September 1, 2022 at 7:00 AM
Cup of Coffee: Seabold dominates, Wong homers again ahead of September call-ups
9/1 Cup of Coffee: On the last day of August, Boston's minor-league affiliates went a perfect 4-0 on Wednesday. Connor Seabold (pictured) struck out seven over seven scoreless frames while Connor Wong homered again to lead Worcester to a win. Nick Northcut and Izzy Wilson each homered to extend Portland's winning streak to four. Wikelman Gonzalez fanned eight batters in four innings and Matthew Lugo drove in a pair in Greenville's extra-innings win over Rome. Finally, Tyler Miller and Eddinson Paulino came through in the clutch to guide Salem to a come-from-behind victory in Augusta.
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Connor Seabold improved to 7-1 by putting together one of his better starts of the season for Worcester. The 26-year-old right-hander scattered three hits and zero walks while striking out seven over seven scoreless innings of work. Sixty-three of the 90 pitches he threw went for strikes. In relief of Seabold, A.J. Politi allowed one run on one hit in the eighth before Frank German closed it out with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
Connor Wong ended his month of August on a strong note by going 2 for 3 with a three-run home run out of the cleanup spot. The homer was his 15th of the season. Enmanuel Valdez went 2 for 4 with a double, an RBI, a walk, and two runs scored. Nick Sogard also doubled and scored two runs as part of a two-hit night. Triston Casas went 2 for 5 with an RBI single while Abraham Almonte drove in two runs and scored twice out of the two-hole.
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Portland scored nine runs en route to a second straight win over New Hampshire. Nick Northcut led the way, going 3 for 5 with a three-run home run in the second inning. Izzy Wilson also cranked a two-run homer and scored two runs as part of a 2 for 5 night at the plate in which he also stole a base. Christian Koss matched Northcut's RBI total by going 2 for 5 with a pair of run-scoring singles. Alex Binelas tallied a double while also drawing a walk and scoring two runs. David Hamilton swiped a pair of bags to bring his season total up to 60.
Sterling Sharp made his fourth start for Portland and allowed one run on two hits, two walks, and one strikeout over three innings. Ryan Zeferjahn followed Sharp out of the bullpen and struck out one across two scoreless frames in his Double-A debut. From there, Cody Scroggins got tagged for three runs in the bottom of the seventh. But Michael Gettys and Brendan Nail held it down by combining for 2 1/3 scoreless innings to seal the victory.
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Three runs were all Greenville needed to secure an extra-innings win on the road. Matthew Lugo got his side on the board with an RBI single in the fourth inning. In the 10th, automatic runner Jose Garcia scored all the way from second base when Tyler McDonough reached on a fielding error. McDonough then scored from third on another run-scoring single from Lugo, who went 3 for 5 with two stolen bases. Gilberto Jimenez and Corey Rosier also collected two hits apiece while Max Ferguson and Joe Davis each drew two walks.
Wikelman Gonzalez, making his third start since being promoted from Salem, yielded one run on three hits, two walks, and eight strikeouts over four innings of work. Out of the Greenville bullpen, Casey Cobb scattered three strikeouts across two scoreless frames of relief. Graham Hoffman, in what was his High-A debut, worked his way around two singles in the seventh. Brendan Cellucci picked up the win with two shutout innings of his own. Jacinto Arredondo slammed the door on Rome in the bottom of the 10th to earn his second save of the season.
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It was a productive night for the top half of Salem's lineup. Eddinson Paulino, Mikey Romero, Brainer Bonaci, and Chase Meidroth all had two hits in a two-run win. Paulino came through with the biggest hit of the contest, a go-ahead two-run home run with two outs in the ninth inning. It was his 11th big fly of the season. Out of the nine-hole, Tyler Miller went 1 for 4 with the game-tying single that preceded Paulino's homer.
On the mound, Reidis Sena surrendered one hit and struck out one over two scoreless innings in his ninth start of the season. Luis De La Rosa and Gabriel Jackson each gave up two runs out of the bullpen before Osvaldo De La Rosa punched out four across two shutout frames to pick up his seventh winning decision of the year.
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Player of the Day: On a perfect night for Boston's minor-league affiliates, Connor Seabold stole the show on Wednesday. The righty had struggled to a 7.64 ERA in his previous five starts since returning from the injured list, but he ended his month of August on an encouraging note by fanning seven of the 24 batters he faced. Seabold is currently regarded as the No. 8 pitching prospect in the organization.
Photo Credit: Connor Seabold by Kelly O'Connor