Cup of Coffee: Mayer goes yard as Sea Dogs win in a blowout

4/13 Cup of Coffee: Following the example from the big club, there were two shutouts down on the farm on Friday night, as Portland dominated Reading, but Greenville was unable to get into the run column against Bowling Green despite four extra-base hits on the night. Marcelo Mayer hit his first home run of the season and was joined in the home run club by teammate Max Ferguson, as well as Jamie Westbrook for Worcester and both Johanfran Garcia and Jhostynxon Garcia in Salem. Worcester dropped a tight decision to Syracuse, while Salem escaped Delmarva, both by identical scorelines.

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Syracuse Mets (NYM) 4, Worcester Red Sox 2

Worcester had a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the third, but Syracuse put up a three-spot in the frame and added one more for good measure in the sixth. Nick Sogard opened the scoring with an RBI double in the first inning, while Jamie Westbrook tacked on a second run in the Red Sox's next at-bat via the home run. Rob Refsnyder had a two-hit day and the trio represented four of Worcester's five hits. Grant Gambrell was on the mound and pitched the first five innings, surrendering three runs on five hits and a trio of walks, while he struck out five. Justin Hagenman struck out three hitters over two frames, while Lucas Luetge had a clean eighth. 

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Portland Sea Dogs 11, Reading Fightin Phils (PHI) 0

Zach Penrod, Cody Scroggins and Wyatt Olds combined to throw a four-hit shutout on Friday. Penrod scattered a pair of knocks with zero walks and eight punchouts over five innings of work, while the remaining hits went on Scroggins' tab between the sixth and seventh. Olds walked one and struck out two over a pair of no-hit innings. The score was just 3-0 through six innings, but Portland tacked on three in the seventh and five in the ninth to create a big-time advantage. Marcelo Mayer went deep for the first time in 2024 in the seventh, as did Max Ferguson. Mayer and Ferguson each had a pair of hits, along with Mickey Gasper, while Kyle Teel paced the squad with three base knocks. 

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Bowling Green Hot Rods (TB) 6, Greenville Drive 0

Luis Ravelo had a pair of doubles at the top of the lineup, but it wasn't enough, as the Drive couldn't scrape a run across despite four extra-base hits as a team. Only two earned runs went on Luis Perales' tab over four innings of work, but five runs scored overall on seven hits, while he struck out four. Cooper Adams performed valiantly out of the bullpen, with four no-hit innings and four punchouts against one walk.

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Salem Red Sox 4, Delmarva Shorebirds (BAL) 2

Brothers Johanfran and Jhostynxon Garcia each contributed home runs and multi-hit days, combining to drive in three of their team's four runs in the victory. Stanley Tucker also had a multi-hit day. The scoring was done early as no runs came across after the fourth and Delmarva had just one hit. Johanfran's home run got the scoring started in the first, while his brother followed in the third, proving to be the game-winning run. Salem also scratched a run across in the second. Matt Duffy pitched 3 1/3 innings and allowed both Delmarva runs to score, but Royman Blanco came behind him and contributed three innings of scoreless relief and Isaac Stebens closed it out with 2 2/3 frames of no-hit ball.

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Player of the Day: Portland is a stacked crew and showed it offensively against Reading on Friday, but Marcelo Mayer gets the nod as he hit his first home run of 2024 into the Pennsylvania night. It was the 30th of his career and helped extend a torrid start to the new campaign, even if he's just recorded 15 at-bats this year. The fourth overall pick in 2021, Mayer struggled with injury last year but seems to be fully healthy and proving his high prospect ranking, even if he did cut his trademark flow.

Photo Credit: Marcelo Mayer by Kelly O'Connor

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