Hector Luna was given a day off in the Pawtucket Red Sox’ regular-season finale Monday. And by the looks of it, Daniel Nava and Lars Anderson took one of their own in a 7-3 victory over the Rochester Red Wings, owners of the worst record in the International League at 53-91.
Nava and Anderson did get on base twice, the former by way of two walks and the latter with one walk and a hit-by-pitch. That was their reward for being patient and passively exploiting the fidgeting Rochester starter Eric Hacker.
But in terms of official at-bats, the two hitters each went 0-for-2. Accordingly, the PawSox faithful can hope that Nava and Anderson are merely storing up for this week’s postseason series against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, which will commence on Wednesday at Coca-Cola Park.
If the most recent batting orders and transactions are any indication, manager Arnie Beyeler will have Nava, Anderson and Luna assuming the third, fourth and fifth slots, respectively in the batting order for the playoffs.
That arrangement would make the most sense. After all, Nava, Anderson and Luna are three of only four position players to have played in over 100 games for the PawSox this season. Of those still on the active roster, only Jose Iglesias (101 games) has seen action in more than 90.
Accordingly, these are the only four batters with an indicative gauge of their season at the Triple-A level. And the heart of the order looks to have healthy enough valves in the three regulars.
Over the past weekend, the PawSox have reluctantly deleted breakthrough catcher Ryan Lavarnway and infielder Drew Sutton, each of whom had a .295 batting average in 61 and 45 Triple-A games, respectively. While Sutton was designated for assignment by the parent Boston Red Sox, Lavarnway was joined as a September call-up by Nate Spears, who batted .248 in 96 games with Pawtucket.
That leaves it up to Luna, Nava and Anderson to keep leading the grind, as they generally have for a 2011 Pawtucket offense that is far more balanced than it is celestial.
Luna finished the regular season with a team-best .283 average and tied Anderson and Josh Reddick for second with 14 home runs.
Nava has cultivated some belated power in the latter half of the season. Within his final 27 outings, he hit seven home runs to up his total to 10, elevated his batting average seven points to .268 and batted in 22 runs after knocking in only 26 over his first 94 games. He also leads all PawSox eligible for the team leaderboard with a .372 slugging percentage.
Anderson retained a respectable .265 batting average while playing a team-high 136 games (missing only six) and leading all I.L. batters with 80 walks, the last of which forced in a run during Monday afternoon’s victory.
With Tuesday’s off-day/travel-day back to Allentown, Pa. comes the eye of the tempest that the presumptive heart of the batting order has helped the PawSox defy throughout their 2011 campaign. They have each lent a consistent presence to lead by example and help a full nine-man lineup supplement the comings and goings of Ryan Kalish, Reddick and Lavarnway.
All the while, they have pitched in the bulk of the offense in a two-and-a-half-month rush that saw Pawtucket morph a 32-32, third-place record into an 81-61, first-place finish in a span of 78 games and 83 days.
Now is the time for them to keep grinding it out in support of what could be a shorthanded pitching rotation in the playoffs. Would-be Game 1 starter Kyle Weiland was summoned to join Felix Doubront in Boston while Brandon Duckworth’s status is still uncertain.
As it stands right now, Matt Fox, the temporarily inactive Tony Pena, Jr. and late acquisitions Greg Smith and Alex Wilson could be the best Pawtucket can work with in the way of a rotation.
There are two primary reasons why the PawSox, who finished with the I.L.’s second-lowest team batting average at .253, are in the playoffs. Those would be shrewd and skilled baserunning (657 runs for third in the league) along with stingy pitching.
With Fox being the only proven ace guaranteed to go in the first round, the offense will have its chance to return a favor to the hurling brigade that kept them afloat for the last five months. For that, Beyeler has a few workable options to reap the most out of his mainstays and let the rest of lineup feed off of them.
