16 replies to this topic

[Cuzittt]

Today's Schedule:

IL: Pawtucket (Kyle Weiland) vs. Syracuse (Brad Meyers) [~4:35pm] [Fenway Park]
EL: Portland (Charlie Haeger) vs. Binghamton (Collin McHugh) [1:05pm] [Fenway Park]
CL: Salem (Chris Hernandez/Stolmy Pimentel) @ Wilmington (Justin Marks/Michael Mariot) [5:05pm]
SAL Greenville (Kyle Stroup) vs. Savannah (Tyler Whitenton) [7:05pm]
NYPL: Lowell (Jason Garcia) vs. Batavia (TBD) [5:05pm]
GCL: GCL Red Sox vs. Twins [10:00am]
DSL: DSL Sox vs Mets2 [10:30am]

Notes:

Ryan Khoury doubles chase (69) - Leader Chih-Hsien Chiang (72). [Portland Career Leaders]

Radio Broadcasts : MiLB Audio

[jonasi]

Boxes and Logs

Team	Box	Log	Gameday
Pawtucket	Box	Log	Gameday
Portland	Box	Log	Gameday
Salem	Box	Log	Gameday
Salem 2	Box	Log	Gameday
Greenville	Box	Log	Gameday
Lowell	Box	Log	Gameday
GCL	Box	Log	Gameday
DSL	Box	Log	Gameday

[Cuzittt]

GCL loses 5-4.

Boxscore

Zach Good went 2 1/3 innings, allowing 3 runs (2 earned) on 5 hits, a HBP and a walk; striking out 3. Oscar Melendez went 4 2/3 innings, allowing a run on 2 hits; striking out 2. Alexander Mateo went 2 innings, allowing a run on 4 hits, a HBP and a walk; striking out one.

Jose Colorado went 3/5 with a double. Cody Koback went 2/3 with a HBP. Jose Vinicio went 2/4 with a SB and a PO/CS. Zac Kapstein went 1/2 after replacing Lucas LeBlanc who went 1/3. Williams Jerez went 1/3 with a walk and a sacrifice. Jordan Weems went 1/4 with a double. Kendrick Perkins went 1/5. Nick Moore went 0/3 with a walk and a PO/CS. Dreilly Guerrero went 0/3 with a sacrifice.

[SoxScout]

That was Oscar Melendez's debut in the states. He is 17.

[Terras]

Alex Hassan belted his 11th home run of the year off the top of the camera porch in center field to tie the game at 2 and push his average over .300.

[Tarrsk]

Sea Dogs lose 6-4 as Chris Miller gives up four runs, including a 3-run homer, in the top of the 11th.

[Tarrsk]

Whoops, that of course should be Chris MARTIN.

[Cuzittt]

Portland loses 6-4 in 11 innings.

Boxscore

Charlie Haeger went 6 2/3 innings, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits, 3 walks and a WP; striking out 6. Josh Fields went 2 1/3 innings, walking one and striking out 2. Chris Martin went 2 innings, allowing 4 runs on 6 hits (1 HR); striking out one.

Alex Hassan went 3/4 with a HR and a walk. Ryan Khoury went 1/3 with a walk and a sacrifice. Jeremy Hazelbaker went 1/4 with a double, walk and SB. Jon Hee went 1/4 with a HBP. Mitch Dening and Reynaldo Rodriguez each went 1/5; Rodriguez with a double. Ryan Dent went 1/1 after replacing Dan Butler who went 0/4. Oscar Tejeda and Mark Wagner each went 0/5.

[Cuzittt]

DSL Sox win their final game of the season, 7-4.

Boxscore

Pedro Reyes went 5 innings, allowing 3 runs (2 earned) on 4 hits, a HBP, 2 WPs and a walk; striking out 4. Ellis Jimenez went 4 innings, allowing a run on 2 hits (1 HR); striking out 3.

