Swift summation
Ryan Lavarnway was in a perfect position to make the McCoy Stadium masses forget everything that had happened since his usual self mysteriously vanished after the first inning as he approached the dish in the ninth.
Regrettably for the home faithful, though, old friend Brandon Moss raced to the perfect position to spoil everything. The Lehigh Valley IronPigs outfielder who played parts of the 2007 and 2008 seasons in Pawtucket snagged Lavarnway’s low-flying shot to the left field corner, averting a home run and salvaging a 5-4 edge for his current mates.
Immediately thereafter, Lars Anderson popped out to Kevin Frandsen at the third base foul line to finalize Pawtucket’s fall-from-ahead 5-4 falter Thursday night.
The loss spoiled the Sox’ bid for a four-game sweep that would have rendered them tied with the IronPigs for first place in the International League North. Instead, they are two games behind on that leaderboard and knotted with the Gwinnett Braves for tops in the wild card derby.
Lavarnway had homered to left-center to give the PawSox a 2-0 lead with one out in the first. It was his fifth dinger against the IronPigs and the sixth Lehigh Valley starter Ryan Feierabend has surrendered to a Pawtucket challenger this year.
But Lavarnway struck out swinging in each of his next two encounters with Feierabend. By the time Lavarnway was benched for the second time in the fifth, the Pigs had deleted the deficit thanks to Josh Barfield’s RBI single in the second inning and Rich Thompson’s solo homer in the fifth.
Luis Exposito lined a single into shallow right to score Hector Luna from third and renew Pawtucket’s upper hand, 3-2, in the bottom of the sixth. But two plays later, with Exposito and Ronald Bermudez both on board, Feierabend gave way to Joe Savery and the IronPigs bullpen proceeded to tantalize the PawSox.
Between the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, Pawtucket mustered one run while stranding a cumulative four runners. Meanwhile, Lehigh Valley perked up in the top of the eighth to usurp the lead.
Moss drew another knot with a sacrifice fly to score Frandsen from third with only one away in the frame. Pete Orr, who had sent Frandsen to third with a double, stayed on second momentarily before Delwyn Young carried him home with a two-run shot that gave the visitors a 5-3 upper hand.
PawSox pluses
Jose Iglesias played seven innings in his first appearance since a concussion sustained 18 days prior and his itch to contribute again translated unmistakably. From his shortstop post, Iglesias had a hand in nine of the defense’s first 19 putouts, including each of the first three and six of the first eight.
At the dish, Iglesias went 2-for-3 with a not-so-reprehensible lineout to right field in the second, followed by two assertive singles in the fourth and the sixth. He would give way to Nate Spears to start the eighth.
Lately, Luna has made himself somewhat of a regular under the “Sox stains” heading of this sight. And he was inevitably bumped down a slot in the batting order with the return of Drew Sutton on Wednesday.
But to his credit, Luna accelerated his wheels on Thursday, good enough to earn a pair of extra-base hits, those being a leadoff double in the second and a triple in the sixth that amounted to Pawtucket’s go-ahead run.
Bermudez’s patience at the plate paid off multiple times Thursday night. In the second, he drew a walk on a payoff pitch. In the sixth, he fouled off a pair of 0-2 pitches, took two balls, and then reached first on a fielding error. He likewise fought off two potential third strikes in the eighth before grounding into a sacrifice that nudged Exposito to third.
Sox stains
Tasked with safeguarding Tony Pena, Jr.’s would-be win with a 3-2 lead to commence the eighth inning, Hideki Okajima surrendered as many hits (four) in one inning as Pena had in seven. Along the way, the aforementioned 3-2 edge devolved into a 5-3 deficit.
Okajima was ultimately charged with a blown save and endured his first loss in six overall decisions on his 2011 transcript.
As much as the PawSox pounced on Lehigh Valley’s iffy pitching and fielding (three errors) for a cumulative 15 baserunners on the night, they could have done more, as evidenced the nine men they left stranded.
