4/5 MiLB Gameday: A Game Under Natural Light

[Cuzittt]

Today's Games:

IL:Pawtucket (Rubby de la Rosa) vs. Lehigh Valley (Sean O'Sullivan) [1:05pm]
EL: Portland (Miguel Pena) @ Reading (Hoby Milner) [6:05pm]
CL:Salem (Luis Diaz) @ Myrtle Beach (Alex Gonzalez) [7:05pm]
SAL: Greenville (Pat Light) @ Kannapolis (Robinson Leyer) [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:
 
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]

Looks like a great start for Rubby today.  No walks.

 

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

Mookie leads off with another double.  Only 8 for 10 with four XBH to start the season....ho hum.

 

[Cuzittt]

Pawsox win 6-4.

Boxscore

Rubby de la Rosa went 5 innings, giving up 2 hits and striking out 5. Chris Resop went an inning+, allowing 3 runs on a hit and 3 walks; striking out one. Drake Britton went 2 innings, allowing an unearned run on 2 hits and a walk; striking out one. Brayan Villareal went an inning, walking one and striking out one.

Garin Cecchini went 3/3 with a walk. Brandon Snyder went 2/3 with a walk and a HR. Alex Hassan went 2/5 with a double. Mike McCoy went 1/3 with a walk. Dan Butler and Bryce Brentz each went 1/4; Brentz with a walk, Butler with a double. Ryan Lavarnway went 0/4 with a walk. Heiker Meneses went 0/4. Brock Holt went 0/5.

 

[Manzivino]

Mookie up now, 2 on, 2 out, top of the 9th, down by 1.
 
Edit: No joy in Mudville.

 

[Cuzittt]

Seadogs lose their first of the year, 3-2.

Boxscore

Miguel Pena went 3 innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits, 2 walks, a WP and a HBP; striking out 2. Matty Ott went 2 2/3 innings, giving up a hit and 2 walks; striking out 3. Nathan Reed went 1 1/3 innings, allowing a run on 2 hits and 2 walks; striking out 2. Michael Olmstead went an inning, giving up 2 hits and a walk; striking out one.

Travis Shaw went 2/3 with a walk. Blake Swihart went 2/4 with a double. Mookie Betts went 1/4 with a double, walk and SB. Shannon Wilkerson, Sean Coyle and Derrik Gibson each went 1/4; Gibson with a CS. Stefan Welch went 0/2 with a walk and a SF. Carlos Rivero went 0/3 with a walk. Henry Ramos went 0/4.

 

[mabrowndog]

Old friend Nefi Ogando (traded to the Phillies last August for John McDonald) picked up the win for Reading, pitching a scoreless 6th & 7th.

 

[mabrowndog]

A couple of superb outings tonight for the Class A clubs:
 
Pat Light, Greenville: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 10 K, 0 BB
Luis Diaz, Salem: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 7 K, 0 BB
 
Diaz is still in there with a 4-1 lead, and struck out the side in the 7th.

 

[Cuzittt]

Drive win, 8-2.

Boxscore

Pat Light went 6 innings, allowing a run on 4 hits; striking out 10. Raynel Velette went 2 innings, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits and a walk; striking out 3. Jonathan Aro went the final inning, giving up a hit and 2 walks while striking out the side.

Tzu-Wei Lin went 2/3 with a walk and a SF. Zach Kapstein went 2/4 with a double. Carlos Asuaje and Jimmy Rider each went 2/5 with a double, Asuaje adding a triple. Jake Romanski and Kevin Mager each went 1/4 with a walk. Jantzen Witte went 1/4 with a SF. Aaron King went 1/5 with a double. Jesus Loya went 0/3 with a walk.

 

[Cuzittt]

Salem stays undefeated, winning 5-2.

Boxscore

Luis Diaz went 5 innings, giving up 3 hits and striking out 3. Justin Haley went 3 innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits (1 HR); striking out 4. Kyle Kraus went an inning, striking out one and throwing a WP.