Anthony Amaya went 2/3 with a double, 2 walks and a SB. Roberto Duncan went 2/5 and a SB. Cleuluis Rondon went 1/3 with 2 walks. Alixon Suarez went 1/3 with a walk and a HBP. Ynoel Aguero went 1/3 with a walk and a sacrifice. Jair Bogaerts went 1/4 with a walk. Jeremias Pineda went 1/5 with a triple. Andres Garcia went 0/3 with a walk and a HBP. David Sopilka went 0/4 with a walk.

[Cuzittt]

Pawsox lose 3-1.

Boxscore

Kyle Weiland went 5 innings, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits, 4 walks and a WP; striking out 5. Jason Rice went 3 innings, giving up a hit and striking out 4. Tommy Hottovy went 2/3rds of an inning, giving up a hit and striking out one. Michael Bowden got the final out.

Hector Luna and Daniel Nava each went 1/2 with a walk; Nava with a HR, Luna was CS. Lars Anderson, Luis Exposito and Jose Iglesias each went 1/3; Exposito with a double, Iglesias was picked off. Che-Hsuan Lin went 1/4. Brett Carroll and Will Middlebrooks each went 0/3. Ryan Kalish went 0/4.

[Cuzittt]

Salem loses game 1, 3-2.

Boxscore

Chris Hernandez went 6 innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits, 3 walks and a WP; striking out 3.

Shannon Wilkerson and Alex Valdez each went 2/3. Peter Hissey went 2/4 with a SB. Bryce Brentz went 1/2 with a walk. Heiker Meneses and Josue Peley each went 1/3. Kolbrin Vitek went 0/2 with a HBP. Derrik Gibson went 0/3 with a walk. Miles Head went 0/3.

[Cuzittt]

Lowell wins 2-1 in 10 innings.

Boxscore

Jason Garcia went 5 innings, allowing an unearned run on 5 hits, a HBP and a walk; striking out 6. Hunter Cervenka went 5 innings, giving up a hit and striking out 9.

Boss Moanaroa went 2/4 with a double. Jose Garcia went 2/5 with a CS. Matt Marquis went 1/2 with 2 walks. Adalberto Ibarra went 1/3 with a walk and a SB. Jason Thompson went 1/4. Oscar Perez went 0/3 with a sacrifice. Keury de la Cruz went 0/4 with a walk. Travis Shaw and Seth Schwindenhammer each went 0/4.

10th:

Pitcher Change: Zachary Arneson replaces Branden Pinder.
Jason Thompson singles on a fly ball to left fielder Cody Grice.
Offensive Substitution: Pinch runner Roberto Ramos replaces Jason Thompson.
Oscar Perez out on a sacrifice bunt, third baseman Tyler Austin to second baseman Angelo Gumbs. Roberto Ramos to 2nd.
Keury De La Cruz grounds out, second baseman Angelo Gumbs to first baseman Reymond Nunez. Roberto Ramos to 3rd.
Jose Garcia singles on a ground ball to center fielder Mason Williams. Roberto Ramos scores.

[Cuzittt]

Salem loses 6-2.

Boxscore

Stolmy Pimentel went 5 innings, allowing 5 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits (1 HR), a walk, a HBP and a WP; striking out 5. Tom Ebert went an inning, allowing a run on 3 hits and a walk.

Heiker Meneses went 2/3 with a triple. Kolbrin Vitek, Bryce Brentz, Miles Head and Alex Valdez each went 1/3; Brentz with a HR. Jorge Padron and Leonel Escobar each went 0/2 with a walk. Shannon Wilkerson went 0/3. Peter Hissey went 0/4.

[Cuzittt]

Drive lose 2-0.

Boxscore

Kyle Stroup went 4 innings, allowing an unearned run on 2 hits and a WP; striking out 2. Justin Erasmus went 3 innings, giving up 2 hits and striking out 2. Michael Gleason went 2 innings, allowing a run on 2 hits and 2 walks; striking out one.

