Worcester: L, 4-9 (BOX SCORE)
“Struggling” out of the gate seems relative now with consecutive poor performances by Garrett Crochet and Sonny Gray, but Patrick Sandoval doesn’t quite seem ready to rejoin the Major League roster in a few weeks (due to being a pitcher, he gets a month of rehab time.) He struck out just one through two innings, allowing five runs, and taking 59 pitches to do so with just 30 falling in for strikes. For the second consecutive start, he just generally looked like he couldn’t find the strike zone. Tyler Uberstine, usually a beacon of good stuff, even got knocked around by this Nashville (Brewers AAA) club, even though the staff did keep it in the park.
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Offensively, you don’t stand much of a chance when the pitching walks eleven batters, or when the defense commits three errors, but the offensive support wasn’t awesome, either. Catcher Jason Delay hit an early home run, but it was downhill from there, as the WooSox left nine stranded.
Portland: W, 4-2 (BOX SCORE)
Franklin Arias, who’s been hitting to the tune of a .500+ batting average on the young season, hasn’t really showcased his power tool yet. That changed on Tuesday night in Altoona (Pirates AA) as he hit his first home run of the season. The team didn’t particularly look great offensively outside of that home run, though Nate Biaz got himself a couple knocks. But Isaac Coffey, Cooper Adams, Cade Feeney and Patrick Halligan kept it a winnable game despite with thirteen strikeouts and only two runs allowed.
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Greenville: L, 0-3 (BOX SCORE)
Shea Sprague had a blip, as he allowed two Hot Rod (Rays High-A) home runs in five innings. It’s honestly funny how serviceable the page the 2024 13th round draft pick has been for Greenville so far this April: his ERA is exactly 4. On Tuesday, he gave up four hits and a walk in five innings (for a WHIP of 1) struck five out, but did have those balls leave the park. But, the truth is, Sprague could have been a lot worse… or he could have been a lot better… but it wouldn’t have mattered HOW good he was, because Greenville could not hit the Bowling Green pitching, settling for just one baserunner all night, when Yophery Rodriguez, a return from the Quinn Preiser trade now residing at the bottom of the lineup (he hit first or second for most of the season in 2025), broke up the perfect game with a double in the bottom of the sixth.
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If the offense was distributed better across the whole farm, we’d be having a different discussion. This seems obvious at its core, but this game looked close on the surface, but Salem pitching got taken for a ride a little bit, namely Adam Bates closing out the fifth for Leighton Finley and not having a particular awesome sixth. Skylar King hit his second home run in less than a week, but although his bat looks dependable, his key moments are in losing efforts. Where have I heard that before…
Have a stress-free tax day Wednesday.
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