Cup of Coffee: Rosario hits two home runs in Portland to support Tolle, Soto leaves DSL game early
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7/27 Cup of Coffee: It was a mixed bag of results across Boston's farm system on Saturday. In Portland, a two-homer day from Ronald Rosario (pictured) helped earn Payton Tolle his first win in Double-A. The DSL teams split their contests with Team Red delivering plenty of fireworks as Dorian Soto departed the game early.
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A tough outing in the late innings by the WooSox bullpen relinquished a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning and put Worcester behind for good. After falling behind 2-0 in the fifth inning, Nate Eaton doubled home Corey Rosier to cut the lead in half, and Rosier singled to score Tyler McDonough the following inning. The WooSox took the lead in the seventh after Kristian Campbell doubled with one out and came around to score on an RBI single by McDonough. After Robert Stock tossed the first five innings allowing two runs with seven strikeouts, Jose De Leon pitched a scoreless sixth before Wyatt Olds had a rough outing. Olds took the loss after surrendering seven runs (six earned) on four hits, three of which being home runs, walking one and striking out three. Campbell led the way for the Worcester offense with a 3-for-5 night with an aforementioned double. Vaughn Grissom belted his 11th home run of the season in the ninth inning in the late comeback attempt.
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Payton Tolle was stellar once again in his fourth start with Portland, tossing five frames with a run on two hits, one walk and four strikeouts. The outing allowed him to pick up his first win since earning the promotion to Double-A and lowered his ERA with the Sea Dogs to 1.96 in 23 innings. Portland trailed 1-0 in the early going but took the lead in the fourth on the first of two home runs on the evening from Ronald Rosario. The catcher slammed a two-run home run to give the Sea Dogs the lead for good. Rosario added his second home run in the eighth with a solo big fly. The final two runs came in the final inning on an RBI fielder's choice off the bat of Zach Ehrhard and an RBI single from Max Ferguson. Jorge Juan earned a hold with a scoreless 2 1/3 frames, and Noah Song recorded his first save of the season by getting the final five outs of the game.
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Greenville could only muster four hits on the night and scored its only run on a passed ball in the bottom of the eighth to score Fraymi De Leon. Will Turner had the only extra-base hit for the Drive with a double in the seventh. Blake Aita pitched well in his sixth start since being promoted from Salem. The right-hander pitched 6 1/3 frames allowing four hits three runs and three strikeouts while not allowing a free pass in the losing effort. Following Aita, Luis Cohen got the final eight outs, three of which coming from strikeouts. He also allowed two hits including a home run with one walk and three punch outs.
Salem got an outstanding start from Yhoiker Fajardo as the 18-year-old pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings with five hits, two walks and three strikeouts on his ledger. While Fajardo was keeping the game scoreless, the Salem offense scattered just five hits across nine innings with only a pair of doubles from Yosander Asencio and Natanael Yuten to account for the only extra-base hits. Calvin Bickerstaff succeeded Fajardo and was eventually charged with the loss after allowing two runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth while getting just six outs. Joe Vogatsky followed Bickerstaff and allowed the last run over the final 1 2/3 innings on a pair of hits.
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An offensive onslaught by Team Red behind 12 hits and 10 walks led to a commanding victory. Eight different members of the offense recorded at least one hit led by Jhonny Osta's 3-for-4 outing with a pair of walks added to his statline. Jhorman Bravo and Miguel Welch joined Osta with multi-hit games and Krishan Ulacio powered his second home run of the season in the win. While there was plenty of good in the game, Dorian Soto exited the game in the second inning after grounding out in his only at-bat in the bottom of the first. Soto had missed nine days earlier in the month with wrist soreness according to SoxProspect's Chris Hatfield. With heavy run support, Angelo Ladera pitched error-free in his four innings of work, allowing a single hit while walking one and striking out four to lower his season ERA to 2.49 across 21 2/3 frames. Jose Golindano earned the win by getting four outs after Ladera with a run on two hits and four walks on his line, and the duo of Isael Fis and Erickson Ettien combined to pitch the final 3 1/3 innings.
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Team Blue got an outstanding outing from Dariel Morillo, who started the game and did not allow a hit over the first four innings with a lone baserunner coming on a walk along with four strikeouts. While Morillo was dominating, a Josue Brito RBI single in the first and a throwing error paired with a run-scoring double by Andruw Zambrano gave the Red Sox a 3-0 lead through five innings. After Morillo, Michael Manjarres allowed a run on a single hit with three walks in 1 1/3 frames and Jesus Martinez, who took the loss, only got two outs while allowing five runs on three hits with four walks. Team Blue attempted to come back in the top of the seventh after scoring a pair of runs and loading the bases with one out, but back to back strikeouts by Louis Andujar and Brito sealed the loss.
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Player of the Day: Ronald Rosario provided the power for Portland in the Sea Dogs' 5-1 win over Richmond, going 2 for 4 with a two-run home run and a solo shot. The catcher's fifth and sixth homers of the year raised the catcher's OPS to .609, but has put together a strong July, hitting .377 with three home runs and eight runs driven in. He is currently unranked in the SoxProspects' Top 60.
Photo Credit: Ronald Rosario by Kelly O'Connor