The Pawtucket Red Sox uncorked a restock of carbonation roughly 40 hours in the making Thursday afternoon. The subsequent stream helped them salvage a split of their eight-game homestand and four-game bout with the Toledo Mud Hens in a come-from-behind, 5-3 victory.
The
PawSox deluged a drought of 15 consecutive scoreless innings in the bottom of the fifth. Each of their top eight batters factored in to the scoring,
flip-flopping a 3-0 deficit to a 5-3 lead.
While
that hex was still in progress, the Mud Hens ran their string of unanswered
runs to nine. After nabbing the last two runs Tuesday and stamping a 4-0
shutout Wednesday, they reaped three runs off Rubby De La Rosa in the second
inning.
After
retiring each of his first five challengers, Pawtucket’s starter drove into a
ditch. He authorized five consecutive two-out baserunners, three of whom
crossed the plate in the top of the second.
James
McCann started the outburst by directing the first pitch he faced down the
left-field line for a base hit. Next, De La Rosa’s payoff pitch hits the dirt
to let Tyler Collins on board.
Ben
Guez sent both of his mates home to crack open a 2-0 lead with a single to
left. He nabbed a pair of extra bases on the play with De La Rosa’s off-target
throw home.
The
following five-pitch walk to Marcus Lemon placed men at the corners and Daniel
Fields retained that arrangement. He worked a full count and drove the second
3-2 delivery up the inning up the middle to nudge Guez to the dish and Lemon to
third.
Toledo
counterpart Mike Belfiore incurred his own throwing error in the bottom of the
same inning. His botched force attempt let Bryce Brentz on first and put Ryan
Lavarnway in scoring position with no outs.
But
a fly out and a 5-4-3 double play let the visiting starter get through his
slovenly second stanza unscatched.
Three
innings later, with Jhan Marinez on in relief of Belfiore, the PawSox finally
recompensed. A cumulative nine pitches amounted to two walks, setting the table
for Corey Brown to draw a 3-3 deadlock with a home run to right.
Marinez
mustered one more out before giving way to Pat McCoy after letting two more men
on board at the corners. Daniel Nava greeted McCoy with a go-ahead single up
the middle, bumping Brock Holt home for a 4-3 home advantage.
Two
plays later, with the bases loaded, Bryce Brentz augmented that lead to 5-3 by
grounding into a force-out at second.
To
sandwich the offensive turnaround, De La Rosa neutralized his preceding tempest.
He allowed no hits in the four innings followings the second and threw a 1-2-3
fifth and sixth. Toledo finally touched him again with Guez’s two-out
double in the seventh on his 102nd and final delivery.
But he
Hens, who looked hapless on offense heading into this series, regressed to
their old form against De La Rosa and the Pawtucket bullpen. They stranded Guez and then brooked two more three-up, three-down innings.
PawSox Pluses
Holt
hammered the host club’s only hit off of Belfiore with a two-out single in the
third. After the Sox knotted the score in the fifth, he subsequently kept the
tide-turning frame alive by tripling to the corner at the right-field warning
track. That three-bagger was Holt’s second and the team’s fifth in 2014.
Upon
succeeding De La Rosa with two down in the seventh, Rich Hill threw an
efficient 1.1 innings of relief. He threw 13 of his 18 offerings for strikes to
retire each of his four challengers. Drake Britton was just as solid in a 1-2-3 ninth, needing only 10 pitches to cement the 5-3 final.
Sox Stains
De
La Rosa’s stat line when trying to attain the third out of the second inning:
28 pitches, 15 balls, 13 strikes, three hits, two walks, three runs, one earned
run and a throwing error.
Left
fielder Justin Henry was charged with a throwing error himself in that
wound-opening segment.
On
top of those five shortcomings in the second, two of the last three Toledo
baserunners De La Rosa’s watch came with two outs in a given inning. He tossed a seven-pitch walk
to Trevor Crowe in the third and exited in the seventh after the aforementioned
double by Guez, who had initially fallen behind in the count on consecutive
called strikes.
Mud Hens Notes
Belfiore,
ordinarily a reliever, made his second start of the season. The left-throwing
Boston College alum pitched three full innings before the Hens dipped into
their bullpen.
Drew
VerHagen was Toledo’s originally scheduled starter, but was supplanted for reasons
not readily disclosed.
Guez
led the visiting cause on offense, hitting 2-for-3 on the day with an RBI and a run scored.
Mike
Hessman batted 0-for-4 with two strikeouts for his only hitless performance of
the series.
Miscellany
The
PawSox are now 10-9 on the year when allowing the first run of the game and 8-7
in matinees.
