Red Sox Minor League Report: Anthony Eyanson's Shutout, Franklin Arias’ Homer Foster a Sea Dogs Shutout

Boston Red Sox Affiliate Recap (June 2)

Triple-A Worcester Red Sox

Season Record: 28-27

The WooSox came back from being down 2-1 in the ninth, walking it off on the Buffalo Bisons (Toronto Blue Jays) 3-2.

Other than one rough inning, Worcester's pitching was dominant all night. Jake Bennett continued his brilliant stretch with another five shutout innings, giving up just one hit while striking out four. Although he walked three batters, nothing came of it. Through five, Worcester was cruising with a 1–0 lead thanks to a Vinny Capra sacrifice fly in the third that scored Allan Castro.

The sixth inning was the one blemish. Noah Song came on in relief and immediately ran into trouble. The Bisons laced an RBI double to tie it, then followed with an RBI single to give Buffalo a 2–1 lead. Thankfully, that was the only damage Worcester's pitching allowed all night.

From there, the bullpen locked it back in. Zack Kelly was outstanding, tossing two scoreless innings on one hit and three strikeouts. Afterward, Kyle Keller came in and threw a scoreless inning with two strikeouts. They both kept Worcester within striking distance and gave the lineup one more chance.

The bottom of the ninth was pure magic. Anthony Seigler doubled to lead things off, keeping his hitting streak alive, extending it to six games. With one out and a runner aboard, Mikey Romero stepped up and ripped a triple on a sharp line drive to center, scoring Seigler to tie the game 2–2. Tsung-Che Cheng came in to pinch-run for Romero, standing just 90 feet away. Buffalo’s pitcher uncorked a wild pitch, Cheng raced home, and Worcester had the walk-off win 3–2, no hit needed for the winning run.

Standout Performances:

• Jake Bennett: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K
• Zack Kelly: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
• Kyle Keller: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 K
• Mikey Romero: 2-for-4, 3B, RBI

Double-A Portland Sea Dogs

Season Record: 27-24

The Sea Dogs dominated from top to bottom, shutting out the Yard Goats (Colorado Rockies) 9-0.

The pitching staff threw a combined shutout, giving up six hits but zero extra-base hits. Hartford managed six singles and two walks across nine innings and never were seriously a threat to score.

Anthony Eyanson earned the win with five shutout innings (his sixth shutout outing this season), allowing five hits but zero runs with three strikeouts. Patrick Halligan was electric in relief, tossing three no-hit innings with one walk and four strikeouts. Erik Rivera bridged the gap with a clean one-inning stint while filling up the zone, throwing 12 of his 15 pitches for strikes, giving up a single but nothing more.

The third inning broke the game open. Tyler McDonough drew a walk, then stole his 14th base of the season, putting him on second with no outs. Marvin Alcantara reached base with a hit-by-pitch. Nate Baez followed up and smoked a two-run double to center to make it 2–0. Brooks Brannon crushed a two-run homer (his 8th of the year), blowing the door wide open with a 4–0 lead.

Portland kept pouring it on in the later innings. In the seventh, Ahbram Liendo hit a lead-off single and immediately stole his ninth base of the year to give the Sea Dogs a good chance to score again. That did not matter since Franklin Arias started his new month hot by launching a two-run homer to center field, his 13th of the year, pushing the lead to 6–0. 

The eighth inning brought three more runs: Johanfran Garcia and Will Turner started the inning with back-to-back singles, Miguel Bleis doubled to left to drive in Garcia, then Tyler McDonough ripped a double of his own, this time scoring two runs, capping off the lead to 9–0.

The entire Sea Dogs lineup, other than Alcantara, registered a hit in this contest, Garcia and Turner collecting themselves a multi-hit game while Arias, Baez, Brannon, and McDonough each had two RBIs.

Standout Performances:

• Anthony Eyanson: 5 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
• Patrick Halligan: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
• Brooks Brannon: 1-for-3, HR, 2 RBI
• Franklin Arias: 1-for-5, HR, 2 RBI
• Tyler McDonough: 1-for-3, 2B, R, 2 RBI, BB
• Nate Baez: 1-for-4, 2B, R, 2 RBI

High-A Greenville Drive

Season Record: 20-30

The Drive had the lead under control for five innings but gave it away, losing to the Emperors (Atlanta Braves) 8-2.

