MLB vet Jose DeLeon still waits for his first decision win of 2025 in a WooSox uniform; he may not end up getting it, as this was his best chance. The Mets had just one hit against him with two outs in the sixth. In the end, giving up four walks on the day caught up to him, as number three and number four came consecutively, followed by that one hit in the worst possible place, an RBI double to let Syracuse claim the lead. Jovani Moran came in and allowed two more batters to score, doing the team in. Offensively, the team wasn’t exactly moving runners around the basepaths. In fact, Worcester failed to get a runner in scoring position all afternoon. Their only two RBIs came from Password Garcia driving Abraham Toro, who had just singled, in with a moon shot, his 21st total of the season. This game was 7-2, and in both ways, it appears very much like the rout the scoreboard says it was, and, through DeLeon’s best start of the year and still ending up with the decision loss, much closer than a five-run loss all at the same time.
And thus completes the season for Portland. The Sea Dogx had been walked off mutliple times on the week by the Mets’ Double-A affiliate in Binghamton, the Rumble Ponies. While this game was only a one-run game, it was NOT a walk-off win, but it was actually LITERALLY a one-run game. The only run was scored in the first inning, when Dalton Rogers got a ground-out double play, but, due to the two singles he allowed to start the afternoon, a Binghamton run scored. Rogers was solid the rest of the night, but Portland couldn’t get him any run support, which seems about in line with how Portland’s season went… more on the pitching staff in a second.
Portland couldn’t manage a run, and Franklin Arias and Drew Ehrhard were the only two guys with hits (Ehrhard had two.) Arias ends the season at number 1 in the prospect rankings following the big three (I know it was originally Kyle Teel and not Kristian Campbell, but the alternative big three…) each getting call-ups. He slashed .278/.335/.388 with 8 total home runs and 66 RBIs across three levels and felt like a streaky hitter this year, the type of guy who’d go for a 14-game hit streak or go hitless for a week.
Back to the pitching staff. Rogers joins a list of guys with some promise across the organization. Here is the rotation Portland started the season with (remember that Payton Tolle did not even get called up to Portland until late June): Tyler Uberstine, David Sandlin, Connelly Early, Yordanny Monegro, and Blake Wehunt. All of these guys improved their stock over the course of the year, even Monegro, who underwent Tommy John the week Tolle was called up to Double-A. Three of the five were promoted this season. One just struck out 11 batters in his Major League debut. Portland’s pitching stats as a whole in innings one through six: 3.59 ERA (second behind Binghamton) 55 HRs allowed (a league low) 900 strikeouts (second behind Binghamton) and a .224 batting average (tied for second behind Binghamton.) Seeing as the Sox face the Mets just three times a year, that’s promising… and overall, there’s a lot to like about the progression of this pitching staff.
