Red Sox Minor Lines 5/23: Marcelo Mayer Rakes, Vaughn Grissom Walks It Off

There’s plenty to get to in yesterday’s action that revolves around a potentially open roster spot, if even for a week. which may, for service time reasons, end up going to a certain utility prospect traded for someone whose name rhymes with This Tail. Anyway… let’s get into it!

Worcester, Game 1: W, 5-4 (BOX SCORE)

Nothing quite like a Vaughn Grissom two-RBI walk-off after a Nick Burdi clutch 1-2-3 seventh inning! What makes this game even more special – besides overcoming multiple defensive errors – is that Jhostynxon Garcia hit a first-inning home run, wasting no time starting what would become his third straight multi-hit game since being promoted. Marcelo Mayer followed Password up with a home run of his own in the third inning, and even though old friend Jamie Westbrook contributed to Durham’s (Rays AAA) lead, the WooSox staved them off. Roman Anthony (not to be forgotten, he had two hits and a walk!), Marcelo Mayer, Password, and Vaughn Grissom all had singles in that seventh inning, in a sequence of events we may see for years to come…. hopefully not still in Worcester.

Using this line to once again plead for Marcelo Mayer to be called up. How many praying hands and crossed fingers emojis do I have to use?

Worcester, Game 2: Postponed, Make Up 5/24

In what became the theme of the evening, the evening storms made baseball tough to play. Game 1 of Saturday’s double-header starts at 4:05.

Portland, Game 1: W, 6-0 (BOX SCORE)

Unlike the Worcester game, the outcome of this one against Reading (Phillies AA) was never in too much doubt after the fifth. Blaze Jordan, who is extremely ready to face Triple-A pitching, homered, his second hit of the game to make the score 5-0 in Portland’s favor, then, two batters later, Max Ferguson rifled off a solo shot of his own. This victory can also obviously be attributed to the pitching staff: Isaac Coffey, who made his first appearance in 2025 following an extended spring illness, David Sandlin, who threw his first scoreless outing of the season, and Jonathan Brand, who is back on track after getting re-demoted. All told, 12 Phils struck out in the afternoon game.

Portland, Game 2: Cancelled

With so many Sea Dogs games suffering the same fate this month and Reading not visiting Portland again this season, this game got outright cancelled.

Greenville: L, 4-5 (BOX SCORE)

Peyton Tolle is so good at striking people out, now totaling 32 on the month in just four abbreviated appearances, and 49 in 28 ²⁄₃ innings total. Unfortunately, he could only pitch 4 ²⁄₃ innings today in Bowling Green (Rays High-A), and the bullpen sputtered the rest of the way, as did Greenville, who also struck out sixteen times, none so important as Nazzan Zanetello whiffing with the bases juiced and two outs. Brooks Brannon finished a triple shy of the cycle, tallying four hits on the night, but the rest of the team reached base just six additional times.

Salem: L, 5-11 (F/12) (BOX SCORE)

I know, I know. The score looks fake. The Red Sox teed off for thirteen runs in one inning against the Orioles, so to make things sort of requited (not really), the Os’ Single-A squad lit Manuel Medina up for six runs in the twelfth before the game mercifully ended just short of midnight. It just seems that Medina drew a short straw to stay out there after Steven Brook’s short start and fell apart at the wrong time in this one, as he allowed just one run in his previous three innings and was left out there for a fourth and too much unfortunate stuff happened. Delmarva stranded fifteen runners on the night, but Salem stranded ten of their own and in the end it was just a matter of when those runners were stranded that matters most.

Have a happy Saturday!