What’s better than finishing off the pre-All Star break series against Rochester (Nationals AAA) with a walk-off win? Doing so while holding off a late rally on a day where both teams combined for 15 pitchers used.
The bullpen held the Red Wings scoreless for six innings, but the Red Wings tied things up to send the game to extras. It was there, though, that Tyler McDonough was driven in by a 2-out single by one of the only infielders in Worcester who hasn’t sniffed the Major League roster yet this season: Mikey Romero. This was appropriate timing, given that this weekend was the MLB Draft and Romero is a former first-round pick who has seen plenty of players selected in that round already making impacts on their Major League rosters (2022: Chase Delauter, Spencer Jones, Sal Stewart). This is not entirely any fault of Romero’s, who’s on a team that has held off on promoting plenty of talent too quickly over the years (save for Kristian Campbell, of course). He also has some heavy depth in front of him and also has struggled staying healthy. Romero has been decent at the plate, if a little disappointing for Worcester, slashing .239/.302/3.79, and bringing with him some defensive versatility.
Also, speaking of Kristian Campbell, he had a huge outfield assist from left field to catch prevent a run at home, and he had an RBI dribbler that was instrumental in this game even getting to extras.
Miguel Bleis? 0-for-5. Franklin Arias? Day off to play in the Futures Game (he went 0-for-2 with an RBI groundout in his first at-bat). Nelly Taylor had three hits, finishing a triple short of the cycle, and a white-hot Ronald Rosario added two of his own, and Jack Winnay extended his hit streak to nine games. But all of these factors didn’t help when the pitching staff gave up ten runs to the FisherCats. (Blue Jays AA) The game was ugly, the hole being as bad as 9-1 at one point.
I offer an apology to any Greensboro (Pirates High-A) fans, as I’ve been referring to their team as a Braves farm team all week. They’ve punished me by holding Greensville bats silent outside of Mason White, who’s taken them for six total hits in the last three days. The team as a whole had just three other hits on the afternoon and never had an at-bat with a runner in scoring position, turning what was a great start by Dylan Brown into an afterthought, especially from the home run Brown gave up all the way in the second inning, a slip-up he recovered from quickly by putting four more solid innings together. But, it wasn’t enough given the way Greenville was swinging the bat.
The FireFlies (Royals A) going 3-for-18 with runners in scoring position and stranding eleven runners cost them the game. Jose Bello (the only piece remaining in the organization from the Rafael Devers trade) allowing no runs despite allowing six hits and two walks in four innings was impressive. This game was deadlocked 3-3 going into extras, but the RidgeYaks powered two shots over the fence, including Ilan Fernandez’s second of the game. The second one, Starlyn Nunez’s third hit of the game, would put it on ice for Salem.
As the big leagues are off for a few days, so too is the farm, who returns to action on Friday night.