Wilfred Pichardo went 2/3 with a double. Henry Ramos went 2/4 with a double. Christian Vazquez went 1/3 with a double and a walk. Felix Sanchez went 1/4. Xander Bogaerts and David Renfroe each went 0/3 with a walk. Drew Hedman went 0/3 before being replaced by Michael Almanzar who went 0/1. Brandon Jacobs and Sean Coyle each went 0/4.

[Eric Van]

Josh Fields went 2 1/3 innings, walking one and striking out 2.

So, he's now faced 48 hitters with the SeaDogs.

His K rate has gone from .219 to .354, which even in this SSS is almost statistically significant (p = .054).

He's reduced his BB rate from .180 to .146, which has a 58% chance of being random, but supports the notion that the K rate improvement has been real. If I could cook up a significance test for Command ( K- 2 * BB, per BFP), I'm sure it would be significant. The worst command of anyone who's pitched for Portland this year was Stolmy, with -.064. Fields in the Mariners' system was -.140, which is truly abysmal. With Portland he's .063, better than Wilson (.055) and bested only by Tazawa and Cabral.

His BABIP is essentially unchanged, and his HR/Contact has actually jumped (based on 1 HR allowed). But even so, his MLE Net ERA has gone from 6.47 with Jackson and 6.13 with Tacoma (the blow-up in his numbers after the promotion was actually less than you'd expect given the change in parks and leagues) to 4.07 with Portland.

We don't know whether he's simply on a hot streak or whether the change in teams is causative, but this is a real and not random difference. He did have a stretch of comparable command (.067) with Jackson from May 7 to May 21, but that was just 30 batters. And of course it would be mighty curious for another, longer streak to have started, by chance, right when he was traded.

[Cuzittt]

STORIES

PAWSOX

Game Story

The Pawtucket Red Sox scored a run in the first inning for the ninth time in their last 17 games, but that was all the offense they could muster in a 3-1 loss to the Syracuse Chiefs on Saturday at one of the annual Futures at Fenway games at Fenway Park.

Daniel Nava began the scoring with a two-out, solo home run over the home bullpen in the bottom of the first. It was somewhat reminiscent of his major-league debut last season, when he hit a grand-slam home run in the first pitch that he saw at Fenway Park. Nava now has six home runs in his last 43 at-bats.

Syracuse got single runs in the second, fifth and sixth innings for the win.

Brad Meyers (5-4) scattered five PawSox hits over six innings to earn the victory, lowering his season ERA to 3.62.

“They pitched well,” said Pawtucket manager Arnie Beyeler. “They worked ahead in the count and we didn’t have many chances. When we got guys on, we didn’t get too many of them past second base, and didn’t make much solid contact.”

PawSox starter Kyle Weiland (8-9) allowed all three Chiefs runs, and said afterward that he felt some discomfort.

“In the fifth and sixth I started to get a little bit of a cramp issue in my calf, and when you get something like that it throws you off a little bit,” he said. “Unfortunately I wasn’t able to overcome it, and that’s why they put up two more runs and why they won the game.”

SEADOGS

Game Story

For Sea Dogs fans, maybe the most distressing part of Saturday was not the 6-4, 11-inning loss to the Binghamton Mets before 14,515 at Fenway Park.

It was that Alex Hassan performed so well with much of the Boston Red Sox minor league front office watching.

The way productive prospects are being snatched off the Sea Dogs' roster, including Will Middlebrooks' promotion Friday, Hassan could be next.

During the annual Futures at Fenway doubleheader Saturday, Hassan enjoyed a 3-for-4 performance, including a two-run homer to center field that tied the game in the eighth.

The Mets know all about Hassan. With a runner on second and one out in the 10th, he was intentionally walked.

After Saturday, Hassan is batting .302 with 11 home runs. His OPS (combined on-base percentage and slugging average) is .889.

