Cup of Coffee: Early turns in a stellar outing, Soto continues to rake in the DSL
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7/13 Cup of Coffee: Connelly Early (pictured) turned in one of his best outings of the season in a win for Portland. The Salem offense slugged its way to a victory behind strong performances from Andruw Musett and Endy Azocar. In the DSL, Dorian Soto continued to show why he was a sought-after international prospect with another multi-hit game.
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Trailing 3-1 entering the ninth, the WooSox rallied to take a 4-3 lead after Blaze Jordan reached base on an error and Nathan Hickey singled ahead of Trayce Thompson, who slammed a go-ahead three-run home run. Alex Hoppe came in to try and complete the comeback in the bottom of the ninth but allowed a walk-off home run to fall short. Outside of Thompson's home run, Tyler McDonough led the way for Worcester with three hits and the other RBI of the night from a run-scoring double in the fifth inning. Kristian Campbell went 1 for 4 with three strikeouts while getting the start at first base.
Isaac Coffey started for the WooSox and turned in four innings with three hits, two runs, three walks and five strikeouts as part of his outing. The bullpen which consisted of Wyatt Olds, Jovani Moran and Austin Adams combined to throw four innings of one-run ball to allow for the attempted comeback, with Olds tossing a pair of frames while Moran and Adams threw one each.
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Connelly Early continued his impressive season with six strong innings to improve to 7-2 on the season. Early struck out four while scattering three hits and two walks across his outing with a lone run allowed to bounce back after a rough start to the month of July for him. Following Early, Caleb Bolden threw two hitless frames with a strikeout and Christopher Troye closed it out with a scoreless ninth. The Portland offense saw contributions throughout its lineup, powered by a 3-for-4 day from Allan Castro, who blasted his seventh home run of the season on a two-run shot in the fifth inning. Mikey Romero turned in a two-hit night, with a double and a triple, and Ronald Rosario added three hits of his own.
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Greenville took a 2-0 lead after the first, a 4-3 lead after the third and a 5-4 lead after five before allowing 11 unanswered runs in the defeat. Nelly Taylor powered a pair of the lead changes, tripling home Franklin Arias in the bottom of the first before scoring himself on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Nazzan Zanetello and then following it up with his sixth home run of the year in the third inning. Hudson White added an RBI in the second on a single and Yophery Rodriguez singled home Matt Hogan in the fifth to give the Drive its final lead of the game.
It was a tough night for the Greenville pitching staff as they allowed 14 hits and walked another nine. John Holobetz started and pitched the first four innings, giving up two runs on four hits with five strikeouts. Jacob Webb followed with 1 2/3 frames with a run allowed before Darwin Garcia, who took the loss and a blown save, allowed seven runs with five walks in 2 1/3 innings. Albert Feliz pitched the ninth and allowed four more runs.
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Salem hitters exploded for 11 hits and nine walks on its way to a commanding victory, powered by Endy Azocar's three-run home run as part of a 2-for-4 night with four runs driven in. Justin Gonzales, Andruw Musett and Fraymi De Leon joined Azocar with multi-hit performances, with Musett reaching base four times in the win. Yohander Linarez also reached four times with a single and three walks along with a pair of RBIs. Luis Cohen earned the win after starting and pitching the first five innings with four hits, two runs (one earned), two walks and a pair of punchouts on his line. Griffin Kilander succeeded Cohen and earned the blowout save by pitching the final four frames with two hits and a walk allowed with three strikeouts.
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Prior to the game being suspended on Friday and continued the following day, the Red Sox plated one in the second when Jhoan Peguero singled, stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored on a groundout by Justin Barry. Following the resumption, the score remained 1-0 until the Red Sox added two more runs on an RBI double by Tavano Baker to score Anderson Fermin and a single by Alexander Mambel to score Baker. Madinson Frias tossed the opening two innings before the rain came, while Yoelvin Chirino picked things up the following day with four innings of one-run ball with six walks and three strikeouts in a winning effort. Jeison Payano earned the save by recording the final three outs.
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The Red Sox could not continue the momentum from its game one victory of the doubleheader, falling behind 6-0 through four before mounting a comeback in the fifth but failed to add on. The Red Sox rally began with a ground-rule double by Liosward Marin, who scored three batters later on another ground-rule double by Gerardo Rodriguez, Yan Cruz followed with a walk and Jorge Rodriguez drove in Gerardo Rodriguez on a ground out. The final run was scored on a double steal as Ilan Fernandez swiped second, and Cruz came home.
Wuilliams Rodriguez was tagged with the loss on the mound with four runs allowed in three innings on four hits and a walk along with a hit by pitch. Tejahari Wilson and Yoandys Veraza combined to get the final 12 outs with three more runs crossing the plate.
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Team Blue scored all its runs across the first two innings while the pitching staff held the Dodgers to just two hits to climb over .500. Hector Ramos got the offense started with a leadoff triple in the first and scored on a Christopher Alvarado single. The following inning, Louis Andujar doubled in a run, Ramos plated another on an RBI force out and Alvarado added his second run-scoring hit of the day with a double. Jesus Martinez earned the win after getting the final eight outs of the game with two walks and three strikeouts. Martinez was the final of three pitchers used after Dariel Morillo tossed the first three scoreless innings with a walk and four strikeouts to start and Michael Manjarres allowed a pair of runs without surrendering a hit in 1 1/3 frames.
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Team Red jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the third when Miguel Rivera was hit by a pitch and Miguel Welch drew a walk ahead of Kevin Morillo's three-run blast to left field. The home run was the catcher's first of the season and gives him 5 RBIs and a 1.356 OPS through his first 13 plate appearances. The lead was quickly given back following a four-run bottom half of the third as Isael Fis, who was tagged with the loss, allowed four runs (three earned) while getting four outs across the third and fourth inning while walking three and hitting another. Angelo Ladera started for Team Red allowing a run on a single hit with four walks and four strikeouts in three innings. Dorian Soto continued to swing the bat well with another multi-hit outing to raise his average to .350.
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Player of the Day: After being hit around for six earned runs in his first outing of the month, Connelly Early bounced back in a major way. In Portland's win over Hartford, the left-hander tossed six strong innings with one run allowed to lower his season ERA to 2.59 across 14 appearances (11 starts). He is currently ranked 10th on SoxProspects.com
Photo Credit: Connelly Early by Kelly O'Connor