Swift summation
Maybe two is better than one. You think?
Whatever leadoff man Rich Thompson cultivated for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Che-Hsuan Lin and Ryan Lavarnway were quick to counter in better quantities as they paced the PawSox to a 7-2 victory at McCoy Stadium Tuesday night.
Thompson was the lone IronPig with a multi-hit outing, and he made the most of them both. With Brian Bocock on board with a two-out walk in the third, he drove in the game’s first run with a double that barely eluded Lin’s trapper along the centerfield wall.
But in an appetizer of eye-for-eye justice, Lin led off the bottom of the fourth with a single to Thompson’s property in center, advanced to second on a botched pickoff attempt, then was nudged to third on Nate Spears’ sacrifice grounder.
Lavarnway subsequently sent Lin home on a double, then usurped the lead for Pawtucket with the help of Lars Anderson’s own two-bagger.
For the second straight night, the top four constituents of the PawSox batting order accounted for all of the decisive scoring plays. And after Thompson singled to lead off the sixth and deleted the 2-1 deficit when he came home on a fielder’s choice, Lin and Lavarnway went to work again in the home half.
Lin deposited yet another leadoff single and swiftly renewed Pawtucket’s lead ahead of Spears’ single, which morphed into a virtual double courtesy of another IronPigs throwing error.
Lavarnway stepped up next and carried Spears home with a towering dinger to left-center, augmenting the edge to 5-2.
In the bottom of the eighth, Spears and Lavarnway would cross the plate once more to stamp the insurance and finalize the 7-2 upshot. Hector Luna’s infield single, which sent Lavarnway home from third, allowed the No. 5-slotted hitter to belatedly join the evening’s production club.
PawSox pluses
What was he so worried about? Before making a rare start at the shortstop post, versatile fielder Spears expressed his doubts about his capabilities in that particular position. Yet his outing included initiating a double-play for the first two outs of the second innings and being the middle man in an important center-to-short-to-third relay that culminated in Luna tagging Thompson to end the third.
But the magnitude of those plays paled in comparison to one in the fifth, when Spears fielded Cody Overbeck’s grounder and used it to deny Josh Barfield’s bid to score from third for the second out of the fifth, preserving the PawSox’ 2-1 lead for the moment.
His results were not quite as glamorous as those of some of his teammates, but Lars Anderson was certainly punishing the ball with sufficient assertion Tuesday night. He just missed homering in each of his first two plate-appearances, flying out to the left-center warning track on the first pitch of the fourth and putting Pawtucket ahead, 2-1, with a double that sent Lavarnway home from second. In his third at-bat in the sixth, Anderson flied out to deep center, just shy of the warning track,. And in the eighth, he nudged Spears home on an RBI single to make it a 6-2 advantage.
Lin extended his hitting streak to five games upon singling to lead off the fourth. By the time he deposited another base hit to commence the home half of the sixth, he had logged a pair of singles and a run-scored for the second straight night.
Jason Rice was the lone pitcher on either side with a genuinely commendable performance Tuesday. He was summoned with no outs and two baserunners on board in the eighth and proceeded to retire each of the last six Lehigh Valley batters, three of them by way of the strikeout.
Sox stains
Starter Felix Doubront unwillingly explained himself when he apparently re-aggravated a hamstring ailment sustained in Portland last week. That ended his night after 4.1 so-so innings-pitched, the first of which were much more sparkling than those that followed.
Doubront went from a pair of easy 1-2-3 frames with no pitches redirected into the outfield to letting six of his next nine challengers lob the ball far. Three of those resulted in doubles, the only three hits the starter allowed. And 21 out of his final 46 pitches were balls.
In relief, neither Scott Atchison nor Clevelan Santeliz contributed much to the 2011 bullpen’s scrapbook. They each recorded a hit-batsman and Santeliz, who was forked out in the eighth after hitting Kevin Frandsen and walking Delwyn Young with nobody out, finished his quick shift with 16 balls and only 19 strikes.
IronPigs notes
Bocock reaped four throw-outs within the first five innings from his post at shortstop and sparkled on both sides of the ball in the third inning. In the top half, he scored the game’s first run upon executing a perfect hit-and-run that allowed him to go home from first ahead of Thompson’s double. In the home half, he fielded Luis Exposito’s leadoff grounder and initiated a double-play that abolished PawSox runner Ronald Bermudez and batter Matt Sheely.
