It’s beyond comical at this point, but on a silent night at the plate for Worcester’s bustling lineup, Dalbec comes through.
It sure pains me to see the Red Sox blow a late-inning lead in the fashion they did Wednesday, and it pains me more to see recent acquisitions performing so poorly given how many Worcester assets were given up in the trade. But I won’t name names. If you’re looking for possible pitchers who can come up and eat innings, I may be able to help today, but my most likely name who played yesterday and may help us is a few years away from making a Major League impact. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to learn his name: Yordanny Monegro. Also learn the name of a young upstart minor leaguer who had a clutch hit tonight. His name is Bobby Dalbec. Oh… you know him already? Okay… well, let’s get into it anyway.
Worcester: W, 2-1 (BOX SCORE)
When it comes to being clutch in Triple-A at-bats, all-time right-fielder Robert Vernon Dalbec is Kobe Bean Bryant for Worcester, or me in using four consecutive hyphenated words (your mileage may vary with the latter, especially if you just call it eight consecutive words). Dalbec’s prowess at the plate was evident yet again in the eighth inning against the Iron Pigs’ (Phillies AAA) Michael Rucker, as he hit a groundball to just the right spot to score Chase Meidroth. Meidroth is no slouch himself, as the shortstop is sure to be puffing his chest out after watching David Hamilton’s defensive botch Tuesday; in addition to NOT committing a game-costing error (another hyphenated word!) he drew two walks, the second of which proved to result in putting Worcester over the hump in a defensive battle. While we’re acknowledging the defensive, Richard Fitts again went five strong on the bump; just one earned run over five hits with as many strikeouts and just a walk allowed.
Portland: W, 6-4 (F/11) (BOX SCORE)
Boy, it was a nail-biter, but Portland’s winning streak has reached five games; during that small stretch, they have scored over 7 runs per 9 innings. Much like home runs killed the Red Sox Wednesday night, extra base hits mustered the Sea Dogs over the Rumble Ponies (Mets AA); Portland had just six hits on the night, but four were for multiple bags, including a 10th inning home run to Kristian Campbell, who’s surely dreaming of a Worcester September (though he also committed an error, but hey, I’d say a longball in extras negates that some). Much like the Red Sox the last few weeks, the bullpen, sans Rob Kwiatkowski who earned the 1-2-3 save in the eleventh, found every way to soil not only that clutch homer but, perhaps more importantly, an incredible starting performance by Hunter Dobbins, who went six scoreless and allowed just two hits. But hey, you know what they say: a W is a W.
Greenville: W, 4-0 (BOX SCORE)
Everyone on the Drive can give a big THANK YOU to Yordanny Monegro for yet again churning out a masterclass, this time against the Iron Birds (Orioles High-A). I’ll be blunt: On a lot of nights, Greenville would not have won this game. They committed four errors defensively, every single batter struck out at least once, and they went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Luckily, Mikey Romero, in the leadoff spot, reached base four times (two hits, two walks) and drove in two key runs. Even more importantly, this was Monegro’s stat line: 5 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 7 K. The bullpen only gave up two more baserunners the rest of the way and struck an additional 8 out. As I said with last game, that’s a stat line that will make me forget about the pitcher’s two defensive errors. Well, almost.
Salem: L 3-4 (BOX SCORE)
The one team on the farm to take a loss Wednesday, Salem, also committed four defensive errors, which ended up being the difference in this game against the Nationals of Fredericksburg. Nazzan Zanetello also had a risky run to third following a stand-up double in which he got caught to end a productive inning, but I applaud him for even getting the double. Salem had no problem getting on base Wednesday, but it was making the runs cross the plate that hindered them. Which, ya know, isn’t conducive to winning baseball games! Neither is the fact that three of the more high-profile players on this team are nearing or at 20 errors on the season; growing pains are, well, painful!
Have a happy Thursday!