Cup of Coffee: Barnes keeps rolling; Garcia leads Greenville

5/18 Cup of Coffee: Pawtucket's offense was silenced in a loss to Durham, Matt Barnes, Jeremiah Bayer, and Michael Olmsted combined for a five-hit shutout against Carolina, and Greenville never trailed in a victory over West Virginia.

Daisuke Matsuzaka received no offensive support as Pawtucket was held to four hits in a 5-0 loss to the Durham Bulls (TB). After allowing a leadoff home run to Jesus Feliciano in the first, Matsuzaka settled in, allowing only three more hits in the first five innings and retiring eight consecutive batters at one point. The Bulls started getting to him in the sixth however, touching him up for a three-run homer to extend their lead to 4-0, and adding another in the seventh. Matsuzaka finished throwing 6.2 innings, allowing 5 runs (4 earned) on 7 hits. On the positive side, he did not walk a batter while striking out 3, and threw 64 of his 95 pitches for strikes. Tony Pena, Jr. pitched the final 1.1 innings, allowing 2 hits. The offense was held in check by Jim Paduch and a pair of relievers, failing to move a baserunner past second base. Ryan Lavarnway had the only extra-base hit, doubling in the fifth. Jose Iglesias also continued his solid hitting, going 1 for 4. The PawSox and Bulls close out their four-game series tonight in Durham.

Matt Barnes (John Corneau)

Matt Barnes turned in yet another excellent outing, leading Salem to a 2-0 win over the Carolina Mudcats (CLE). Barnes pitched 6.0 shutout innings, allowing only 2 hits, 1 walk while striking out 5. The outing lowered his ERA since his promotion to the Carolina League to an even 1.00, and he lowered his WHIP to .722. Jeremiah Bayer came on in relief, throwing 2.0 innings, giving up 2 hits, striking out 4 without walking a batter. Michael Olmsted pitched the ninth, allowing only 1 hit to pick up his 8th save of the year. While the offense had 10 hits, none belonged to Jackie Bradley, whose 29-game on-base streak came to an end. Carolina and Salem matched zeros through six, but the Red Sox broke through in the seventh. Travis Shaw led off the inning with a single, and moved up to second on an error. A Brandon Jacobs single moved Shaw to third base, where he came in to score the go-ahead run on a balk. Salem added an insurance run in the eighth. Carson Blair and Shannon Wilkerson led off with back to back singles. A flyout to right by Bradley moved Blair to third, where he was able to score on a wild pitch. Jacobs finished the night 3 for 4, and has quietly hit .388/.426/.490 in May to raise his average to .308. Shaw had another solid evening, going 2 for 4, while Xander Bogaerts had two hits for the third time in his last four games.

Jose Garcia (Kelly O'Connor)

Greenville never looked back, scoring early and pounding out 12 hits to defeat the West Virginia Power (PIT) by a score of 8-3. The Drive jumped off to a 4-0 lead in the second inning. Henry Ramos led off the inning with a walk. Ramos was erased on a forceout by Drew Turocy, but a Matt Marquis triple brought in Turocy to open the scoring. After a Jordan Weems walk, Nick Natoli doubled, scoring Marquis and moving Weems up to third. Jose Garcia walked to load the bases for Greenville leading hitter Keury De La Cruz, but De Le Cruz hit a liner straight at second baseman Jodaneli Carvajal. Garin Cecchini came through with two outs, knocking a two-run single into right. Greenville added another run in the fifth, as Jose Garcia singled, stole second and came in to score on a single by Boss Moanaroa. West Virginia picked up three in the fifth, but that was as close as they would get. In the seventh, Ramos had a one-out single. The West Virginia first baseman missed the throw on a pickoff attempt, allowing Ramos to advance to third, where he was able to score on a sacrifice fly by Turocy, giving the Drive a 6-3 advantage. Greenville added two more in the eighth, when a pair of singles by Weems and Garcia gave De La Cruz another opportunity. He was able to take advantage this time, ripping a double that one-hopped the right field wall, scoring Weems. Moanaroa then drove in Garcia on a sacrifice fly. Garcia was the offensive star for Greenville, reaching base five times with three singles and a pair of walks, scoring two runs and bringing his season OBP up to .483. Weems also had a strong night, going 2 for 3 with a walk and two runs scored. Yeiper Castillo picked up the win for Greenville, going 6.0 innings and allowing 3 runs, only one earned, on 4 hits, walking 1 without striking out a batter. Castillo advances to 4-0 on the season, and lowered his ERA to 1.98. Michael McCarthy threw a hitless seventh in relief, striking out 1. Matty Ott was next out of the pen, adding a scoreless inning of his own, giving up one hit and adding a strike out. Charle Rosario finished the evening with a perfect ninth, striking out 1.

Players of the night: Matt Barnes continued his dominance for Salem. Across two levels, he is now 4-0 with a 0.60 ERA, .649 ERA, and 67 strike outs compared with only 6 walks. Meanwhile, Jose Garcia reached base five times, continuing his excellent play for Greenville. He is now hitting .348/.483/.478 on the season, and is 8 for 15 with 4 walks since his May 11 return from the disabled list.

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