The
Pawtucket Red Sox channeled Homer Simpson from his boxing days Tuesday night,
accepting as much punishment as needed before springing to action late in the
bout.
After
Rochester Red Wings’ starter Alex Meyer limited them to one hit while striking
out 11 in 6.2 innings, the visiting bullpen proved less menacing. When
Rochester was ripe, the PawSox pounced in the eighth to transform a 1-0 deficit
into an eventual 3-1 victory at McCoy Stadium.
With
eight balls on nine pitches, Ryan Pressly conceded back-to-back one-out walks
to Alex Hassan and Ryan Roberts.
Edgar
Ibarra promptly replaced Pressly, but Garin Cecchini directed a 2-0 delivery to
the centerfield warning track. Hassan and Roberts both hustled home to usurp a
2-1 lead.
Two
pitches later, Ryan Lavarnway pushed Cecchini home from second base by lining a
single to the shallow right-field lawn. That ended Ibarra’s outing after only
two challengers and Matt Guerrier yielded a single to Bryce Brentz and a walk
to Brandon Snyder to load the bases before a popup and strikeout compressed the
wound.
Through
the midway point of the game, Meyer had a slight upper hand on Allen Webster in
a defensive duel. Meyer kept a scoreless draw intact through the fourth with 36
strikes on 50 pitches and seven strikeouts through 13 showdowns.
In
those first four stanzas, a second-inning sacrifice grounder and a
fourth-inning double gave the Red Wings the game’s lone two runners to reach
scoring position. Meanwhile, Lavanway had constituted Pawtucket’s only
baserunner with a second-inning single.
Brentz
drew Meyer’s first walk on six pitches to lead off the home half of the fifth.
But Snyder grounded into a 4-6-3 to stanch any threat before it took serious
shape.
Red
Wings right fielder Chris Parmelee’s double and walks to Pawtucket’s Mike McCoy
and Ryan Roberts amounted to nothing in the sixth.
When
Brad Nelson led off the seventh to shallow right, Rochester skipper Gene Glynn
installed Chris Rahl as a pinch-runner. The ploy took little time to alter the
complexion of the game.
Rahl
stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and spotted the visitors a 1-0
lead with the help of Eric Fryer’s sacrifice fly to shallow right.
In
the bottom half, Meyer’s pitch count cracked triple digits when Dan Butler
joined Snyder in a succession of back-to-back two-out singles. But Pressly
fielded a quick Corey Brown grounder to quell the threat.
But
the McCoy masses would have no further delay on their gratification thereafter.
PawSox Pluses
The
Wings garnered one hit—no more, no less—in five of the six full innings Webster
worked. The Pawtucket infield warrants more than a sliver of credit for
preserving the scoreless knot up to that point.
Two
force outs and a double play kept Rochester runners out of scoring position
through the first 1.1 defensive innings. The shortstop McCoy snagged a grounder
up the middle and heaved the third out of the second. Later, Roberts snared a
line drive as part of a 1-2-3 fifth and Snyder did the same to strand Parmelee
on second in the sixth.
On
the other side of the ball, Lavarnway stood out as one of only three Pawtucket
batters not to whiff against Meyer and the only one to cultivate a hit off the
Rochester starter in the first six innings. Butler and Snyder only got to him
when his last ounces of fuel had clearly evaporated.
Lavarnway
also had the home club’s lone multi-hit effort, batting 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Sox Stains
Wilfredo
Boscan supplanted Webster with one out and one man on in the seventh. To say
that he “relieved” the PawSox starter would be to miss the mark.
Boscan
had already thrown seven of his first 11 pitches for balls and walked his first
challenger when he authorized Fryer’s sac fly. The aforementioned wild pitch
that hastened the scoring play came from his palm during Eric Farris’
five-pitch walk. He would exit the stanza with 12 balls on 21 total offerings
and two walks on his tab.
The
only reason he was not charged with the run was because he inherited Rahl from
Webster. He easily could have allowed one himself after Farris swiped both
second and third base amidst Dan Rohlfing’s free pass.
Red Wings Notes
Of
Meyer’s 11 “Ks,” three benched the rehabbing Will Middlebrooks while two apiece
fettered Brentz, Butler and Roberts. Meyer fanned Brown and Alex Hassan one
time each.
Parmelee
and leadoff Doug Bernier each touched Webster for a pair of hits, Parmelee
charging up a couple of doubles, Bernier two singles.
Rochester's bullpen combined for three earned runs on three hits and three walks as well as 19 balls on 35 pitches.
Miscellany
Chris Resop picked up his first save of the season, fanning two and stranding two in the ninth.
The
parent Boston Red Sox swapped out outfielder Daniel Nava in exchange for pitcher Alex Wilson Tuesday afternoon.
Middlebrooks
ceded third base to Cecchini after the seventh. He is now 0-for-6 with five
strikeouts through two conditioning contests with Pawtucket.
Roberts
made his PawSox debut at second base two nights after being reassigned by
Boston. He is now the oldest position player (age 33) to have seen action for
Kevin Boles, ahead of a rehabbing Shane Victorino by 72 days. Of all members of
the active roster, only pitcher Rich Hill is older with roughly a six-month
differential.
One
night after his second off-day of the season, Lavarnway crouched behind the
plate for the first time in this homestand. The converted first baseman has
assumed his original catcher’s task in four out of 19 games played this season.