In the second, Luna and Bermudez were left in scoring position when they might have augmented the 2-0 lead but instead watched Daniel Nava pop out. Che-Hsuan Lin left men on both first and second twice in as many at-bats when he struck out swinging to end the fourth and the sixth. And in the seventh, Luna grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.
IronPigs notes
Young and Barfield were the only Lehigh Valley players with a multi-hit game.
Savery took credit for the win, improving to 2-0 on the year. Mike Zagurski took over for the eighth while Justin De Fratus breezed through the ninth to garner the hold and the save, respectively.
Miscellany
Both teams left the bases loaded in their respective turns at bat in the second and then exchanged 1-2-3 stanzas in the third.
Spears, who pinch-hit in the eighth, was the only Pawtucket offensive player who didn’t reach base safely at any point in Thursday’s game. However, he did hit a fruitful grounder to the first base that sent Exposito home on the sacrifice.
While Iglesias was welcomed back to the active roster, outfielder Matt Sheely was placed on the weeklong disabled list, retroactive to Wednesday, with what is being billed a foot contusion.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Walk-off hit carries on favorable trends for Lin, PawSox
When Che-Hsuan Lin uncorked a shallow single to bring home Wednesday afternoon’s winning run in the form of Nate Spears, he also popped open a can of clichés.
The two most prominent items that lurked with carbonation near the surface were the likes of “third time’s a charm” for himself and “all good things must come to an end” for a couple of pitchers.
Entering Lin’s confrontation with Lehigh Valley IronPigs hurler Michael Schwimer, though, the big question on the latter matter was “Which of those good trends would halt and at whose expense?”
The bottom of the ninth inning all but constituted the eleventh hour for Lin’s five-game hitting streak, and perhaps the PawSox perfect 9-0 transcript in Millwood starts. Meanwhile, Schwimer had a sparkling 5-0 record on his season when he entered the game to commence the eighth, at which point a 1-1 draw had stood unruffled for four straight innings.
Immediately before Schwimer had come into the equation, Lin had squandered two previous opportunities to snap the 1-1 knot. In the bottom of the fifth, Hector Luna and Ronald Bermudez were on the corners with two away when Lin grounded to IronPigs shortstop Brian Bocock, who collaborated with second baseman Josh Barfield to tag Bermudez.
Two innings later, Luis Exposito was on board with a one-out walk, only to be stranded when Bermudez flied out and Lin popped out to Kevin Frandsen along the first-base line.
On the other hand, the PawSox were heavily indebted to Lin just for bringing the long-standing 1-1 draw into existence and for keeping it out of Lehigh Valley’s hands for a full five-and-a-half innings. Exposito led off the home half of the third with a double and nimbly advanced to third when Bermudez belted a sacrifice fly to left.
Enter Lin, batting for the first time since he reached on a fielding error and then failed to score from first base on Daniel Nava’s double when he was thwarted at the plate.
This time, Lin lobbed a 1-1 offering from Nate Bump to left field, where it was caught by Brandon Moss, but deep enough for Exposito to sprint home. In a daylong plethora of long-distance teases off Pawtucket bats, Lin’s would be the only productive one.
At his centerfield defensive post, Lin made amends for another first-inning blunder wherein he couldn’t quite ensnare Pete Orr’s bloop to the shallow area. In another three opportunities over the course of the day, he put out three IronPigs with routine catches.
The magnitude of each of those plays was dwarfed, though, by a key assist in top of the ninth. Reliever Jeremy Kerht, tasked with salvaging Kevin Millwood’s relative gem when he came out of the bullpen the previous inning, allowed back-to-back singles with only one out.
His subsequent challenger, Kevin Frandsen, repelled a 1-0 delivery to the centerfield warning track. But Lin, who had to hustle out of his unorthodox position in the shallow outfield, managed to snatch it before the wall.
Baserunners Bocock and Rich Thompson both opted to tag and make a break for scoring position. But Lin alertly hurled the ball back to Luna at third base. Although that throw fell just shy of cutting down Bocock, Luna was equally apt to relay the ball to second baseman Drew Sutton, who tagged Thompson for an inning-ending double-play.