Luna has garnered substantial time at various fielding positions and most recently has switched his primary post from third base to second with Will Middlebrooks now in the equation. And with the likes of Anderson, Ryan Khoury, Iglesias and Middlebrooks all available, Luna could make a go-to designated hitter throughout the postseason.
Either that, or Nava could fill that role on occasion and let Joey Gathright, Che-Hsuan Lin and Brett Carroll fill up the outfield, as was the case in Monday’s contest.
And the way Gathright ran on Monday, garnering two infield hits, he just might have locked up his spot as the No. 2 hitter behind leadoff man Lin. All those two will need to do is keep up their proven propensities for stopping at a bag.
Once there, Nava, Anderson and Luna will all be due up to try to usher them home. Do enough of that, and yet another late-season acquisition could be coming home to McCoy Stadium later this month.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Post-game pop-ups: PawSox 7, Red Wings 3
Swift summation
Pawtucket Red Sox fans are doubtlessly hoping that Monday afternoon’s top-to-bottom feast on Wings will be a mere appetizer before a banquet of Lehigh Valley IronPig pork in the coming week’s International League opening round.
All nine members of the batting order pitched in at least one run-scored or run batted in while four pitchers gave, at worst, a decent performance for a 7-3 win over the I.L.’s worst record holder, the Rochester Red Wings, before 9,482 fans at McCoy Stadium.
Against the likes of Lehigh Valley, the presumptive first-round opponent at the time of the final out at McCoy, everyone will have to tune it up a little more. But Monday’s effort was good enough for a savory sweep of a four-game homestand to curtain the regular season.
To start up the scoring in the bottom of the second, a pair of relatively recent call-ups from Portland set the right tone for their role in the postseason, each leaving the yard. First, touted third baseman Will Middlebrooks belted Eric Hacker’s 1-1 toss to right-center for the first hit of the game, extending his RBI streak to three games.
Four plays later, catcher Dan Butler made his first plate-appearance at the Triple-A level by homering to left to carry Ryan Khoury and Jose Iglesias home and raise the upper hand to 4-0 in the second.
The Red Wings quickly retorted in the third. Dustin Martin constituted Rochester’s first baserunner with a rolling single to center to lead off. In turn Toby Gardenhire cut the deficit in half to 4-2 with a dinger to left-center.
The PawSox started their half of the fifth at the top of the order. Che-Hsuan Lin, Joey Gathright and Daniel Nava all found their way on base and Lars Anderson drew a four-pitch walk to force in Lin, augmenting the lead to 5-2.
On the next play, Middlebrooks popped out to shallow right, but Gathright―who had reached on an infield single and stolen second with Nava at bat―made a daring break for a sacrifice run that made it 6-2. In turn, Nava hustled home from second base for Pawtucket’s seventh run ahead of Brett Carroll’s deposit into right field.
Rochester endured a second string of back-to-back 1-2-3 innings before former PawSox infielder Aaron Bates brought the deficit back to within four runs, 7-3, with a leadoff homer in the seventh.
Bur after that, relievers Tommy Hottovy, Trever Miller and Scott Atchison combined to retire nine straight with Atchison whiffing Bates to cement an 81-61 record, second-best in the I.L. behind Columbus.
PawSox pluses
Iglesias finished the regular season with at least one hit and one run-scored in each of the final three games.
Overall, dating back to the start of the season’s final road trip, he has curtained the tune-up for the playoffs by going 13-for-39 for a .333 batting average over the last dozen games. This coming after he had retained a mere .227 average with eight extra-base hits and 26 RBIs through his first 89 outings. He upped his final success rate eight points to .235 over the final two weeks of the regular season.
In addition to his productively bold baserunning that helped crack open the crater in the fifth, plus another infield hit in the seventh, Gathright made a key contribution from his left-field post in the fourth. After two Rochester runners found themselves in scoring position, Gathright caught Chase Lambin’s fly and threw back into the infield to keep Ray Chang on third base, where he was ultimately stranded.
