Red Sox Minor League Report: Franklin Arias On Fire, Yoeilin Cespedes Shines

[Ayden Mason]

Boston Red Sox Affiliate Recap (April 14 - 16)

Triple A Worcester Red Sox

April 14: Worcester lost the first game of the series to Nashville 9-4 due to rough pitching and sloppy defense. Patrick Sandoval made his second rehab start, and it was a wild one. Sandoval got into trouble early in the 1st inning, giving up a leadoff single, then giving up a walk and hitting a batter to load the bases with no outs. Sandoval walked in a run after facing the next batter and gave up two RBI sacrifice flies to put Nashville up 3-0. There were not many positive takeaways from this game, other than Jason Delay hitting a homer off of former Red Sox prospect Shane Drohan. 

Patrick Sandoval’s outing: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 1K

April 15: The WooSox suffered their second straight loss to the Nashville Sounds 5-3. Worcester's only lead of the game happened in the top of the 1st when Allan Castro hit an RBI single to earn his second multi-hit game in the last three games. The WooSox had a lot of traffic on the bases on offense, including 11 walks as a team, unfortunately they could not capitalize as they were 2-for-14 with RISP. Kristian Campbell had a decent day, getting on base three times with two walks and a sharp grounder to right field. Tayron Guerrero kept his scoreless streak going to start the season after throwing a shutout in the 7th inning. 

Key Performances:

• Allan Castro: 2-for-5, R, RBI
• Tayron Guerrero: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 K

April 16: *Suspended due to rain*

Double A Portland Sea Dogs

April 14: The Portland Sea Dogs defeat the winless Altoona Curve 4-2. Red Sox top prospect Franklin Arias blasted his first homer of the year in the top half of the 3rd inning to put the Sea Dogs up 2-0. In the bottom half of the 3rd, Cooper Adams came into the game inheriting two runners with no outs and got out of the jam with no damage after a double play that started as a routine groundout to the pitcher but instead the runner took off for home as the ball was thrown to first base, a good throw from Drew Ehrhard to home plate resulted in the double play. Adams caught the next batter looking on strikes to end the inning. Ahbram moved his hit streak up to 6 games after hitting an RBI single in the 7th to put Portland on top 4-1. 

Key Performances:

• Franklin Arias: HR, 2 RBI
• Cooper Adams: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 4 K
• Cade Feeney: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 4K

April 15: The Sea Dogs won 5 of their last 6 games after defeating the Altoona Curve 8-6. Franklin Arias has been on a tear so far this season. While leading off the game, he belted his second homer in back-to-back games to put Portland up 1-0 in the 1st. In the 3rd, the Sea Dogs got the bats going that started with an Arias single to make it 2-2 on the day, Nate Baez and Ronald Rosario got on base to load them up. Drew Ehrhard brought in a run with a sacrifice fly. Will Turner also had a nice day at the plate as he hit the rest of the runners in with an RBI triple, and Tyler McDonough followed up with an RBI double. A couple of wild pitches ended up bringing in McDonough to put the Sea Dogs on top 6-0. Marvin Alcantara and Baez were responsible for the last two RBIs with a pair of RBI doubles. Gage Ziehl had another nice day on the mound. He threw five innings without allowing any runs and struck out six batters to earn the win. 

Key Performances:

• Franklin Arias: 2-for-3, HR, 4 R, 2 BB
• Will Turner: 2-for-3, 2 RBI, 2 BB
• Gage Ziehl: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K

April 16: The Portland Sea Dogs won their third straight game of the series with a shutout victory over the Altoona Curve, 7-0. In the 2nd inning, the Sea Dogs loaded the bases with three walks, and Raudelis Martinez brought in two runs with a single to put Portland on top 2-0. Max Ferguson blasted a grand slam in the 3rd inning to put Portland up to a huge 6-0 lead early in the game. Marvin Alcantara had himself a nice night at the plate as he hit a solo home run shot in the 4th to increase their lead to 7-0. Eduardo Rivera had a tremendous day on the mound. He threw 5.2 innings, allowed three hits without allowing any runs, and struck out nine batters to earn a win. Joe Vagatsky threw the last 3.1 innings and kept the shutout going to earn a save while only giving up one hit.