With the one-all knot still intact, Lin was ultimately summoned as the fifth Pawtucket batter in the bottom half. His opposite-field connection constituted his 10th his now-six-game tear, improved the PawSox to 10-0 in Millwood starts and gave them their third consecutive triumph over the I.L. North-leading IronPigs.
In those three wins, Lin has played a direct role in every deciding inning. On Monday night, he led off the third with a single and scored the first run ahead of a double by Ryan Lavarnway, who scored himself to make it 2-0 en route to a 4-1 victory. On Tuesday, Lin scored the go-ahead run in the sixth to bust a 3-2 knot and set Pawtucket off to a 7-2 win.
The Sox needed one more win, whether it was Wednesday or Thursday, to ensure that the contesting teams leave McCoy Stadium Thursday night with a slimmer gap in the standings than when they initially convened on Monday.
None other than the streaking Lin made that possible. The PawSox now trail Lehigh Valley by one game going into Thursday’s series finale.
The two most prominent items that lurked with carbonation near the surface were the likes of “third time’s a charm” for himself and “all good things must come to an end” for a couple of pitchers.
Entering Lin’s confrontation with Lehigh Valley IronPigs hurler Michael Schwimer, though, the big question on the latter matter was “Which of those good trends would halt and at whose expense?”
The bottom of the ninth inning all but constituted the eleventh hour for Lin’s five-game hitting streak, and perhaps the PawSox perfect 9-0 transcript in Millwood starts. Meanwhile, Schwimer had a sparkling 5-0 record on his season when he entered the game to commence the eighth, at which point a 1-1 draw had stood unruffled for four straight innings.
Immediately before Schwimer had come into the equation, Lin had squandered two previous opportunities to snap the 1-1 knot. In the bottom of the fifth, Hector Luna and Ronald Bermudez were on the corners with two away when Lin grounded to IronPigs shortstop Brian Bocock, who collaborated with second baseman Josh Barfield to tag Bermudez.
Two innings later, Luis Exposito was on board with a one-out walk, only to be stranded when Bermudez flied out and Lin popped out to Kevin Frandsen along the first-base line.
On the other hand, the PawSox were heavily indebted to Lin just for bringing the long-standing 1-1 draw into existence and for keeping it out of Lehigh Valley’s hands for a full five-and-a-half innings. Exposito led off the home half of the third with a double and nimbly advanced to third when Bermudez belted a sacrifice fly to left.
Enter Lin, batting for the first time since he reached on a fielding error and then failed to score from first base on Daniel Nava’s double when he was thwarted at the plate.
This time, Lin lobbed a 1-1 offering from Nate Bump to left field, where it was caught by Brandon Moss, but deep enough for Exposito to sprint home. In a daylong plethora of long-distance teases off Pawtucket bats, Lin’s would be the only productive one.
At his centerfield defensive post, Lin made amends for another first-inning blunder wherein he couldn’t quite ensnare Pete Orr’s bloop to the shallow area. In another three opportunities over the course of the day, he put out three IronPigs with routine catches.
The magnitude of each of those plays was dwarfed, though, by a key assist in top of the ninth. Reliever Jeremy Kerht, tasked with salvaging Kevin Millwood’s relative gem when he came out of the bullpen the previous inning, allowed back-to-back singles with only one out.
His subsequent challenger, Kevin Frandsen, repelled a 1-0 delivery to the centerfield warning track. But Lin, who had to hustle out of his unorthodox position in the shallow outfield, managed to snatch it before the wall.
Baserunners Bocock and Rich Thompson both opted to tag and make a break for scoring position. But Lin alertly hurled the ball back to Luna at third base. Although that throw fell just shy of cutting down Bocock, Luna was equally apt to relay the ball to second baseman Drew Sutton, who tagged Thompson for an inning-ending double-play.
