aneury Tavarez went 2/4 with a HR, HBP and SB. Jantzen Witte and Kevin Heller each went 2/5 with a double. Matty Johnson went 1/3 with a walk and a HBP. Reed Gragnani went 1/5. Leonel Escobar and Jose Vinicio each went 0/3 with a walk. Mario Martinez went 0/5.

 

[Cuzittt]

Drive lose 10-5.

Boxscore

Trey Ball went 5 innings, allowing 5 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits, 2 walks and a WP; striking out 8. Taylor Grover went 3 innings, allowing 5 runs (4 earned) on 2 hits (1 HR), a walk and 3 WPs; striking out 6.

Wendell Rijo went 2/3 with a double and a SF. Tzu-Wei Lin went 2/5 with 2 doubles. Carlos Coste went 1/2 with 2 walks. Carlos Asuaje went 1/4 with a triple and a HBP. Kendrick Perkins went 1/4 after replacing Forrestt Allday who walked in his only PA. Tim Roberson went 1/5 with a double. Manuel Margot went 0/2 with 2 walks. Kevin Mager and Jimmy Rider each went 0/4.

 

[Cuzittt]

Spinners lose 11-3.

Boxscore

Jake Drehoff went 4 innings, allowing 5 runs (4 earned) on 10 hits (1 HR), a walk and a WP; striking out 3. Oscar Perez went 1 1/3 innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits (1 HR) and a walk. Ellis Jimenez went an inning, allowing 3 runs on 2 hits, a HBP and a walk; striking out one. Edwar Garcia went 1 2/3 innings, walking one.

Cole Sturgeon went 2/4 with a triple and a SB. Jordan Betts went 2/4. Bryan Hudson, Sam Travis, Mauricio Dubon, Deiner Lopez and Mike Meyers each went 1/4; Hudson with a SB. Alixon Suarez went 0/3. Franklin Guzman went 0/4.

 

[Cuzittt]

Pawsox fall short, 5-4.

Boxscore

Rubby de la Rosa went an inning, walking one and striking out one. Chris Hernandez went 4 innings, allowing 5 runs (4 earned) on 5 hits (1 HR) and 3 walks; striking out 3. Jose Valdez went 2 innings, giving up a hit and striking out one. Miguel Celestino went an inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.

Ryan Roberts went 3/4 with a walk. Deven Marrero went 3/4 with a double. Mike Carp went 2/4 with a double and a walk. Travis Shaw went 1/4 with a double and a walk. Garin Cecchini, Christian Vazquez and Alex Hassan each went 1/4; Hassan with a double, Cecchini with a SB. Andres Torres and Carlos Rivero each went 0/5.

 

[Cuzittt]

STORIES

SEADOGS

Game Story

The Portland Sea Dogs (59-29) used eight innings from Henry Owens and a four-run eighth to down the New Britain Rock Cats (42-43) 6-1 in the series finale Sunday afternoon at Hadlock Field. The win completes the three-game series sweep for Portland and ups the season series to 11-5 in favor of the 'Dogs.

For the third game in a row, the Sea Dogs took the lead in the first inning, thanks to Sean Coyle. Derrik Gibson and Shannon Wilkerson had a double and single respectively to begin the game against Taylor Rogers, and Coyle plated a run with a sacrifice fly to right field, which made it 1-0.

Owens was on the hill for Portland and the lefty settled into an early groove, right out of the gate. He retired the first nine men he faced, until Tony Thomas shot a triple to the wall in right-center to begin the fourth. Reynaldo Rodriguez followed two batters later with a double to left-center that tied the game at 1-1.

Rogers himself settled in and made it a pitcher's duel and tossed three scoreless after the first, keeping it tied heading to the fifth. The southpaw ran into trouble in the fifth and gave up back-to-back singles to Heiker Meneses and Gibson to begin the frame.

Shannon Wilkerson sacrificed the runners into scoring position with a bunt and Blake Swihart struck out to bring Coyle again to the plate for an RBI opportunity. The third baseman hit a high-chopper in front of the plate, which carried to the third baseman, but Coyle beat it for an infield single and Meneses scored to make it 2-1 Portland.

Owens (12-3) went right back to form after he allowed the run in the fourth and delivered a perfect fifth and struck out the side in the sixth. Big-O gave up a leadoff walk in the seventh, but struck out the final two hitters in the inning, strikeouts nine and ten on the day for Owens.