Key Performances:

• Eduardo Rivera: 5.2, 3 H, 0 ER, 9 K
• Joe Vagatsky: 3.1, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 K
• Marvin Alcantara: 3-for-5, R, RBI
• Max Ferguson: HR, 4 RBI

High A Greenville Drive

April 14: The Greenville Drive was shut out by the Bowling Green Hot Rods 3-0. Greenville only had one hit the entire game, which came from Yophery Rodriguez. Not many good performances happened in this game with the bats or the arms, other than P.J. Labriola, who threw two scoreless innings.

April 15: Greenville continued their losing skid after a 6-4 defeat against Bowling Green. They are still finding trouble to score with RISP as they were 0-for-7 in this game. Henry Godbout hammered his first of many homers to come in his professional career. Other than the Drive not being able to hit with RISP, they showed they can hit the long ball as they hit four solo home runs coming from Mason White, Adonys Guzman, and Jack Winnay. 

Key Performances: 

• Mason White: 2-for-4, HR
• Adonys Guzman: 2-for-4, HR

April 16: The Greenville Drive suffered another tough loss to the Hot Rods in a 9-8 defeat. Juan Valera came out of the game after the 1st inning due to elbow inflammation so the bullpen had to step up in his early absence. To start off the 3rd inning, Yophery Rodriguez hit his first home run of the season and Top prospect Yoeilin Cespedes belted a three-run homer to put Greenville in a comfortable 4-0 lead. The pitching struggled as they gave up four runs to tie the game but the Drive fought back as Cespedes hit his second home run of the game with a two-run shot in the 5th. His Greenville teammate Rodriguez hammered his second home run of the game as well with a solo shot that put them on top 7-5. The bullpen could not hold onto the lead but the Drive were still focused on coming back as they were one run shy of tying the game but they did not deliver in the 9th. 

Key Performances:

• Yoeilin Cespedes: 2 HR, 5 RBI
• Yophery Rodriguez: 3-for-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI

Single-A Salem RidgeYaks

April 14: The Salem RidgeYaks lost the first game of the series to the Hickory Crawdads 7-5 after having a rough 6th inning. As Salem was down 2-0 in the 4th, a pair of doubles hit by Starlyn Nunez and Enddy Azocar got them on the board. After Kleyver Salazar drew a walk, with two runners on, Skylar King belted a three-run homer to put the RidgeYaks up 4-2. In the 5th, Salazar hammered a double to increase their lead 5-2. With the score at 5-3 entering the 6th, things would fall as the Crawdads would regain their lead scoring three runs due to a home run, single and another run scoring from an error after a single, 6-5 Crawdads. Salem went hitless the next three innings as Hickory scored another run to end the game 7-5.

Key Performances:

• Enddy Azocar: 2-for-4, 2 R, RBI
• Skylar King: HR, 3 RBI, BB

April 15: The RidgeYaks dropped their 2nd game of the series in a close 5-4 defeat to the Crawdads. Salem got themselves an early three-run lead in the 2nd inning after IIan Fernandez belted a three-run homer. Jacob Mayers unfortunately lost control of his pitches as he gave up four walks and threw a wild pitch, giving up three runs in the process to tie the game up. Entering the 6th in a tie game, Skylar King walked and stole a base; afterwards, Ty Hodge brought him in by hitting an RBI single to make it a 4-3 game. The RidgeYaks' pitching could not hold onto the lead in the last three innings, while the bats would go hitless to end the game 5-4. 

Key performances:

• IIan Fernandez: HR, 3 RBI
• Myles Patton: 4.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 K

April 16: The RidgeYaks still had a tough time playing the Crawdads as they lost their third straight game in a 14-5 defeat. The pitching staff had a tough time this game, but the defense did not help with the three errors they had in the game. Andrews Opata had a multi-hit day at the plate, including a solo home run and a two-run single.

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