Reed Gragnani went 4/5. Mario Martinez went 3/5 with a double. Ryan Dent went 2/3 with a walk, HBP and SB. Matt Gedman went 2/5 with 2 doubles. Kevin Heller went 1/4 with a walk. Jose Vinicio went 0/2 before being replaced by Dreily Guerrero who also went 0/2. Jayson Hernandez went 0/4. Matty Johnson and David Chester each went 0/5.

 

[mabrowndog]

Luis Diaz, Salem: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 7 K, 0 BB
 
Diaz is still in there with a 4-1 lead, and struck out the side in the 7th.

 

Luis Diaz went 5 innings, giving up 3 hits and striking out 3. 

 
I have no idea what the hell was being displayed in the box score earlier, but it wasn't my imagination.

 

[Cuzittt]

 
 
I have no idea what the hell was being displayed in the box score earlier, but it wasn't my imagination.

Sometimes... the pitching changes don't show up immediately. It happens relatively often actually.

 

[Again2004]

Outings by Rubby de la Rosa and Pat Light are impressive.

 

[Merkle's Boner]

Light is an interesting guy. I remember hearing a lot about him when he was drafted out of Monmouth.  BA had him listed as their Sleeper Prospect in this year's Prospect Handbook.  Very promising start, particularly the 10/0 K/BB ratio.
 
I imagine a few more of those and he's on to Salem as he's clearly old for the level.

 

[Cuzittt]

STORIES

PAWSOX

Game Story

The PawSox built a 6-0 lead through six innings Saturday thanks to the pitching of Rubby De La Rosa. He went five shutout innings, allowing only two hits, with no walks and five strikeouts. Pawtucket won, 6-4, over Lehigh Valley.

De La Rosa, who came over in the big trade with the Dodgers, was on a strict pitch count last season as he continued to recover from Tommy John surgery. He was removed against the IronPigs after throwing 70 pitches, five below his target for the day.

“He had weapons today,” manager Kevin Boles said. “He was very efficient, had the three-pitch mix, a quick hand with the change up; had bite to his slider and the fastball was crisp. He was able to locate and keep the ball down. I thought it was pretty impressive what he did, a great first outing for him.”

Cecchini impressing

It has taken Garin Cecchini all of three games to begin turning heads with the Pawtucket Red Sox.

The third baseman who led all of minor league baseball with a .443 on-base percentage in 2013 has picked up in the International League where he left off in Salem and Portland last season. The left-handed hitter currently ranked as the sixth best prospect in the Boston organization can flat out hit. Beyond that, his batting eye — he had more walks (94) than strikeouts (86) last season — makes him an even bigger offensive force.

Cecchini reached base on all four of his trips to the plate, with three hits and a walk, on Saturday as the PawSox beat Lehigh Valley, 6-4, at McCoy. In three games so far, Cecchini has reached on seven of his 11 plate appearances, a gaudy .636 OBP. He is 5-for-9 with two walks, has scored twice, driven in three and stolen a base.

“He can hit,” said Pawtucket manager Kevin Boles, who also had Cecchini in Portland last season. “He’s a very good player.”

“He’s a good looking young hitter. His management of the strike zone is advanced for his age. He has quick hands, the ball carries off his bat. He’s impressive,” Boles offered. “He’s a fast-twitch bat, there’s no doubt about it.”

A 22-year-old from Louisiana, Cecchini put together a career .417 OBP in his first three years. The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder is intriguing because he has an unusual mix of talents. He is rated a solid, but not great fielder. Scouts call his speed average, yet he has such good instincts on the bases that he stole 23 bases last season. He does not have the prototypical power of a corner infielder — he had seven home runs last season — but he has such gap power (33 doubles and seven triples in 2013) that his slugging percentage is consistently high. The son of a coach — actually both his parents are coaches — he knows the game and plays it the right way.

SEADOGS

Game Story

Nate Reed didn’t have a good scouting report on Reading Fightin Phils right fielder Kelly Dugan.

Apparently, neither does most of baseball since Dugan gave up switch-hitting two years ago.

Dugan, who hits strictly from the left side now, doesn’t care who’s on the mound these days. He showed that Saturday night, stroking both his hits off lefties, including the go-ahead RBI single in the seventh that lifted the Fightin Phils over the Portland Sea Dogs 3-2 in an Eastern League game at blustery FirstEnergy Stadium.

