Swift Summation
Subsisting
on an early stash of passive-aggressive batting and ambitious baserunning, the
Pawtucket Red Sox warded off the Rochester Red Wings Wednesday afternoon. They
sculpted an initial 7-0 lead that morphed into a 7-6 final at Frontier Field.
The
first two pitches of Pawtucket’s third inning yielded two baserunners and
eventual scorers. Heiker Meneses dropped an infield single to the right of the
mound and Brock Holt followed up with a base hit to shallow left.
Alex
Hassan’s opposite-field double to right knocked Meneses home for a 1-0
advantage and still no outs. Holt completed his round-trip with the help of
Brandon Snyder’s sacrifice fly in the same direction.
Two
plays later, Hassan hustled home from second on Bryce Brentz’s single up the
middle for a 3-0 lead.
The
Sox tacked on two more runs on four more hits before using any outs in the
fourth.
McCoy
led off by working the count full and then chopping the payoff pitch to the
left-center lawn for a single. He advanced to third via Meneses’ double and
then scored Pawtucket’s fourth run on Holt’s base hit. Hassan’s two-bagger to
the right-field corner plated Meneses and put himself and Holt in scoring
position.
After
an intentional walk to Ryan Lavarnway loaded the bases, Dan Butler bumped in
two more runs for a 7-0 runaway.
Rochester
ratcheted its offense in the bottom of the stanza. Wilkin Ramirez’ double to
the left-field wall put Eduardo Nunez on third base and Brad Nelson walked to
load the bases.
Eric
Farris kept the maximum three baserunners at hand with a one-out single off
reliever Chris Resop, putting the Wings on the board. Dan Rohlfing proceeded to
drive home two teammates with a liner to right-center and Doug Bernier dropped
in an RBI single, whittling the PawSox’ lead down to 7-4.
Nelson’s
sacrifice fly scored Nunez in the fifth and Bernier constituted the day’s final
run amidst a force-out play in the sixth.
PawSox Pluses
The
Sox started swelling Scott Diamond’s pitch count in the second, largely by
fouling off two-strike tosses. Butler flied out to shallow straightaway center
on the seventh pitch of his at bat with two on and no outs in the second. On
the next sequence, Corey Brown worked a 3-1 count before fouling off four
straight and then fanning on the ninth bid.
The
Red Wings starter had reached 40 pitches by the conclusion of the second
inning. That mollified him enough for Pawtucket to pounce and prey beginning in
the third.
Four
visiting batters—Holt, Hassan, Lavarnway and Meneses—logged three hits apiece
in their raid on Diamond and his bullpen. Holt, Hassan and Meneses each scored two
runs apiece while Holt drove one in, Hassan two others.
If
there was a way for a position player to gain credit for a save, which went to
pitcher Drake Britton, it would have to go to Brentz. His toss from right field
to the plate foiled Santana’s bid for a 7-7 equalizer and finalized an
inning-ending double play in the eighth.
Sox Stains
After
three sound stanzas, starter Brandon Workman lost his crispness in the fourth,
bringing on a premature end to his outing. He faced four batters during the
inning in question, throwing 13 balls, including four in the dirt and loading
the bases on a single, double and walk. After letting Nelson on board, he gave
way to Resop with a mere 3.1 IP to his credit.
Brown
did not join the afternoon’s hit club until he doubled in the ninth. Before
that, he struck out four times in as many plate appearances, stranding two
teammates on base each of the first three times.
Red Wings Notes
Diamond,
a fourth-year Triple-A regular in the Minnesota Twins system, endured his first
loss in three career decisions against the PawSox.
Ramirez
and Rohlfing (two RBIs) fueled the Rochester offense with three hits apiece,
giving them half of the home team’s dozen total hits on the day.
Miscellany
Tommy
Layne improved to 2-1 with credit for the victory after throwing two scoreless
innings on two hits, a walk and a strikeout in the sixth and seventh.
The
Sox slugged out a new single-game season-high with 17 hits.
Video courtesy
of the minorleaguebaseball YouTube channel