"Obviously he's put up some nice numbers," Sea Dogs Manager Kevin Boles said. "He's a guy who shows a lot of potential and in front of his home crowd, too."

For Hassan, from Milton, Mass., Saturday was extra special, playing in front of friends and family.

"It was cool," Hassan said. "Since I was a little kid, I thought about playing here."

Though Hassan's homer tied it, the Mets put up four in the top of the 11th, capped by Kai Gronauer's three-run homer off a newly promoted reliever, Chris Martin (0-1).

In the bottom of the 11th, Jon Hee's two-run single got Portland closer, but the Sea Dogs could get no more.

Mark Wagner

If you asked the ever-confident Wagner three years ago about playing in Fenway Park, he would have said it was all part of the plan.

But plans change.

Back in the spring of 2008, Wagner was preparing for his first season with the Portland Sea Dogs. He was considered the top catching prospect for the Red Sox by Baseball America. The publication deemed Wagner the most likely to succeed Jason Varitek in Boston.

Wagner, 27, was at Fenway on Saturday, but back in a Sea Dogs uniform. He served as Portland's designated hitter for the annual Futures at Fenway doubleheader.

"You never can tell," Wagner said. "That's why you have to show up and do your thing."

That Wagner can still talk about doing his thing -- and be upbeat in doing it -- speaks much of the man who began spring training on the Red Sox's 40-man roster and ended it in limbo.

Somewhere along Wagner's development, he no longer figured in Boston's future.

Maybe it began in 2009. After batting .301 in Portland, Wagner was promoted to Pawtucket and struggled, with a .214 average.

The 2010 season definitely lessened Wagner's stock. A fractured hamate bone and further hand issues limited Wagner to 36 games in Pawtucket. He batted .205.

Also in 2010, the Red Sox traded for Jarrod Saltalamacchia, a catcher Boston had pursued before and finally obtained.

Entering the 2011 spring camp, Wagner was No. 3 on the depth chart -- with Dusty Brown moved on to the Pirates -- behind Saltalamacchia and Varitek.

Wagner had no major league experience but never has been short of confidence.

"I knew they wanted (Saltalamacchia) for a long time," Wagner said. "And me being cocky and stubborn, I'm thinking, 'all right I'm coming off a couple of hand surgeries but let's see what this guy's got.' "

Saltalamacchia had a good spring, as did Varitek. The only question was their durability. If they were injured, were the Red Sox comfortable with the inexperienced Wagner being called up?

The answer turned out to be no. On March 31, the Red Sox traded for Rockies catcher Michael McHenry, a player with a solid reputation although only six games of major league experience.

SALEM

Game 1

After two days of rainouts the Salem Red Sox finally got to play a baseball game against Wilmington, scoring a pair of late runs but ultimately losing 3-2 to the Blue Rocks in the first game of a doubleheader at Frawley Stadium on Saturday.

The second game wasn't completed by press time.

Wilmington (20-32) would get all the runs it needed in the third inning.

Jared Dyer doubled and scored a run, Michael Liberto singled and scored and Whit Merrifield crossed the plate to give the Blue Rocks a 3-0 lead.

Salem (24-29) got on the scoreboard in the fifth inning when Shannon Wilkerson scored on a Derrik Gibson groundout.

The Sox inched a bit closer in the sixth inning when Heiker Meneses scored on a Wilkerson single.

But the scoring ended there as Salem couldn't muster any offense in the seventh frame.

Chris Hernandez (10-6) took the loss for Salem, pitching all six innings.

He allowed three runs on five hits and three walks with three strikeouts.

Michael Mariot (8-3) got the win for Wilmington, allowing one run on six hits in five innings of work. He also had four strikeouts.

Notes

Heiker Meneses celebrated his 20th birthday on July 1 playing for the low-A Greenville Red Sox. Four days later, he was playing double-A baseball in Portland, Maine.

There was no stop in between.