The lefty completed the eighth, and his final inning, with a strikeout to the former Sea Dog Thomas, his 11th of the day. Owens tied career-highs with the eight innings pitched and 11 strikeouts on the afternoon. His final line went eight innings, allowed the run on three hits; he walked one and struck out the 11.

SALEM

Game Story

Corey Littrell was dominant, going seven innings for a second straight start, and the Salem Red Sox beat the Carolina Mudcats 8-2 at Five County Stadium Sunday afternoon. It's the Sox first road win on a Sunday since the first weekend of the year, after losing six straight. Littrell held the Mudcats to just three hits and a run in his seven innings, with two walks and four strikeouts.



Despite the lopsided final score, the Mudcats scored first for the third straight game. Yhoxian Medina led off the bottom of the first with a double followed by a single to Erik Gonzalez to set up first and third and no one out. Carolina would manage just one more hit off Littrell the rest of the way. Joe Sever bounced into a double play, which was enough to bring the run home and give Carolina a 1-0 lead.



The Sox went hitless in the first two frames, but the offense took life in the third off Mudcats starter Adam Plutko. Six consecutive hits would lead to six Salem runs. Matty Johnson started the frame with a single, followed by a double by Mike Miller to put runners on second and third. Then consecutive RBI singles by Reed Gragnani and Jantzen Witte gave the Sox a 2-1 lead. Kevin Heller doubled in a third run, and then Aneury Tavarez extended his hit streak to seven games with a two RBI single to give the Sox a 5-0 lead. A batter later, Mario Martinez would reach on a throwing error by Yhoxian Medina, scoring Tavarez and giving the Sox a 6-0 lead, all with no outs. Plutko was removed for Rob Nixon, who retired the next three to end the inning.



Plutko finished with two innings pitched, allowing six runs, five earned, on six hits. Nixon would retire the next nine Sox, throwing four hitless innings in relief.



The Sox struck again in the seventh off Benny Suarez. Jantzen Witte doubled to lead off the frame, follow by a single by Heller to make it first and third. Tavarez reached on a fielder's choice which scored Witte and made it 7-1. Tavarez added the cherry on top of his excellent afternoon with a solo home run in the ninth to give the Sox a 8-1 edge. Aneury finished 2-4, reached base four times, and drove in four.



The Mudcats scratched a run in the ninth off Matty Ott. LeVon Washington singled in Joe Sever to cut the deficit to six. But Ott shut the door from their, going two innings out of the 'pen, with two hits and a unearned allowed.

DRIVE

Game Story

The Greenville Drive (3-15, 37-50) were done in by sloppy defense on Sunday afternoon, committing six errors in a 10-5 loss to the Augusta GreenJackets (8-10, 42-44). With the win, the GreenJackets clinched a sweep of the three-game series and extended the Drive's losing skid to 13.

With the score 5-5 in the bottom of the sixth, Augusta took the lead for good when Cristian Paulino walloped a two-run homer off Taylor Grover (0-3) to score Gabriel Cornier, who drew a leadoff walk. They would add three more runs in the eighth on a throwing error and a wild pitch.

Robert Ramer (1-0) was the star of the game for the GreenJackets, delivering five scoreless relief innings, allowing only two hits and striking out six to pick up the victory.

Drive starter Trey Ball had a solid outing while pitching around defensive miscues. He allowed five runs in five innings, with only one earned, while walking two and striking out a career-high eight.

An RBI double by Tzu-Wei Lin and an RBI groundout by Carlos Asuaje put the Drive up 2-0 against Carlos Diaz in the top of the first, but Augusta scored twice in the bottom half following a Drive error and an Eric Sim RBI single.

Wendell Rijo drove home a run with a sacrifice fly in the third, and the GreenJackets countered with three runs thanks to a Drive error and RBI hits by Sim and Cornier.

Back-to-back doubles by Lin and Tim Roberson knotted things up at five in the fourth.

SPINNERS

Game Story

The Lowell Spinners had no answer for the Tri-City ValleyCats offense all weekend long as the ValleyCats once again scored early and often, completing a three-game sweep of the Spinners with an 11-3 win Sunday evening at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.

Tri-City (15-8) picked-up right where they left off Saturday night, getting to Jake Drehoff for two first inning runs to jump out to an early 2-0 lead.

