June 2, 2021 at 6:00 AM
Cup of Coffee: Reed hits his eighth home run; Crawford cruises
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Kyle Hart gave up five runs in a second straight start, with a Carter Kieboom grand slam doing most of the damage. Hart walked four and gave up four hits while striking out three in 5 2/3 innings. Brandon Brennan allowed his first run as a member of the WooSox, and Austin Brice tossed a scoreless ninth.
Worcester struck out 17 times on Tuesday with each of the last eight outs coming via strikeout. Prior to the strikeout streak, they had hit three solo home runs, with Marcus Wilson, Josh Ockimey, and Chris Herrmann all going deep, though they also combined to strike out eight times. One of two players to not strike out was Michael Chavis who went 2 for 4, and Franchy Cordero went 2 for 4 with a double.
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A go-ahead home run from Pedro Castellanos in the top of the eighth proved to be the difference as Portland improved to 16-9. The home run was the third of the year for Castellanos, and he also added a double. Portland's other run scored after Johan Mieses doubled and then came around to score on a fielding error.
The Senators were limited to just two hits, one of which was a solo home run off of Kutter Crawford in the third inning. That was the only hit allowed by Crawford over five innings and he walked two and struck out six. The win went to Tyler Olson as he struck out three in one inning of work, and Jose Adames earned his seventh save with a scoreless ninth.
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While all eyes were on Brayan Bello, the Greenville bullpen stole the show with a dominant performance. Bello did not get much help from his defense as Greenville committed three errors which led to two unearned runs. In all he allowed four runs, two earned, over five innings, walking three, and striking out six. Yorvin Pantoja followed with two hitless innings, striking out three and walking one, and Jacob Wallace struck out five over two innings while just allowing a walk.
Tyreque Reed did not cool off when the calendar flipped to June, launching his eighth home run while also notching a triple, sacrifice fly, and three RBI. Devlin Granberg also homered, and Christian Koss went 2 for 4 with a double and a triple.
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It was a disappointing outing for Shane Drohan who gave up five runs (four earned) in 3 1/3 innings. He had held Lynchburg scoreless through three innings, but in the fourth, he allowed two hits, a walk, committed an error, and then gave up a grand slam. Robert Kwiatkowski followed with 2 2/3 innings of two-run ball and Brandon Walter fired the last two innings without allowing a run.
The offense continued to be paced by Jaxx Groshans who went 3 for 5 with two doubles and three runs scored. Groshans is now hitting .389 over his last 10 games. Nick Yorke went 1 for 5 with a double, and the double came in a 14-pitch at-bat. Wil Dalton went 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI, and Nicholas Northcut added a double and a walk.
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Player of the Day: Arguably the best hitter in High-A this year, Tyreque Reed had another great game on Tuesday as he hit a home run and a triple while adding a sacrifice fly. The performance boosted his triple slash to .309/.435/.736 and his eight home runs are the most in High-A East. The first baseman is blocked in Portland by Triston Casas, but if the soon-to-be 24-year-old keeps up this performance the Red Sox will need to challenge him with a promotion to Double-A.
Photo Credit: Jaxx Groshans by Kelly O'Connor