Meneses, who hit .277 in Greenville to start his first full season of professional ball, was supposed to make a fill-in appearance at shortstop in Portland. But from July 5 through July 28, he hit better than .300 for the Sea Dogs, and he stuck with the team until being sent to Salem on Aug. 9.

"I liked it; it was good baseball," Meneses said of Portland, through the translation of coach Alex Ochoa. "It was a good level to learn."

Meneses said he wasn't intimidated by playing with much older players. He plays winter ball in his native Venezuela with "much older players, even big leaguers."

Meneses spent last season with the rookie Gulf Coast League Red Sox, hitting .250 in 56 games.

"I'm working hard this year, from Greenville to the level of competition at Portland to here," Meneses said. "It's helped me."

It must have. In the nine games since he joined Salem, Meneses has not once gone hitless. He is hitting .447 with five doubles, two triples and five RBIs playing either at shortstop or second base.

"I'm just trying to work hard, to play hard," he said. "On a daily basis, be consistent. I'm working hard and taking it [the hard work] to the game."

Game 2

In game two, the Blue Rocks three-run rally kicked off the ballgame, with three of the first four Rocks reaching against Stolmy Pimentel. John Whittleman's two-run double gave Wilmington a 2-0 lead, and Whittleman crossed the plate on Yem Prades' ground ball that Heiker Meneses overthrew to first.

Whittleman picked up his third RBI by belting a solo bomb to lead off the third, surging the Blue Rocks to a 4-0 edge and becoming just the third Blue Rock ever to record 20 homers in a season. The Red Sox responded in the top of the fourth, with Alex Valdez singling to drive in an unearned tally against Tim Melville. But the Blue Rocks reassumed their four-run edge in the bottom of the fourth, manufacturing a run following Deivy Batista's single. He advanced to second on an error, moved to third on a strikeout throw to first, and then scurried home on a wild pitch, making it 5-1.

Brentz' bomb off Melville brought the Sox within three, but Batista scored his second run of the game on Carlo Testa's two-out RBI single in the bottom of the sixth. Up 6-2, Melville handed the baton to Dusty Odenbach, who pitched around a one-out walk in the seventh to preserve the victory.

Meneses led the Red Sox with three hits, connecting in both ballgames to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Valdez also chipped in three hits in the double-dip, while Wilkerson mustered two hits in game one but went hitless in the nightcap, snapping his streak at 10 games.

SPINNERS

Game Story

Lowell Spinners pitchers walked just one batter through 10 innings and Jose Garcia delivered a 10th inning single up the middle, scoring pinch-runner Roberto Ramos, for a walk-off win over the Staten Island Yankees Saturday evening in Lowell, 2-1.

Scoreless through the three innings, the teams traded fourth inning runs with each team taking advantage of miscues by the other.

Staten Island (37-23) broke through first after a one-out single by Tyler Austin. Rey Nunez was hit by a pitch, putting runners at second and third before a force out put runners at the corner. Garcia appeared to get the third out on a would be force out at second, but the throw sailed into right field, allowing Austin to score and giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

Lowell (25-35) got even in the bottom half of the inning after a one-out infield single by Adalberto Ibarra. Ibarra moved to second on a throwing error by the Yankees starter, Matt Tracy, stealing third base and scoring on Matt Marquis single to center.

From there the two team's traded scoreless innings through regulation, with Hunter Cervenka (2-6, 5.36) having his best outing of the year, throwing five scoreless innings while allowing just one hit, striking out a season-high nine batters.

In the bottom of the 11th inning, Jason Thompson led off the frame with a single to left field. Ramos came on as a pinch-runner and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Oscar Perez. A Keury De La Cruz ground out moved Ramos to third and he came around to score on Garcia's base-hit as his teammates came charging out of the dugout to mob Garcia.

The win was the Spinners second consecutive win and second walk-off win of the season.

[Lose Remerswaal]

Globe article in print had the Sea Dogs winning 4-2 in 11 innings. Guess the "journalist" missed the top of the 11th