Brian Bass stayed on duty for a full seven innings in his third start against Pawtucket this season. Despite being roughed up by the opponent’s top four batters, he held the bottom five hitless, logged six strikeouts and authorized only one walk.
Justin De Fratus succeeded Bass for a less-than-memorable eighth from an IronPig perspective. De Fratus’ tab included a walk, two runs, two hits, a passed ball by battery-mate Erik Kratz and a wild pitch.
Miscellany
One night after the PawSox blemished their own defensive mug with three errors, Lehigh Valley committed its own troika of blunders Tuesday night. Two of them, both committed by the third-baseman Frandsen in a simple throwing attempt, allowed Spears to reach base in the sixth and eighth innings.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Despite inconsistent presence, Thomas consistently chipping in
So far as his official game log is concerned, PawSox infielder Tony Thomas is on a hot streak.
The run may be interspersed with a brief demotion, a little time on the disabled list, a league-wide respite, and one night off to make room for a rehabbing Major Leaguer in the lineup. Nonetheless, the fact is that Thomas has logged nine hits over his last seven games with Pawtucket.
Most recently, amidst a pair of muggings at the hands of the Durham Bulls, who charged up 24 runs in a span of two victories at McCoy Stadium, Thomas has stood out as one of Pawtucket’s few positives. He was one of only two home hitters, along with No. 9-slotted hitter Ronald Bermudez, to record a multi-hit game on both Saturday and Sunday.
When the rest of the PawSox were symptomatic of a hangover in the wake of Saturday’s slugfest, Thomas looked more like one of those volcanic Durham batters who roughed up the host pitching staff in Sunday’s 13-3 drubbing.
With a pair of doubles Sunday, Thomas tied the recently barren Daniel Nava for second on the team with 16 two-baggers on the year. Only Lars Anderson (21) has hit more doubles for the PawSox.
He also proved instrumental in all three of the PawSox scoring plays, which occurred at points when the game was still a legitimate contest. After the Bulls nabbed an initial 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth, Thomas drew a two-out walk in the bottom half, transferred to second on Brent Dlugach’s single, then came home to put the Sox on the board with the help of Bermudez’s single.
Two innings later, now faced with a 4-1 deficit, Thomas sent Nate Spears home from first with a distant double to left field. Two plays later, Bermudez gave him the OK to finish the trek and pull the PawSox to within a run.
It was not unlike Saturday’s epic fourth inning. The Bulls had usurped the lead and run up a 7-1 pothole in the top half and dared Thomas to kindle a comeback as he led off the bottom.
As it happened, Thomas singled to left and ultimately scored ahead of a Bermudez single for the first of six Pawtucket runs in the inning.
The PawSox batted around whilst drawing the 7-7 knot, allowing Thomas to lead off the fifth. All he did there was double to left and advance to third on a Dlugach single.
Regrettably for Thomas, after Bermudez walked to load the bases, he was cut down by a defiant Durham defense as Che-Hsuan Lin grounded into a fielder’s choice that denied Pawtucket its bid to regain the upper hand.
That aside, Thomas’ opportunism translated unmistakably to the last two box scores of this weekend. He clearly had some carbonation in him after a shoulder injury sustained July 2 kept him on the sidelines through the All-Star Break. And probably more so after the Bulls held him hitless in his return on Thursday, and after he was benched in favor of the multifaceted Nate Spears so Carl Crawford could make his first rehab start on Friday.
Even before his ailment, Thomas had abundant cause for determination. In three games over the first weekend of July, he let that translate to three hits, three stolen bases and a run-scored.
The root of that incentive? Most educated guessers would point to the six games and 16 days he spent with Double-A Portland. That initial transaction on June 14 was only two days after he had logged a not-so-shabby performance against Charlotte with two hits, including a double, and a stolen base.
That was precisely five weeks to the date, yet only six Triple-A appearances ago for Thomas.
He would not have another multi-hit game or multi-base hit with the PawSox until Saturday. But he has suddenly pulled off both feats two days in a row.
With that, dating back to that Charlotte game, he has hit .375 with four extra-base hits and four runs-scored in a span of seven appearances.
For at least one man, a few breathers and changes of scenery have been anything but speedbumps.
