The Pawtucket Red Sox preceded Tuesday night’s seventh-inning stretch with a seventh-inning retch at McCoy Stadium. They yielded a dozen Rochester Red Wings plate appearances, with six crossing the plate to transform a 5-1 PawSox lead into a 7-5 deficit.
Save
for Mike McCoy’s ninth-inning double with two away, Pawtucket did nothing to
respond, letting that deficit go final.
Little,
if anything, from the first six stanzas presaged Rochester’s resurgence as the
hosts paced themselves to their initial edge. Brandon Snyder notched the first
hit on either side when he led off the second with a home run to center.
Two
plays later, Garin Cecchini landed a one-out single, then made his way to third
when Rochester
catcher Dan Rohlfing’s throw escaped second baseman James Beresford during a
stealing attempt. Dan Butler’s sacrifice fly to right was enough to complete
Cecchini journey en route to a 2-0 edge.
With
runners at the corners and one down in the third, Danny Santana put the Red
Wings on the board with a single to right.
Butler
took a gradual tour to restore Pawtucket’s two-run advantage in the fifth. He
led off with a walk, nudged to second via McCoy’s single, moved to third on
Heiker Meneses’ sacrifice grounder and touched the plate courtesy of Logan Darnell’s
balk.
Snyder’s
second fence-clearer of the night carried Alex Hassan home and augmented the
lead to 5-1 in the sixth. But Rochester retorted with a roar in the seventh.
Wilkin
Ramirez led off with a triple and scored on reliever Dalier Hinojosa’s wild
pitch. That toss put Brad Nelson in scoring position and Chris Rahl knocked him
in on cue. Rahl notched his own run on a single by Deibinson Romero.
After
all of that, their deficit now whittled to 5-4, the Red Wings loaded the sacks
with still no outs. In turn, a five-pitch, one-out walk to Beresford drew a 5-5
knot.
Chris
Parmelee kept the bases full with a shallow liner to left, good for an RBI
single and a 6-5 Rochester lead. Nelson did the same with two away to raise the
upper hand to 7-5.
PawSox Pluses
Snyder
flexed fresh arms after a four-day absence from the lineup. His two long balls
gave him extra bases on each of his last four hits, the others being doubles
last Friday versus Buffalo and April 14 at Rochester.
Apart
from the third inning, Sox starting hurler Rubby De La Rosa did not yield much
opportunity to the visiting bat rack. The only other one of his six stanzas
that saw a Red Wing reach scoring position was the fifth. That was when catcher
Christian Vazquez botched a throw on a would-be strike-him-out-throw-him-out
twin killing.
De
La Rosa’s final stat line for Tuesday: 6.0 innings, one earned run, three hits,
a walk and a season-high seven strikeouts. He still has yet to authorize more
than one opposing run in any of four starts this season.
Sox Stains
While
the organization’s objective is to get him back into Boston-caliber shape,
Shane Victorino has not given the McCoy masses much to cheer about in his rehab
stint. In addition to a costly fielding error in that messy seventh, he went
0-for-4 at the dish with a grounder and three “Ks.” Overall, he is 1-for-11
through three games played at the Triple-A level.
Victorino
and Snyder each committed a seventh-inning error, prolonging the plethora
opened by Hinojosa and Rich Hill. The two relievers combined for six runs (four
earned) one five hits and three walks. Hill was summoned to supplant Hinojosa after
five challengers with still no outs.
Red Wings Notes
Two
episodes in as many half innings saw Farris reap rewards at Vazquez’s expense.
First, in the home half of the fourth, Rochester’s centerfielder hustled to
left-center to snare Vazquez’s liner for the second out of a 1-2-3 frame. He
then drilled a one-out single, then stole second and advanced to third on the
aforementioned throwing error.
Farris,
who went 2-for-4, now has three multi-hit performances in five meetings with
the PawSox in 2014. His cumulative batting line in the season series is
7-for-16 with five runs scored, three driven in, a walk and a strikeout.
Starting
southpaw Logan Darnell lasted only five innings while Yohan Pino chucked three
shifts of relief. The two combined for 13 strikeouts (seven for Pino) while
splitting the tab on Snyder’s two dingers.
Miscellany
Farris
and Beresford were Rochester’s only two non-strikeout victims on the night. Of
those who made at least one plate appearance, only Butler and Henry could make
the same claim for Pawtucket. The contesting pitching staffs combined for a
whopping 27 “Ks.”
Infielder
Ryan Roberts officially joined the PawSox’ roster, though did not see action,
after a designation for assignment by Boston this past Friday.
The
loss marks Pawtucket’s first in 2014 when leading after six innings. The Sox
had entered Tuesday’s action a pristine 7-0 in that scenario.
