Pawtucket Red Sox vs Buffalo Bison Game Preview

On Thursday, August 24th the Pawtucket Red Sox take on the Buffalo Bison on Kyrie Irving night at McCoy Stadium.

Jalen Beeks will take the mound for Pawtucket with a 3.00 ERA and a 6-4 record going against Bison starter Brett Anderson who holds a 0-1 record and a 2.25 ERA.

Scheduled first pitch for this one is 7:05 pm with Pawtucket owning a 62-68 record and Buffalo sitting at 59-71 on the season.

After this game, there will only be 3 home games remaining for the Pawtucket Red Sox with the team finishing up their season on the road. Every win counts with just 12 games remaining, Pawtucket will have to go 9-3 in order to finish the season at a .500 record.

To give some perspective, the PawSox have finished .500 or better 5 of the last 6 years with last seasons record sitting at 74-68. But Kevin Boles and company have once again had a tough go of things. This is primarily due to the high call up totals to the Boston Red Sox.

Since the All-Star break, the PawSox have been involved in 77 player transactions, that is only a 41-day time period.

Roster moves were made of Thursday’s game in-fact. Both Deven Marrero and Hector Velazquez were optioned to Pawtucket to make room for Blaine Boyer and Rajai Davis in Boston.

Statistically, the PawSox are eliminated from any post-season play this season, everything from here on out is playing for pride and the future.

Here are tonights starting lineups.

Pawtucket Red Sox Lineup

Tzu-Wei Lin SS

Heiker Meneses 2B

Matt Dominguez DH

Bryce Brentz RF

Sam Travis 1B

Brian Bogusevic CF

Ryan Court LF

Dan Butler C

Jantzen Witte 3B

Buffalo Bison LIneup

Christian Lopes 3B

Dwight Smith Jr. LF

Teoscar Hernandez RF

Rowdy Tellez 1B

Gregorio Petit SS

Mike Ohlman C

Jason Leblebijian DH

Roemon Fields CF

Jon Berti 2B

Boston Red Sox Pitcher Carson Smith Had Something Extra In His Rehab Appearence With PawSox

Carson Smith made his 6th rehab appearance at AAA Pawtucket on Wednesday nights as the Paw Sox went on to win 5-3 over the Buffalo Bisons. During his appearance tonight, he looked like he had a little extra on his fastball as it topped out at 92 mph.

This is Smiths’ first appearance with only one day of rest since he underwent tommy john surgery last year. During his rehab stint, the Boston Red Sox were having him make a rehab appearance every third day.

In his last appearance on Monday night, he went 1 inning, while striking out 2 on 14 pitches (8 strikes). His fastball topped out at 91 mph.

Smith Tonight

Carson Smith seemed to have something a little extra on his fastball tonight as it topped out at 92 mph. In 2015 when Smith a dominate reliever for the Seattle Mariners, his fastball averaged 93.5 mph according to fangraphs.

His final pitching line tonight over his one inning was 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks, and 1 strikeout on 10 pitches (7 strikes). Six of his pitches were fastball, four were sliders. The one hit he gave up was a lead off double to Rowdy Tellez on an 88 mph fastball. It was the 2nd pitch of the AB. Tellez was then picked off 2nd base by Paw Sox catcher Jake Romanski.

Excellent throw from Jake Romanski from his knees to erase the only baserunner against Carson Smith! pic.twitter.com/tHDfe3MW99

— PawSox (@PawSox) August 24, 2017

The first out he recorded himself of the inning was a strikeout of Danny Jansen. It came on an 84 mph slider. The final out of the inning came on a ground out to shortstop by Jason Lebleijian.

Carson Smith snaps off another beautiful slider for this strikeout! pic.twitter.com/TPSL14soz3

— PawSox (@PawSox) August 24, 2017

Smith Going Forward

For Carson Smith to realistically be an option out of the Red Sox bullpen come September, he is going to need to be able to pitch on consecutive nights. Having Smith pitch tonight on only 1 day of rest shows that the team is trying to get him ready to pitch at the major league level.

With the struggles of Matt Barnes, who is now on the disabled list, having Smith as an option out of the Boston Red Sox bullpen is huge. The Red Sox need another option out of the bullpen on any given night going into September and October. Having Smith pitch on one day of rest compared to two, is a start for him on his way to being a part of the Boston Red Sox bullpen.

Boston Red Sox Have Acquired Speedster Rajai Davis From Oakland

The Boston Red Sox have acquired Oakland Athletics outfielder Rajai Davis.

Evan Drellich of CSNNE was the first with the news with Drellich crediting the A’s extra inning affair with Baltimore Orioles being the reason for the hold-up.

Minor League Outfielder In Exchange For Davis

In exchange for Davis, the Boston Red Sox will send minor league outfielder Rafael Rincones back to Oakland according to the official release by the team.

Rincones is a 19-year-old prospect that has been playing for the Red Sox affiliate in the Dominican Summer League. He has a .264 career batting average with 2 home runs and 39 RBIs. Rincones was undrafted and signed by the Red Sox as an international free agent in August of 2015.

Rumblings Started Early In The Afternoon With A Pawtucket Red Sox Infielder Being DFA’d

In the afternoon on Wednesday, the first rumblings of a waiver trade were made after a report by Nick Carfardo of the Boston Globe. In order to acquire Davis, Boston first had to clear a roster spot.

To add Rajai Davis to the 40 man roster, the Red Sox designated Steve Selsky for assignment. Selsky played in 8 games for the Red Sox this season, where he had 1 hit in 9 at-bats. Since being sent to AAA Pawtucket on April 28th, Selsky has struggled. In 79 games, Selsky hit .215 with 11 home runs, and 39 RBI’s.

Seslky left McCoy Stadium shortly after it was announced he was the DFA. He did not leave the park with any of his belongings and is expected to rejoin the PawSox tomorrow.

What Davis Brings To The Table For The Boston Red Sox

In terms of Davis, he provides outfield depth with the injury to Jackie Bradley Jr., and he provides some much-needed speed to the Boston Red Sox.

Davis is 36-years-old and the Norwich, Connecticut native should sound very familiar to Boston Red Sox fans. Davis has 10 years of American League experience including three seasons with AL East rival Toronto. What he brings to Boston is speed.

Davis has stolen 30+ bases in a season a total of 7 times in his career and he is on pace to do it once more this year. For the Oakland Athletics this season he has stolen 26 bases. As a whole, he is .233 on the season in 300 at-bats. Production at the plate isn’t why the Red Sox acquired him though.

Davis instantly becomes the best base stealer on the team. His 26 stolen bads are 8 higher than the highest on the Red Sox. Mookie Betts has 18, Andrew Benintendi 15, and Xander Bogaerts 11. Every other player on the team is sub-10. Come October, the need for speed on the bases and the ability to insert a legit pinch runner is immense.

Think Quienten Berry (2013) and Dave Roberts (2004). That is what Davis is expected to bring to the table.

In terms of placement, he can play center field till the return of Jackie Bradley Jr. Davis in 2017 has played 79 games in center for Oakland with a .987 fielding percentage in 572 innings logged.

What To Expect Going Forward

One would assume that Boston will use Davis in the field with Bradley being placed on the 10-day-dl with a sprained left thumb. Davis can also play left or right field until Bradley returns, Davis will likely serve as the fourth outfielder.

Once Bradley returns, Davis will likely be used almost exclusively as a pinch runner late in games. A role that will be crucial to October baseball success.