Minor Lines: Roman Anthony bomb leads Woo Sox slugfest

And lefty Hayden Mullins dominates at Greenville again

Worcester Red Sox 14, Syracuse Mets 1 (BOX)

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Syracuse (NYM) started top pitching prospect Brandon Sproat on Thursday, and the Woo Sox bats did not treat him kindly. Five of the nine members of the starting lineup tallied two hits, including Roman Anthony, who hit his fifth home run of the season, and Nate Eaton, who hit his second home run. Corey Rosier also added a three-run homer. After allowing six earned runs, Sproat left the game in the third inning.

I think this Anthony guy has a future.

After two strong starts at the big league level, Hunter Dobbins kept it rolling to get the win. He threw six innings (75 pitches, 51 strikes), allowing just one run and four hits. Zack Kelly, who was also recently demoted, threw two shutout innings and struck out two.

Worcester improved to 14-9, which has them 3.5 games out of first place in the International League East. They’ll send rehabbing Lucas Giolito (0-0, 1.59) to the mound Friday vs. Brandon Waddell at 6:05 ET.

Portland Sea Dogs 4, Reading Fightin Phils 3 (BOX)

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The Sea Dogs came back from down 3-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning on Thursday to record a 4-3 victory and improve to 10-6 on the season. Tyler Uberstine got the start for Portland and pitched well, allowing just one run on two hits, striking out four, and left trailing Reading (PHI) 1-0 after five.

In the seventh, Tyler Miller started the comeback with a two-run homer, cutting the lead to 3-2. In the eighth, Blaze Jordan tied the game by knocking in Mikey Romero on a single. The next batter was once again Miller, who stepped up with a sacrifice fly and the game-winning RBI. Jonathan Brand shut it down in the ninth for his second save, and reliever Zach Bryant picked up his first win.

David Sandlin (1-1, 4.85) will take the ball at 6:00 ET against Gabe Mosser on Friday.

Greenville Drive 6, Hub City Spartanburgers 3 (BOX)

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Drive starting pitcher Hayden Mullins got the ball and delivered his fourth straight strong performance to open the season. Mullins allowed just one hit, his only baserunner allowed over four innings, and struck out six. He has struck out six or more in each start, tallying 27 of them in 17 innings on the season with a 1.06 ERA and 0.82 WHIP. The 24-year-old lefty could be heading to Portland soon.

Zach Fogel was credited the win, with Mullins not going five, and Adam Smith got a 3 1/3 inning save, despite allowing three runs.

On the hitting side of things, Nazzan Zanetello was the star in this one. He opened the scoring with an RBI double in the first, followed by another RBI double in the ninth inning. Zanetello had three hits on the day, bringing his average up to .228.

Greenville will throw Juan Valera (0-0, 7.30) on Friday at 7:05 ET against David Davalillo.

Hickory Crawdads 8, Salem Red Sox 0 (BOX)

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Not a whole lot to say in this one from a Red Sox perspective. The lineup managed seven hits against the Crawdads (TEX) but could not scratch a run across. Freili Encarnacion and Antonio Anderson each had two hits. Starter Devin Futrell gave up three runs in two innings, and the relievers weren’t much better. Go get ‘em tonight.

Blake Aita (1-1, 3.29) will toe the rubber against Mason Molina at 7:00 ET Friday.