Sweating after the A’s almost came back against the Red Sox last night? Although the outcome never felt in jeopardy, even in the ninth while Trey Wingenter had some first-game jitters, I’ll have you know there were some other members of the farm that had some jitters Tuesday, namely defensively. Let’s get into it!
Worcester: L, 1-5 (BOX SCORE)
Fun fact: Matt Lugo, one of two WooSox with two hits off the Red Wings (Nationals AAA) Tuesday night, is the nephew of Carlos Beltran. Also fun fact: Travis Blankenhorn is a quad-A extraordinaire, as Jason Alexander got Art Vandelay’d for the Red Wings outfielder’s 17th home run of the season. It was a forgettable performance for Alexander, although not too rough, and he may not have gotten the loss had the WooSox gotten more than one hit in the final four innings of this one, or perhaps had a hit with runners in scoring position. While I don’t want to spend too much time on the loss, this is your daily reminder that Nick Yorke could be something special, as he went 2-for-3 with a walk, again being a bright spot in this offense.
Portland: W, 7-3 (BOX SCORE)
The middle of the Sea Dogs lineup, now featuring the tantalizing Kristian Campbell batting cleanup behind the big three, came through in a big way, as holes three through seven all had multiple-hit games. To boot, Sikes, who’d be middle of the lineup on most AA teams, went 2-for-4 with a stolen base and a longball into the Hartford (Rockies AA) seats to open the game to 3-0 early. Meanwhile, every start Hunter Dobbins has been having lately feels like the new best start of his season; this is the seventh time he has reached six innings, and this time he held the Yard Goats scoreless and struck out six.
Speaking of the big three, according to Craig Breslow, don’t expect to see them in Boston, or even Worcester, any point immediately soon. Development over allure; although it’s pretty alluring anyway to see Mayer and Teel over .300 on the season, even if the former had a rough night Tuesday. Besides, it does make more sense to see this logjam in front of Mayer in particular clear up either artificially or through transactions *cough cough*, anyway.
Greenville: PPD to 7/11, Rain
Georgia rain made playing baseball Tuesday night an impossibility. A struggling Dalton Rogers takes the mound against the Emperors (Braves High-A) tonight as the Drive look to take game one and build toward their first outright series win since May 7-12.
Although they struck out 15 times, Salem actually didn’t hit too badly Down East (sorry, IN Down East, and not the Maine one, either) against the Wood Ducks (Rangers A) and left just five men on, going .375 with runners in scoring position, Noah Dean just got hit hard to start, giving up four runs in the first inning. Oh, yeah, and there’s the fact that they might as well have had circus music playing during their defensive plays. They made SIX errors on the night, two from Dean on botched pickoff attempts, two more on catcher Brooks Brannon on errant throws (in other words, if you or I wanted to run on this tandem, we could have) and two on last year’s second-round pick Nazzan Zanetello, who now has a .833 fielding percentage and eleven errors in 22 games as a non-designated hitter. At least Brannon hit a home run, but it’s hard to win making six errors.
Have a happy Wednesday!
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