With the one-all knot still intact, Lin was ultimately summoned as the fifth Pawtucket batter in the bottom half. His opposite-field connection constituted his 10th his now-six-game tear, improved the PawSox to 10-0 in Millwood starts and gave them their third consecutive triumph over the I.L. North-leading IronPigs.
In those three wins, Lin has played a direct role in every deciding inning. On Monday night, he led off the third with a single and scored the first run ahead of a double by Ryan Lavarnway, who scored himself to make it 2-0 en route to a 4-1 victory. On Tuesday, Lin scored the go-ahead run in the sixth to bust a 3-2 knot and set Pawtucket off to a 7-2 win.
The Sox needed one more win, whether it was Wednesday or Thursday, to ensure that the contesting teams leave McCoy Stadium Thursday night with a slimmer gap in the standings than when they initially convened on Monday.
None other than the streaking Lin made that possible. The PawSox now trail Lehigh Valley by one game going into Thursday’s series finale.
Post-game pop-ups: PawSox 2, IronPigs 1
Swift summation
By the time Che-Hsuan Lin approached the batter’s box in the bottom of the ninth Wednesday afternoon, he had an opportunity to hatch two noteworthy goose-eggs while salvaging another.
Although Lin was credited with the PawSox only RBI on the day, having sent Luis Exposito home from third in the third on a sacrifice fly, he was one of only 18 total contesting batters with no hits in the game. Meanwhile, with Nate Spears and Exposito on base and a 1-1 tie at hand, Lehigh Valley IronPigs reliever Michael Schwimer’s 5-0 record was in jeopardy.
As it happened, Lin dropped Schwimer’s payoff pitch the opposite way into shallow right, sending Spears home for a walkoff 2-1 triumph at McCoy Stadium. With that, in addition to breaking his own zero in the day’s hit column and Schwimer’s under the 2011 “L” heading, Lin effectively improved Pawtucket to 10-0 when Kevin Millwood starts on the mound.
It was a regular bend-don’t-break outing for the veteran hurler. Of the game’s first seven hits, five were singles by the IronPigs whereas the PawSox hit for two sets of extra bases via Daniel Nava and Exposito in the first and third innings, respectively.
Hector Luna effectively bucked that trend with a leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth that could have been a double if Luna were a gambler.
And while none of Lehigh Valley’s first six hits were for extra bases, a prolific second inning saw them whittle three worthwhile base hits off of Millwood. Josh Barfield nailed the first of those, advanced to third on a subsequent hit-and-run with Cody Overbeck, and came home for an initial 1-0 lead with the help of Brian Bocock’s bunt single.
Meanwhile, 13 of Pawtucket’s 24 batters to face IronPigs starter Nate Bump lobbed the ball into the outfield. The IronPigs defense was responsive and repressive most of the time, but Exposito did muster a run after his double was followed by a pair of sacrifice flies courtesy of Ronald Bermudez and Lin.
PawSox pluses
In seven innings of confrontation, the IronPigs could only nibble at Millwood in moderation and in sparse instances. Save for the three singles and run he allowed in the third, along with an iffy seventh where he allowed his first extra-base hit and issued his only walk, the veteran pitcher gave the visitors no enticing opportunities. He charged up back-to-back 1-2-3 segments in the third and fourth innings and bailed himself out of the seventh by thrusting a called third strike past Kevin Frandsen for his fifth K of the day.
Two full days out of action seemed to benefit Nava, who in his first at-bat nailed his first extra-base hit in 14 appearances, his previous two-bagger having come on June 29 versus Rochester. He later hit an assertive liner that was caught by right fielder Delwyn Young and then dropped a leadoff single on Young’s property in the eighth. Regrettably for him, Nava was stranded after both of his hits, left on third base in the opening stanza and on first in the eighth.
With two IronPigs aboard and only one out in the ninth, Lin caught Kevin Frandsen’s fly just shy of the warning track, then relayed the ball to Luna, who subsequently forwarded it to second-baseman Drew Sutton to end the threat.