The Drive came out swinging in the first inning. Enddy Azocar singled to start the game, then raced for second base, stealing his first base of High-A and his eighth of the year. Then, Yoeilin Cespedes drove him in with a single to make it 1–0. 

Greenville had a lot of traffic on the bases but only came away with one run in the aftermath. Jack Winnay led off the second inning with a walk, and Mason White smoked a double to put runners on second and third. Freili Encarnacion was drilled on the first pitch of his at-bat, loading up the bases with no outs. Yophery Rodriguez brought in Winnay and advanced White to third base with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead 2-0. Unfortunately, Encarnacion got too aggressive on the base paths, getting thrown out while trying to steal second base. With two outs, a flyout ended the rally.

For five innings, it looked like that would be enough since Greenville's pitching held Rome scoreless. In a month of May that Marcus Phillips would like to forget, he was outstanding in his first start of June, throwing five strikeouts in 4 ⅓ scoreless one-hit innings. 

The sixth inning cracked the dam, and a couple of singles from the Emperors brought in two runs to knot it 2-2. 

Rome exploded in the seventh, putting this game to rest. Joe Vogatsky loaded the bases after giving up two singles and a walk. That was when the game blew open, when the Emperors crushed a grand slam to make it 6–2, then an RBI single and a sacrifice fly made it 8–2. From a 2–0 lead to an 8–2 deficit in the blink of an eye. 

Offensively, it was very quiet after they scored in the second inning, not registering a single hit through the fourth to the ninth innings. Azocar had two of Greenville’s four hits as a team, while White had the only extra-base hit.

Standout Performances: 

• Marcus Phillips: 4 ⅓ IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
• Enddy Azocar: 2-for-4, R, SB

Low-A Salem RidgeYaks

Season Record: 23-29

The RidgeYaks collapsed brutally in a 14-7 defeat to the Wilson Warbirds (Milwaukee Brewers).

Salem came out hot in the third, putting up a huge five-run inning. Avinson Pinto walked, and D'Angelo Ortiz singled to get things moving. Stanley Tucker lined an RBI single to make it 1–0, then two more runs scored on a Starlyn Nunez groundout when a throwing error by the pitcher let both Ortiz and Tucker come around, 3–0. Skylar King did not want it to end there. With a runner aboard, he crushed a two-run shot, scoring Kleyver Salazar to make it a fast 5-0 lead. 

Wilson chipped away in the fourth, an RBI double, an RBI groundout, and an RBI single cut it to 5–3. It was concerning at first, but all Salem’s bullpen had to do was hang on. 

Sadly, the bullpen fell apart, and the seventh inning was a catastrophe. A pitcher combination of Nicolas De La Cruz, Harry Blum, and Adam Bates caused Wilson to score 11 runs, turning a 5–3 deficit into a 14–5 laugher. It started with an RBI groundout and a bases-loaded walk to tie it 5-5. Another bases-loaded walk gave Wilson the lead; afterward, they smacked a two-run single to make it 8–5, then a passed ball by Salem’s catcher brought a run across. A sacrifice fly pushed it to 10–5, and another single brought in another to extend the lead to 11–5. It kept going, the Warbirds crushed a three-run homer to end the carnage at 14–5.

Back-to-back homers from Salazar and King came in the eighth inning, shortening the deficit to 14-7, but it did not matter.

King did everything he could, putting on a show as he collected three hits, including two homers (3rd home run in three games), while also driving in three of Salem's seven runs. 

After getting demoted from Greenville to Salem, Luis Cohen threw back-to-back scoreless outings for the RidgeYaks. Although he gave up four walks, he still tossed three scoreless one-hit innings while fanning five batters, giving Salem a chance to win before the bullpen blew it, unfortunately. 

Standout Performances:

• Skylar King: 3-for-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI
• Kleyver Salazar: 1-for-4, HR, 2 R
• Luis Cohen: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 5 K

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