The run may be interspersed with a brief demotion, a little time on the disabled list, a league-wide respite, and one night off to make room for a rehabbing Major Leaguer in the lineup. Nonetheless, the fact is that Thomas has logged nine hits over his last seven games with Pawtucket.
Most recently, amidst a pair of muggings at the hands of the Durham Bulls, who charged up 24 runs in a span of two victories at McCoy Stadium, Thomas has stood out as one of Pawtucket’s few positives. He was one of only two home hitters, along with No. 9-slotted hitter Ronald Bermudez, to record a multi-hit game on both Saturday and Sunday.
When the rest of the PawSox were symptomatic of a hangover in the wake of Saturday’s slugfest, Thomas looked more like one of those volcanic Durham batters who roughed up the host pitching staff in Sunday’s 13-3 drubbing.
With a pair of doubles Sunday, Thomas tied the recently barren Daniel Nava for second on the team with 16 two-baggers on the year. Only Lars Anderson (21) has hit more doubles for the PawSox.
He also proved instrumental in all three of the PawSox scoring plays, which occurred at points when the game was still a legitimate contest. After the Bulls nabbed an initial 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth, Thomas drew a two-out walk in the bottom half, transferred to second on Brent Dlugach’s single, then came home to put the Sox on the board with the help of Bermudez’s single.
Two innings later, now faced with a 4-1 deficit, Thomas sent Nate Spears home from first with a distant double to left field. Two plays later, Bermudez gave him the OK to finish the trek and pull the PawSox to within a run.
It was not unlike Saturday’s epic fourth inning. The Bulls had usurped the lead and run up a 7-1 pothole in the top half and dared Thomas to kindle a comeback as he led off the bottom.
As it happened, Thomas singled to left and ultimately scored ahead of a Bermudez single for the first of six Pawtucket runs in the inning.
The PawSox batted around whilst drawing the 7-7 knot, allowing Thomas to lead off the fifth. All he did there was double to left and advance to third on a Dlugach single.
Regrettably for Thomas, after Bermudez walked to load the bases, he was cut down by a defiant Durham defense as Che-Hsuan Lin grounded into a fielder’s choice that denied Pawtucket its bid to regain the upper hand.
That aside, Thomas’ opportunism translated unmistakably to the last two box scores of this weekend. He clearly had some carbonation in him after a shoulder injury sustained July 2 kept him on the sidelines through the All-Star Break. And probably more so after the Bulls held him hitless in his return on Thursday, and after he was benched in favor of the multifaceted Nate Spears so Carl Crawford could make his first rehab start on Friday.
Even before his ailment, Thomas had abundant cause for determination. In three games over the first weekend of July, he let that translate to three hits, three stolen bases and a run-scored.
The root of that incentive? Most educated guessers would point to the six games and 16 days he spent with Double-A Portland. That initial transaction on June 14 was only two days after he had logged a not-so-shabby performance against Charlotte with two hits, including a double, and a stolen base.
That was precisely five weeks to the date, yet only six Triple-A appearances ago for Thomas.
He would not have another multi-hit game or multi-base hit with the PawSox until Saturday. But he has suddenly pulled off both feats two days in a row.
With that, dating back to that Charlotte game, he has hit .375 with four extra-base hits and four runs-scored in a span of seven appearances.
For at least one man, a few breathers and changes of scenery have been anything but speedbumps.
Post-game pop-ups: Bulls 13, PawSox 3
Swift summation
As Ryan Lavarnway goes, so go the PawSox, it seems. And when Lavarnway is striking out, it’s not such a good omen.
Less than 24 hours removed from a career night at McCoy Stadium, the radiant rookie plummeted downhill on the stats sheet with the rest of his team Sunday afternoon. Going 0-for-4 in five plate appearances, Lavarnway went down swinging at the hands of Durham Bulls reliever Jay Buente to curtain an egregious 13-3 Pawtucket loss.
With the win, the Bulls have salvaged a split in the series and pole-vaulted over the once-thriving PawSox for a half-game lead in the International League wild card derby.
It originally looked as though both bat racks had been drained in the afterglow of Durham’s explosive 11-8 triumph Saturday night. But in the fourth inning, Pawtucket starter Matt Fox gradually disassembled before a replenished Bulls offense.