Sox stains
Lin’s afternoon will put mixed reviews on his transcript. After leading off the bottom of the first by reaching on Barfield’s fielding error, he was overeager when Nava doubled to the centerfield warning track and paid when he was thrown out at the plate. Seeing as runs proved difficult to reap as the day wore on, it would have been just fine for the PawSox to be patient and have two men in scoring position with no outs early on. Lin also stranded a cumulative three runners with outs in the fifth and seventh.
Reliever Jeremy Kerht succeeded Millwood for the eighth and threw seven of his first eight pitches for balls, including a hit-batsman in leadoff man Pete Orr. Over the next few plays, Orr stole second and was given a free break for third on Kerht’s wild pitch to Barfield, whom he walked on a payoff pitch. He ultimately averted the threat by getting Overbeck to chase a third strike, but by inning’s end had still thrown less than 50 percent strikes (12 out of 25 total tosses).
Ryan Lavarnway, who had a rare 0-for-4 outing, was not exactly reprehensible in his first three at-bats. But with Nava on board and nobody out with a 1-1 tie at hand in the eighth, he paid for his excess passiveness. Lavarnway jumped out to a 3-0 count against Lehigh Valley reliever Michael Schwimer, then looked at two straight strikes and fouled off two more offerings before whiffing and returning to the dugout.
IronPigs notes
With his RBI bunt in the second and a fifth-inning single, the No. 9-hitting Bocock was the first participant to log multiple hits in the game. He earned a third single by way of a popup dropped by Sutton in the ninth.
Though uncharacteristically unproductive at the plate until his ninth-inning single, Rich Thompson had an eventful day in centerfield. He initiated the relay play that nailed Lin in the first and caught five fly balls over the first four innings.
Catcher Dane Sardinha entered the game with a watered-down .086 batting average, yet mustered the team’s first extra-base hit with a one-out double to the left-field corner in the seventh.
Only two of Lehigh Valley’s nine hits came from the upper echelon of the batting order. Those were Orr’s first-inning single and Thompson’s ninth-inning infield hit.
Miscellany
Sutton, who was reassigned from Boston on Monday, put in his first Triple-A appearance since June 16 and only his third since May 19. It is his first lick of game action overall since he pinch-ran and garnered two at-bats in Sunday night’s 16-inning marathon at Tropicana Field.
After going 1-for-4 on the day, Sutton had a .300 batting average in 40 games with the PawSox, making him the only active member of the team in the .300 range, besides the radiant Lavarnway.
By the time Che-Hsuan Lin approached the batter’s box in the bottom of the ninth Wednesday afternoon, he had an opportunity to hatch two noteworthy goose-eggs while salvaging another.
Although Lin was credited with the PawSox only RBI on the day, having sent Luis Exposito home from third in the third on a sacrifice fly, he was one of only 18 total contesting batters with no hits in the game. Meanwhile, with Nate Spears and Exposito on base and a 1-1 tie at hand, Lehigh Valley IronPigs reliever Michael Schwimer’s 5-0 record was in jeopardy.
As it happened, Lin dropped Schwimer’s payoff pitch the opposite way into shallow right, sending Spears home for a walkoff 2-1 triumph at McCoy Stadium. With that, in addition to breaking his own zero in the day’s hit column and Schwimer’s under the 2011 “L” heading, Lin effectively improved Pawtucket to 10-0 when Kevin Millwood starts on the mound.
It was a regular bend-don’t-break outing for the veteran hurler. Of the game’s first seven hits, five were singles by the IronPigs whereas the PawSox hit for two sets of extra bases via Daniel Nava and Exposito in the first and third innings, respectively.
Hector Luna effectively bucked that trend with a leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth that could have been a double if Luna were a gambler.
And while none of Lehigh Valley’s first six hits were for extra bases, a prolific second inning saw them whittle three worthwhile base hits off of Millwood. Josh Barfield nailed the first of those, advanced to third on a subsequent hit-and-run with Cody Overbeck, and came home for an initial 1-0 lead with the help of Brian Bocock’s bunt single.
