Four innings of acceptable work for Bello, who returns to Boston next week.
If you take yesterday’s date, 4/16, it reduces to 1/4. As in, one-fourth of the teams we usually cover had a one-day postponement due to, uh, cold weather. Rochester (Nationals AAA) had some wind squalls that may have made baseball unplayable, or at least, unwatchable: 37 degrees at game time with 25 mile-per-hour wind gusts. They play a double-header today: Cooper Criswell gets the ball at 3:35. Onto games that were played… let’s get into it!
Portland: W, 7-5 (BOX SCORE)
It’s rehab week in Connecticut agaisnt the Hartford Yard Goats (Rockies AA) as Brayan Bello saw his pitch count increased yet again in his final start before rejoining the Major League team following some shoulder inflammation. Good news: he struck out seven. More good news: his fastball velocity touched 97 and stayed around 94-95 much of the night. He also had pretty good command of the plate, walking just one. Bad news: he allowed four runs in 4.1 innings including a home run. Ok news: he got through 13 outs in 71 pitches; 51 were strikes. Watch some of it yourself here:
Portland and Hartford actually had similar games, taking this one into extra innings in a 4-4 tie. Password Garcia and Corey Rosier both advanced and scored runners in clutch situations in the 10th to put this ome just out of reach. Back to Bello: personally, I’m a bit apprehensive to put him in a situation where he’s starting games off the bat seeing as the ends of his outings have been a bit shaky. I wouldn’t mind opting for a bulk pitcher after an opener (Whitlock? Mike Fulmer?) situation like one Nick Pivetta found himself in during the 2023 season, but it is at least a consolation that Sean Newcomb had a very solid 4.2 innings last night in what may be his last start in the rotation.
Greenville:
The Drive trailed the Dash (White Sox High-A) from the jump Wednesday evening and never recovered. I will leave the Yophery Rodriguez praise on an RBI triple short to call attention to 20-year-old infielder Marvin Alcantara’s slash line through 38 at-bats: .467/.515/.500. I tend to think that, while he’s hot, having him so low in the lineup around guys who haven’t proven they can get on base may be doing the team an injustice. I’m wondering what Wednesday’s circumstances may have been if Zanatello is dropped down to fifth or sixth while he figures his strikeout issues out for about a week and Alcantara is given a chance to shine in this Rodriguez-Nelly Taylor cohort.
Salem: W, 10-8 (BOX SCORE)
Let’s talk about Matt McShane, whom the Red Sox received in exchange for Chase Shugart in a trade with the Pirates last year. McShane was a 13th round selection in last year’s draft by the Pirates out of St. Joseph’s University, the 22-year-old has struck out 16 in 8.2 innings in his four appearances in 2025, after notching 52 Ks in 40 innings to end his college career in 2024. McShane put in 3 solid innings of one-hit work against the Hillcats (Rays A) to let the offense do its thing on Wednesday afternoon. Nine outs in 48 pitches proves he’s got some stamina in the tank should the farm need it, but he’s had just as effective one-inning outings, and SJU notably used him as a set-up man and closer in 2023, when they won their conference championship. Meanwhile, while Franklin Arias’ batting average slips below .400, he once again found himself on base with a two-RBI, two-out single.
Have a happy Thursday!