June 7, 2014 at 8:00 AM
Cup of Coffee: Ranaudo dominates; Devers keeps rolling
6/7 Cup of Coffee: The affiliates combined for a 2-3 record on Friday. The PawSox won a blowout behind a dominate pitching performance, while the DSL Red Sox picked up the other win. The Sea Dogs lost a walk off, while Salem and Greenville combined for two runs and six hits in their losses.
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Behind Anthony Ranaudo (pictured, left), the PawSox shut out the Durham Bulls (TB), 7-0. Ranaudo dominated the Bulls, allowing only two hits across seven scoreless innings and striking out seven to earn the win. Ranaudo needed 95 pitches to get through his seven innings, throwing 63 of them for strikes. Jose Valdez pitched a perfect eighth and Chris Resop pitched a scoreless ninth, despite allowing a one-out hit.
The PawSox collected 12 hits on the evening; four starters had multi-hit games and only Mike McCoy failed to record a base knock. Christian Vazquez had the biggest night offensively, hitting a double and a home run, scoring two runs and picking up four RBI along the way. All seven Pawtucket runs were scored by the top five in the order, with Travis Shaw also scoring twice. Shaw was 2 for 4 on the night, while Vazquez, Corey Brown and Mookie Betts all went 2 for 5 in the game.
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The Sea Dogs notched only five hits as they fell to the Bowie Baysox (BAL), 6-4. Keith Couch took the loss, allowing four runs on 10 hits and a walk while striking out six in just five innings pitched. Robby Scott and Aaron Kurcz combined the final three innings, allowing two unearned runs on three hits. Scott also picked up a strikeout and allowed a single walk.
The Sea Dogs would take advantage of five Bowie errors to score four runs on just five hits. Deven Marrero picked up Portland's only extra-base hit, a double to lead off the third, though Marrero would be stranded after stealing third. Keury De La Cruz went 1 for 4, though he did score pick up an RBI and score a run. Matt Spring, Sean Coyle and Derrik Gibson all went 1 for 4, with Coyle and Spring scoring runs. Stefan Welch scored the other run for Portland.
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Salem fell 2-1 to the Lynchburg Hillcats (ATL) in walk-off fashion. Luis Diaz pitched well, allowing one run on six hits through seven innings, striking out six along the way. Kyle Kraus took the loss, giving up the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning. Kraus gave up a double and a single with one out in the inning, then, after recording the second out, Kraus gave up another base hit, allowing the winning run to come home.
Salem could only muster three hits and one walk against Hillcats pitching. Kevin Heller, who had one those three hits, scored Salem's only run after being singled home by Mario Martinez. Matty Johnson notched Salem's other hit and Kevin Mager drew the walk. Collectively, the Red Sox struck out 10 times against Lynchburg.
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Greenville fell to the Rome Braves (ATL), losing 6-1 to drop to 29-30 on the season. Teddy Stankiewicz took the loss, going five innings and allowing five runs on nine hits and a walk, while striking out five. Jonathan Aro came on in relief, throwing three innings of one-run baseball, surrendering three hits and one walk while striking out two.
The Drive managed only three hits against the Braves, and only one of those went for extra-bases. Jake Romanski and Forrestt Allday both had hits, though Wendell Rijo notched a double and scored Greenville's only run of the evening.
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The DSL Red Sox picked up their fourth win of the season, beating the DSL Cardinals by a score of 5-3. Gerson Bautista got the start and pitched decently enough, allowing only two unearned runs on just one hit while striking out five, though he did walk four batters in his four innings of work. Jervis Torrealba was brilliant out of the pen, firing three perfect innings, and also striking out five to pick up the win. Algenis Martinez pitched the ninth to earn his first save of the season.
Rafael Devers (pictured, right) continued his incredible start to the year, going 3 for 4 with a triple and a walk. Raiwinson Lameda put up a nearly identical line, going 3 for 4 with a triple, an RBI and a run scored. Juan Hernandez also collected more than one base-hit, going 2 for 5 on the night.
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Player of the Night: While there were other deserving performances, Anthony Ranaudo's stood out above the rest. Ranaudo shut down the Durham Bulls over seven innings to pick up his sixth win of the season. The 24-year-old now sports a nifty 2.79 ERA across 13 starts this season. Ranaudo has collected a lengthy list of accolades, both official and here at SoxProspects.com, his most recent being SoxProspects.com Player of the Week for April 28-May 4, 2014.
Photo Credit: Anthony Ranaudo and Rafael Devers by Kelly O'Connor