Syracuse Chiefs southpaw Danny Rosenbaum preserved a no-hit bid through the second out of the fifth inning Wednesday afternoon. A 180-degree difference in the performance of counterpart Anthony Ranaudo undid the Pawtucket Red Sox with little delay en route to a 7-0 meltdown at McCoy Stadium.
Each
of the first three stanzas saw the Sox surrender at least one run while the
offense failed to land a single baserunner.
Syracuse
raised the upper hand when Will Rhymes doubled to center and came home on
Steven Souza’s opposite-field single to right. Souza, however, botched his
attempt to extend his hit to extra bases, effectively minimizing the
first-inning damage.
That
did nothing to preempt a second-inning outburst. Zach Walters led off the road
half of the next frame with a triple to the centerfield warning track. He
hustled home when Brian Goodwin utilized the first out with a sacrifice
grounder on a payoff pitch.
Souza
accelerated the early romp in the third. With Rhymes and Eury Perez at the
corners and one away, he belted Syracuse’s first homer of 2014 over the
left-field wall for a 5-0 lead.
Garin
Cecchini was the first Pawtucket batter to get the ball beyond the infield,
though Souza snared his bid in shallow center in the fifth. Corey Brown
followed with a single to right, breaking up the no-hitter, but was ultimately stranded.
After
three mutually scoreless innings, Red Sox reliever Rich Hill reopened the wound
in the seventh. A two-out single by Souza plated Jeff Howell to augment the
Chiefs’ lead to 6-0.
Rosenbaum
was on his last doses of mojo for the day when the Sox drummed up a rare
threat. A leadoff walk to Ryan Lavarnway and a single by Dan Butler put to on
board with nobody out. But Rosenbaum rebounded to induce a flyout to Cecchini
and fan Brown before giving way to Manny Delcarmen.
Delcarmen’s
first challenger, Christian Vazquez, filled the sacks with a single, but Justin
Henry’s flyout preserved the shutout.
Syracuse
passively picked up its seventh run in the eighth inning when Dalier Hinojosa
allowed four straight two-out walks.
PawSox Pluses
There
is no way to sugarcoat this. There was nothing positive for the McCoy masses to
single out amidst Wednesday afternoon’s mess.
Sox Stains
Ranaudo’s
final stat line for the day: 5.2 innings pitched, five runs (four earned),
seven hits, a walk and four strikeouts. Three of the hits he authorized were
for extra bases, one of each variety.
Given
everything Ranaudo gave the Chiefs to prey upon, Wednesday’s younger innings
could have been worse for Pawtucket. The host starter let six of his first 12
challengers reach base on a hit with five translating to runs.
The
PawSox defense was the principal reason Syracuse settled for a single run in
the first and second. Four fielders collaborated to catch Souza on the base
paths in the opening frame. Later, Butler terminated the second when he threw
to Brock Holt to cut down Emmanuel Burriss’ stealing attempt and end the third.
That
deficit-swelling stanza, though, started with Henry’s fielding error at second,
which authorized the inning’s first runner in Perez.
The
PawSox finally put a man on base and genuinely threatened after Rosenbaum hit
Brock Holt and walked Brandon Snyder in the bottom the fourth. But both runners
were left hanging when Lavarnway grounded into a double play up the middle.
Pawtucket
would not have multiple baserunners nor place anyone in scoring position again
until the seventh. As noted above, that went for naught with outs to Cecchini,
Brown and Henry. Ditto the eighth, when Butler’s vain liner stranded Lavarnway
and Holt.
Chiefs Notes
Burriss
and was the only two Chief to chalk up a hit in all three games of this three-game
set. He batted a cumulative 4-for-9 with an RBI, a run scored and three walks.
Cleanup
man Brock Peterson finished the series a surprising 0-for-14. On Wednesday, he
was the lone Syracuse batter to not reach base or pick up credit for an RBI.
Rather, he went 0-for-5 with a different form of out for each at bat (one
popup, one fly, one grounder, one liner and one “K.”)
Miscellany
With
the loss, the PawSox failed to extend a winning streak to three games for the
second time in as many attempts.
The
Sox bookended their season-opening, seven-game homestand with a pair of shutout
defeats. They previously endured a 4-0 falter at the hands of the Lehigh Valley
IronPigs to kick of their 2014 slate last Thursday.
The
parent Boston Red Sox optioned pitcher Brandon Workman to Pawtucket Wednesday
morning. The transaction comes on the heels of Craig Breslow completing his
minor-league rehab regimen. Workman split last season between Double-A and
Triple-A, posting a 3-1 record in six career starts for the PawSox.
Brown,
who played 357 games for the Chiefs over the previous three seasons, made two
appearances in his first series against his old allies. He finished the series
2-for-7 with a double, a walk and a run scored, but also struck out five times,
including thrice Wednesday.