Meanwhile, 13 of Pawtucket’s 24 batters to face IronPigs starter Nate Bump lobbed the ball into the outfield. The IronPigs defense was responsive and repressive most of the time, but Exposito did muster a run after his double was followed by a pair of sacrifice flies courtesy of Ronald Bermudez and Lin.
PawSox pluses
In seven innings of confrontation, the IronPigs could only nibble at Millwood in moderation and in sparse instances. Save for the three singles and run he allowed in the third, along with an iffy seventh where he allowed his first extra-base hit and issued his only walk, the veteran pitcher gave the visitors no enticing opportunities. He charged up back-to-back 1-2-3 segments in the third and fourth innings and bailed himself out of the seventh by thrusting a called third strike past Kevin Frandsen for his fifth K of the day.
Two full days out of action seemed to benefit Nava, who in his first at-bat nailed his first extra-base hit in 14 appearances, his previous two-bagger having come on June 29 versus Rochester. He later hit an assertive liner that was caught by right fielder Delwyn Young and then dropped a leadoff single on Young’s property in the eighth. Regrettably for him, Nava was stranded after both of his hits, left on third base in the opening stanza and on first in the eighth.
With two IronPigs aboard and only one out in the ninth, Lin caught Kevin Frandsen’s fly just shy of the warning track, then relayed the ball to Luna, who subsequently forwarded it to second-baseman Drew Sutton to end the threat.
Sox stains
Lin’s afternoon will put mixed reviews on his transcript. After leading off the bottom of the first by reaching on Barfield’s fielding error, he was overeager when Nava doubled to the centerfield warning track and paid when he was thrown out at the plate. Seeing as runs proved difficult to reap as the day wore on, it would have been just fine for the PawSox to be patient and have two men in scoring position with no outs early on. Lin also stranded a cumulative three runners with outs in the fifth and seventh.
Reliever Jeremy Kerht succeeded Millwood for the eighth and threw seven of his first eight pitches for balls, including a hit-batsman in leadoff man Pete Orr. Over the next few plays, Orr stole second and was given a free break for third on Kerht’s wild pitch to Barfield, whom he walked on a payoff pitch. He ultimately averted the threat by getting Overbeck to chase a third strike, but by inning’s end had still thrown less than 50 percent strikes (12 out of 25 total tosses).
Ryan Lavarnway, who had a rare 0-for-4 outing, was not exactly reprehensible in his first three at-bats. But with Nava on board and nobody out with a 1-1 tie at hand in the eighth, he paid for his excess passiveness. Lavarnway jumped out to a 3-0 count against Lehigh Valley reliever Michael Schwimer, then looked at two straight strikes and fouled off two more offerings before whiffing and returning to the dugout.
IronPigs notes
With his RBI bunt in the second and a fifth-inning single, the No. 9-hitting Bocock was the first participant to log multiple hits in the game. He earned a third single by way of a popup dropped by Sutton in the ninth.
Though uncharacteristically unproductive at the plate until his ninth-inning single, Rich Thompson had an eventful day in centerfield. He initiated the relay play that nailed Lin in the first and caught five fly balls over the first four innings.
Catcher Dane Sardinha entered the game with a watered-down .086 batting average, yet mustered the team’s first extra-base hit with a one-out double to the left-field corner in the seventh.
Only two of Lehigh Valley’s nine hits came from the upper echelon of the batting order. Those were Orr’s first-inning single and Thompson’s ninth-inning infield hit.
Miscellany
Sutton, who was reassigned from Boston on Monday, put in his first Triple-A appearance since June 16 and only his third since May 19. It is his first lick of game action overall since he pinch-ran and garnered two at-bats in Sunday night’s 16-inning marathon at Tropicana Field.
After going 1-for-4 on the day, Sutton had a .300 batting average in 40 games with the PawSox, making him the only active member of the team in the .300 range, besides the radiant Lavarnway.
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