The ValleyCats would continue their offensive barrage, which included seven hits in the first two innings, plating two additional runs in the second inning to extend the lead to 4-0 on two-run double by J.D Davis.

Lowell (11-12) would scratch across a run in the top half of the fourth inning after Cole Sturgeon tripled to the left field gap to lead off the inning, scoring on a Sam Travis RBI single. A passed ball moved Travis to second and a Jordan Betts single gave the Spinners runners on the corners with one out, but a Mauricio Dubon double play ended the inning and ultimately the Spinners best chance of the day.

Tri-City would add a single run in the bottom half of the inning to again push the lead to four where the score would remain into the sixth inning. There, Spinners' reliever Oscar Perez would run into trouble, allowing a three-run home run by Davis to extend the Cats lead to 8-1.

The Spinners again plated a single run in the seventh, scoring on a Mike Meyers RBI single, but again left two men on base without plating an additional run. It would prove costly, as the ValleyCats once again answered a Spinners run, this time with three of their own. After the first three men reached to lead off the inning, a Ryan Bottger two-run double capped a three run inning to push Tri-City's lead to 11-2.

Lowell added a run in the eighth, with Bryan Hudson creating his own offense after a lead-off single. Hudson promptly stole second, took third on a throwing error by the catcher and scored on a Cole Sturgeon single, making the score 11-3, where it would remain.

 

[Plympton91]

I was at the Spinners game tonight. What a wasteland.

Drehoff sat at 86, topping out at 88 with not great secondary stuff or control. I fail to see why he should even be in the organization. The rest of the people pitching similarly lacked anything resembling velocity, with only one pitch all night registering 90 on the stadium gun.

Sam Travis held his own at the plate, hitting the ball hard twice and not swinging at junk. But, alas, he was pretty bad at 1B, missing in particular two very catchable scoops that ended up errors on the SS and looking very uncomfortable going back on a routine foul pop.

MiLB.com says the shortstop had the best defensive tools among 2013 Red Sox draftees. He had a lot of chances tonight and showed pretty good range but an average at best arm (see the two throws referenced above).

The highlight of the night for the Spinners was RF Guzman, who showed plus arm strength throwing out a runner at home despite being on the move sideways medium deep in the gap to cut off a single, then showing good range in running down a ball in the RF corner, and great instincts and arm strength again in making a lightning quick catch and throw transition to double off a runner who went just a little too far past halfway toward third base on a line drive to right field.

The Astros 3rd rounder this year, JD Davis, is an absolute beast. Too good for the NY Penn League. Among other exploits, he hit an opposite field HR that my dad said was the longest he'd seen in 10 years of season ticket holdings.

 

[jscola85]

Is Mike Miller turning into a guy who could at least be useful off the bench in the future?  I know he is like 5-7 without a great pedigree and is 24 in A+ ball, but between Greenville last year and Salem this year, he's shown really good contact numbers and seems to walk enough as well.  Any sense for how his defense plays?  We've got an embarrassment of riches at the middle infield spots these days, but never hurts to have a bit more.

 

[Coachster]

Dominant outing by Owens
 
8IP, 3H, 1ER, 1BB 11K
 
It's time.

I was at the game. I'm not sure it's time. He topped out at 92, but many of his two-seamers were below 90. We all know he can change speeds; he threw a couple changes at 70-72. Nice control and his demeanor on the hill is cool; relaxed and focused.

I just think there's a disconnect between his upper and lower body. He doesn't use his legs much to pitch. He made two mistakes with change-ups and AA hitters punished him both times.

Up to Pawtucket? Sure. He's not ready for the show IMHO

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

I was at the game. I'm not sure it's time. He topped out at 92, but many of his two-seamers were below 90. We all know he can change speeds; he threw a couple changes at 70-72. Nice control and his demeanor on the hill is cool; relaxed and focused.

I just think there's a disconnect between his upper and lower body. He doesn't use his legs much to pitch. He made two mistakes with change-ups and AA hitters punished him both times.

Up to Pawtucket? Sure. He's not ready for the show IMHO

That's all I meant

 

[LondonSox]

I am happily surprised by Owens results and the numbers at this level for so long start to make my doubts about the fastball and third pitch look stupid. But coachster comments are exactly what I hear from too many.

I really really hope he continues to make me look stupid for years. But...