August 3, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Cup of Coffee: Trio of players make debuts at new levels, Fajardo strikes out season-high in Salem
8/3 Cup of Coffee: A busy day across the Boston affiliates saw a trio of players making debuts at new levels as Connelly Early debuted in Worcester, Miguel Bleis saw time with Portland, and Jack Winnay made his pro ball debut in Salem. Also down in Salem, Yhoiker Fajardo set a new season high in strikeouts in a win, and Payton Tolle took the mound for his fifth start with the Sea Dogs. On the injury front, Kristian Campbell departed the WooSox's loss early due to a thumb injury.
-----
It was a bumpy outing for Connelly Early in his WooSox debut. In 3 2/3 innings, the left-hander walked five batters, allowed two hits and struck out two while throwing 40 of his 70 pitches for strikes. Although his command wasn't there, Early managed to hold Lehigh Valley scoreless. Jovani Moran and Tyler Uberstine followed Early by getting the next seven outs while allowing a single hit with two strikeouts. While the pitching staff was rolling, a Jhostynxon Garcia solo home run and an RBI groundout by Mikey Romero gave Worcester the lead after six. Holding the late lead, Hobie Harris entered in the eighth and surrendered a three-run home run to put Worcester behind. The WooSox responded in the bottom half of the inning thanks to Vaughn Grissom's 13th home run of the season to send the game into extra innings. In the extra frame, Isaiah Campbell took the loss by allowing the baserunner on second to score.
Garcia was the leader offensively for the WooSox. Along with his 14th home run of the season across Double-A and Triple-A, he also added a single to bring his season average to .300 with a .933 OPS. Grissom also had a pair of hits in the loss, along with his aforementioned home run. Kristian Campbell left the game in the ninth inning after injuring his right thumb during an at-bat.
-----
Six Portland pitchers combined to throw a gem of a game, with a single unearned run allowed in the contest. Payton Tolle made his fifth start of the season with the Sea Dogs and continued to dominate at the level. Following four innings pitched in which he allowed an unearned run on a single hit with two walks and six strikeouts, the left-hander's ERA at the Double-A level fell to an eye-popping 1.67 over 27 innings. After Tolle, Cooper Adams, Jeremy Wu-Yelland, Gabriel Jackson, Noah Song, and Reidis Sena tossed the final five innings to close out the victory, with just two hits, three walks and five additional strikeouts tallied among the group.
All of Portland's offense came in the fourth inning. Trailing 1-0, Max Ferguson singled home Karson Simas to knot the score before Allan Castro delivered with a two-RBI knock and Miguel Bleis doubled home Castro. Playing in his first game since earning a promotion from Greenville, Bleis finished the game 1 for 4.
-----
Brandon Clarke struggled and failed to make it out of the first inning. The left-hander allowed five runs, three of which were earned, on two hits with three walks, a strikeout and a hit batter on his line while only managing to record two outs. Trailing 5-0 after one, Greenville attempted its comeback with a run in each of the second and third on an Albert Feliz RBI single and a solo home run off the bat of Nelly Taylor. The blast was Taylor's seventh of the season. Taylor added another RBI to his total with a run-scoring double in the fifth to make it a 5-3 game, but the Drive failed to add on after that.
While Clarke was charged with the loss, the rest of the Greenville staff pitched brilliantly. Luis Cohen relieved Clarke in the first and got the next four outs with two hits, a walk and three strikeouts added to his total. Adam Smith pitched the next three scoreless innings with a single hit across his outing, and Isaac Stebens pitched a shutout bottom of the eighth with a pair of strikeouts. Outside of Taylor's two-hit outing, Feliz, Franklin Arias, and Hudson White were the only other members of the offense to record a hit.
In what turned out to be a doubleheader split, Blake Aita came two outs shy of a complete game victory, but settled for 6 1/3 stellar innings. Boston's sixth-round pick from last season's draft struck out eight while allowing two runs on five hits and a walk. Jonathan Brand came in after Aita and recorded the save as he recorded the final two outs of the game.
Greenville scored first in the top of the first as Antonio Anderson reached on an error to score Nelly Taylor, who led off the game with a double. The final two runs came in the fifth inning as Yophery Rodriguez drove in a run on a groundout and Johanfran Garcia plated another with a single.
-----
Yhoiker Fajardo was magnificent in his seventh start of the season for Salem, striking out a season-high eight hitters while allowing a single hit across his 5 2/3 innings of work. The right-hander threw 55 of his 75 pitches for strikes and now carries a 2.29 ERA across the FCL and Single-A. Joe Vogatsky followed Fajardo and ran into some trouble in the eighth, allowing three runs in the frame to conclude his outing of 2 1/3 frames pitched on four hits while walking none and striking out five. Eybersson Polanco earned his third save of the season with a scoreless ninth.
Justin Gonzales led Salem offensively as the 18-year-old produced a 3 for 4 night with a double, solo home run and three runs driven in. After a strong July in which Gonzales turned in a .872 OPS across 94 plate appearances, the first baseman has carried his production into the early stages of August. Jack Winnay had himself quite the professional debut, as Boston's 13th-round pick from this year's draft reached base four times with a pair of singles to match his pair of walks with two runs scored and a run driven in.
-----
Team Red plated all of its runs in the first three innings and never looked back as the pitching staff was masterful behind four hitless frames from Angelo Ladera and three innings of one-hit ball from Isael Fis. Ladera dazzled in his third start of the year with only a pair of walks and pair of strikeouts to go with his outing. Fis, who earned the win in relief, struck out four while walking two in his three innings of work. Team Red scored two in the first inning on a throwing error after a steal from Givian Sirvania to score Dorian Soto followed by a double play by Jhonny Osta to score Sirvania. In the second, Kenyon Simmons plated a pair of runs with a single to make it 4-0 after two before Miguel Welch drove in the final run in the third on another single.
-----
Team Blue completed the DSL sweep thanks to a brilliant start from Dariel Morillo and a two-RBI day from Andrw Zambrano. In his sixth start of the season, Morillo scattered a hit and three walks across 3 1/3 innings with six strikeouts, his most in a start this year. After Morillo, Alexander Heredia earned the win by getting four outs while allowing one run and Jostin Ogando and Josue Brito each tossed a scoreless frame to close out the victory. Offensively, Zambrano started the scoring with a two-run single in the top of the fourth. Diomar Hidalgo plated another run with a single in the third and the final two runs scored on a throwing error and a wild pitch.
-----
Player of the Day: After coming to Boston in an offseason trade for Cam Booser, Yhoiker Fajardo dazzled on the mound on Saturday. In Salem's victory over Lynchburg, the right-hander struck out a season-high eight hitters across 5 2/3 innings to earn his first win of the season. After starting the season in the Complex League, the 18-year-old from Venezuela has risen a level and impressed. He is currently the 20th-ranked prospect in the system.
Photo Credit: Yhoiker Fajardo by Kelly O'Connor