Fox struck out the cleanup man Dan Johnson for the second time in the game and for his fourth K on the day, hinting that he was not shaken up by Felipe Lopez’s first-blood double the previous play. But he then walked Canzler on a payoff pitch and hit Leslie Anderson to load the bases and summon pitching coach Rich Sauveur to the mound.
Fox subsequently got J.J. Furmaniak to watch an 0-2 pitch for a crucial strikeout, but John Matulia stepped in and nailed a two-run single down the left field line, augmenting the deficit to 3-0.
Johnson’s sacrifice fly in the fifth inning proved the difference as it sent Daniel Mayora home from third for the Bulls’ fourth run. Another tradeoff in the seventh, with Canzler sending in Jennings, gave Durham a 5-1 edge and finished off Fox.
But from there, the visitors merciless manners only continued as they charged up another eight runs on seven hits against Pawtucket relievers Dennis Neuman and Jeremy Kehrt.
Lopez finalized the score with a three-run home run with two outs in the ninth.
PawSox pluses
Although it was indubitably unsettling for local rooters to see him scorched like this, Fox had a few highlights. He did match a season-high with his third seven-strikeout performance on the year.
For the second straight outing, the bottom one-third of the batting order was the brightest portion of the PawSox offense. Tony Thomas, Brent Dlugach and Ronald Bermudez combined for five of the team’s eight hits and played a role in all three runs.
In the bottom of the fourth, Thomas drew a one-out walk, advanced to second on Dlugach’s single, and made the trip home in one rush as Bermudez deposited a liner into centerfield. Two innings later, with the game still in reach, Thomas sent Nate Spears home from first on a double and scored himself on Bermudez’s own double to cut the deficit to 4-3.
Sox stains
PawSox players were culpable in most every hair-whitening malfunction on the day, save for the Internet outage that delayed the publication of this very report.
If the fourth inning was a disturbance of hiccups, then the final three were eruptions of hives. Before any Bulls crossed the plate to activate their handsome insurance policy, Thomas failed to throw out Mayora, resulting in an infield hit and runners at the corners with nobody out. Two plays later, Fox was compelled to intentionally walk Johnson, despite his good fortune against him in previous encounters. Jennings, Mayora, and Johnson Leslie Anderson all subsequently scored to crack open the gap to 8-3.
Although he was just recalled from Single-A Greenville earlier in the day, one can infer more was expected out of Neuman as he relieved Fox. As it happened, in his fifth appearance with the PawSox and first since May 22, Neuman mustered only one out amongst six batters-faced. The others were constituted by three walks and two doubles.
In addition, Neuman and Kehrt combined to let all four inherited runners score.
Cleanup hitter Lars Anderson logged two hits, but the first was wasted on a bizarre bounce. Lavarnway, on board with a two-out walk in the third inning, got in the way of Anderson’s liner as he attempted to execute a hit-and-run. Upon being struck by the ball, he was ruled out and the Sox had spilled a chance to draw first blood in the game.
From there, a whole series of unfortunate events ensued for the McCoy masses.
Bulls notes
All nine offensive starters logged at least one hit for Durham, giving the team 16 total on the day. But no one individual came within smelling distance of equating Mayora’s dolphin show.
The No. 2-slotted third-baseman registered four hits and scored five runs. Two of those were driven in by Lopez, whose RBI bushel spiked from two to five on his brownie blast in the ninth.
Bulls’ starter Brian Baker repressed several early threats, including three doubles within the first five innings (by Che-Hsuan Lin, Thomas and Anderson, respectively) that ultimately amounted to nothing.
Baker was charged with all three Pawtucket runs, only two of occurring on his watch, but claimed an easy seventh winning decision with the help of his offense and bullpen. Save for Bermudez’s RBI double, Mike Ekstrom and Buente did not authorize a single hit in a combined four full innings.
Miscellany
Infielder Jose Iglesias will reportedly take his first round of batting practice since his July 3 concussion tomorrow and could be back in the lineup later in the week.
As Ryan Lavarnway goes, so go the PawSox, it seems. And when Lavarnway is striking out, it’s not such a good omen.
Less than 24 hours removed from a career night at McCoy Stadium, the radiant rookie plummeted downhill on the stats sheet with the rest of his team Sunday afternoon. Going 0-for-4 in five plate appearances, Lavarnway went down swinging at the hands of Durham Bulls reliever Jay Buente to curtain an egregious 13-3 Pawtucket loss.