Reed, a 26-year-old left-hander signed as a free agent in the offseason, got his first action of the year out of the Sea Dogs bullpen.

Naturally the emotions were swirling deep inside. Not only was this his first appearance in the Red Sox organization but he was doing it on home turf, just two miles from where he grew up outside Reading and on a field where he had played in high school and college.

He quelled those emotions sufficiently with his first pitch, a fastball that retired lefty swinging Zach Collier to end a scoring threat in the sixth.

The next inning didn’t go so well. Reed left a change-up up in the zone to Cameron Perkins, who smacked a leadoff double.

Next came Dugan, a former second-round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies who entered the season ranked as its No. 17 prospect by Baseball America.

Reed fell behind 3-1, then challenged Dugan with a fastball that the 23-year-old ripped into right-center for a 3-2 lead.

Dugan batted .342 with a .525 slugging percentage against left-handers last season, which he split between Class A Clearwater and Reading. He batted .272/.498 against right-handers.

SALEM

Game Story

Reed Gragnani collected four hits, Luis Diaz dialed in for five dominant innings, and the Salem Sox kept up their winning ways with a 5-2 triumph over the Pelicans on Saturday night at TicketReturn.Com Field. The defending Carolina League champs, who finished 2013 with 11 consecutive victories, improved to 3-0 in the new season, the only squad in the circuit to remain undefeated in 2014. On Sunday, the Sox will seek a series sweep and a 15th straight win, which would set a new franchise record and move Salem within one victory of the 1950 Winston-Salem Spirits, who won 16 games in a row to establish a mark that has stood for 64 years.
Facing Texas' top draft pick from 2013, the Red Sox offense scored three times in the first inning and led wire-to-wire, handing highly-touted prospect Chi Chi Gonzalez the loss. Matt Gedman drilled a two-run double into the left-field corner to get Salem on the board, and Gragnani's first single plated Gedman to make it 3-0 after half an inning.
Meanwhile, Diaz established his mid-90s fastball quickly, setting down 14 of the first 15 batters he faced. In five efficient innings, Diaz tossed 40 of his 58 pitches for strikes and permitted only three singles, showing an improved curveball that helped him strike out three. In relief, Justin Haley piggybacked and flashed signs of brilliance. Although he yielded one run in the sixth and another run in the eighth, he fanned the side in the seventh, racking up four strikeouts in his three innings on the hill. Kyle Kraus emerged in the ninth and did not allow a hit in pursuit of the save.
Salem scored its second run thanks to Matty Johnson's sensational speed. With one out in the fourth, Johnson's dribbler to the mound was misplayed by Gonzalez, with Johnson reaching safely on an error. He moved to second on Ryan Dent's single, took third on a pitch that squirted slightly away from Myrtle Beach catcher Jorge Alfaro, and easily sprinted home when Alfaro's daring throw soared into left field. This fourth inning sequence accounted for two of Myrtle Beach's four errors in the game.

DRIVE

Game Story

Pat Light struggled with the Greenville Drive in 2013, allowing 28 earned runs in 281/3 innings.

The 2014 season got off to a much more promising start for Light, a first-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 2012.

Light allowed one run in six innings Saturday night while striking out 10 to lead the Drive to an 8-2 win against the Intimidators before 2,117 at CMC-Northeast Stadium.

Light (1-0) allowed only four hits and did not walk a batter. Kannapolis scored in the second on a double by Jacob Morris and a single by Jeremy Dowdy, but Light allowed only one more base runner.

Leading 2-1, the Drive broke the game open with a six-run third. The first four batters reached on hits, including a run-scoring double by Aaron King and a run-scoring single by Jimmy Rider that chased Kannapolis starter Robinson Leyer (0-1). Reliever Jose Brito then threw a wild pitch to bring in another run and walked Jesus Loya before giving up a two-run double to Zach Kapstein. One later, Tzu-Wei Lin capped the outburst with a sacrifice fly.

Kapstein, Lin, Rider, Carlos Asuaje and Jake Romanski each had two hits for Greenville (2-1).