With the win, the Bulls have salvaged a split in the series and pole-vaulted over the once-thriving PawSox for a half-game lead in the International League wild card derby.
It originally looked as though both bat racks had been drained in the afterglow of Durham’s explosive 11-8 triumph Saturday night. But in the fourth inning, Pawtucket starter Matt Fox gradually disassembled before a replenished Bulls offense.
Fox struck out the cleanup man Dan Johnson for the second time in the game and for his fourth K on the day, hinting that he was not shaken up by Felipe Lopez’s first-blood double the previous play. But he then walked Canzler on a payoff pitch and hit Leslie Anderson to load the bases and summon pitching coach Rich Sauveur to the mound.
Fox subsequently got J.J. Furmaniak to watch an 0-2 pitch for a crucial strikeout, but John Matulia stepped in and nailed a two-run single down the left field line, augmenting the deficit to 3-0.
Johnson’s sacrifice fly in the fifth inning proved the difference as it sent Daniel Mayora home from third for the Bulls’ fourth run. Another tradeoff in the seventh, with Canzler sending in Jennings, gave Durham a 5-1 edge and finished off Fox.
But from there, the visitors merciless manners only continued as they charged up another eight runs on seven hits against Pawtucket relievers Dennis Neuman and Jeremy Kehrt.
Lopez finalized the score with a three-run home run with two outs in the ninth.
PawSox pluses
Although it was indubitably unsettling for local rooters to see him scorched like this, Fox had a few highlights. He did match a season-high with his third seven-strikeout performance on the year.
For the second straight outing, the bottom one-third of the batting order was the brightest portion of the PawSox offense. Tony Thomas, Brent Dlugach and Ronald Bermudez combined for five of the team’s eight hits and played a role in all three runs.
In the bottom of the fourth, Thomas drew a one-out walk, advanced to second on Dlugach’s single, and made the trip home in one rush as Bermudez deposited a liner into centerfield. Two innings later, with the game still in reach, Thomas sent Nate Spears home from first on a double and scored himself on Bermudez’s own double to cut the deficit to 4-3.
Sox stains
PawSox players were culpable in most every hair-whitening malfunction on the day, save for the Internet outage that delayed the publication of this very report.
If the fourth inning was a disturbance of hiccups, then the final three were eruptions of hives. Before any Bulls crossed the plate to activate their handsome insurance policy, Thomas failed to throw out Mayora, resulting in an infield hit and runners at the corners with nobody out. Two plays later, Fox was compelled to intentionally walk Johnson, despite his good fortune against him in previous encounters. Jennings, Mayora, and Johnson Leslie Anderson all subsequently scored to crack open the gap to 8-3.
Although he was just recalled from Single-A Greenville earlier in the day, one can infer more was expected out of Neuman as he relieved Fox. As it happened, in his fifth appearance with the PawSox and first since May 22, Neuman mustered only one out amongst six batters-faced. The others were constituted by three walks and two doubles.
In addition, Neuman and Kehrt combined to let all four inherited runners score.
Cleanup hitter Lars Anderson logged two hits, but the first was wasted on a bizarre bounce. Lavarnway, on board with a two-out walk in the third inning, got in the way of Anderson’s liner as he attempted to execute a hit-and-run. Upon being struck by the ball, he was ruled out and the Sox had spilled a chance to draw first blood in the game.
From there, a whole series of unfortunate events ensued for the McCoy masses.
Bulls notes
All nine offensive starters logged at least one hit for Durham, giving the team 16 total on the day. But no one individual came within smelling distance of equating Mayora’s dolphin show.
The No. 2-slotted third-baseman registered four hits and scored five runs. Two of those were driven in by Lopez, whose RBI bushel spiked from two to five on his brownie blast in the ninth.
Bulls’ starter Brian Baker repressed several early threats, including three doubles within the first five innings (by Che-Hsuan Lin, Thomas and Anderson, respectively) that ultimately amounted to nothing.
Baker was charged with all three Pawtucket runs, only two of occurring on his watch, but claimed an easy seventh winning decision with the help of his offense and bullpen. Save for Bermudez’s RBI double, Mike Ekstrom and Buente did not authorize a single hit in a combined four full innings.
Miscellany
Infielder Jose Iglesias will reportedly take his first round of batting practice since his July 3 concussion tomorrow and could be back in the lineup later in the week.
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