Sox stains
After setting such an efficient tone with six straight outs and only 21 pitches through two innings, starting southpaw Greg Smith appeared victimized by subconscious complacency with his newly bestowed 4-0 edge. Over the next two innings, he spiked his pitch count up to 66, allowing two runs in the third and having to bail himself out after walking his first two challengers in the fourth.
Red Wings notes
Hacker, who victimized the PawSox in their first loss of the season at McCoy back on April 8, lasted only five innings after throwing 96 pitches and allowing seven runs on seven hits while also walking three and hitting Anderson with a 2-0 pitch in the third.
Hacker took the loss to finish his season at 7-14 with three of those losses coming against Pawtucket.
Relievers Carlos Gutierrez, Jake Stevens and Dusty Hughes each threw one inning apiece. They combined to allow only two hits out of 10 challengers to at least stop the bleeding in the sixth, seventh and eighth.
Miscellany
Butler, recalled on Sunday, who played two games at this level last year, is the fifth catcher to have seen action with the PawSox this season, joining Luis Exposito, Ryan Lavarnway, Michael McKenry and Matt Spring. Overall, Butler makes 63 different players to have seen action in Pawtucket attire in 2011.
Lavarnway, multifaceted fielder Nate Spears and starting pitcher Kyle Weiland were all recalled to Boston. Meanwhile, the PawSox lost another key hitter in Drew Sutton as the parent club designated him for assignment Monday. Ryan Khoury came back up from Double-A Portland to help supplement the losses.
Sutton could still rejoin the team for the postseason if he clears waivers on time. However, he is officially off the BoSox’ 40-man roster, which now means his only realistic hope for a title in the 2011 season is at the Triple-A level.
Pawtucket Red Sox fans are doubtlessly hoping that Monday afternoon’s top-to-bottom feast on Wings will be a mere appetizer before a banquet of Lehigh Valley IronPig pork in the coming week’s International League opening round.
All nine members of the batting order pitched in at least one run-scored or run batted in while four pitchers gave, at worst, a decent performance for a 7-3 win over the I.L.’s worst record holder, the Rochester Red Wings, before 9,482 fans at McCoy Stadium.
Against the likes of Lehigh Valley, the presumptive first-round opponent at the time of the final out at McCoy, everyone will have to tune it up a little more. But Monday’s effort was good enough for a savory sweep of a four-game homestand to curtain the regular season.
To start up the scoring in the bottom of the second, a pair of relatively recent call-ups from Portland set the right tone for their role in the postseason, each leaving the yard. First, touted third baseman Will Middlebrooks belted Eric Hacker’s 1-1 toss to right-center for the first hit of the game, extending his RBI streak to three games.
Four plays later, catcher Dan Butler made his first plate-appearance at the Triple-A level by homering to left to carry Ryan Khoury and Jose Iglesias home and raise the upper hand to 4-0 in the second.
The Red Wings quickly retorted in the third. Dustin Martin constituted Rochester’s first baserunner with a rolling single to center to lead off. In turn Toby Gardenhire cut the deficit in half to 4-2 with a dinger to left-center.
The PawSox started their half of the fifth at the top of the order. Che-Hsuan Lin, Joey Gathright and Daniel Nava all found their way on base and Lars Anderson drew a four-pitch walk to force in Lin, augmenting the lead to 5-2.
On the next play, Middlebrooks popped out to shallow right, but Gathright―who had reached on an infield single and stolen second with Nava at bat―made a daring break for a sacrifice run that made it 6-2. In turn, Nava hustled home from second base for Pawtucket’s seventh run ahead of Brett Carroll’s deposit into right field.
Rochester endured a second string of back-to-back 1-2-3 innings before former PawSox infielder Aaron Bates brought the deficit back to within four runs, 7-3, with a leadoff homer in the seventh.
Bur after that, relievers Tommy Hottovy, Trever Miller and Scott Atchison combined to retire nine straight with Atchison whiffing Bates to cement an 81-61 record, second-best in the I.L. behind Columbus.
PawSox pluses
Iglesias finished the regular season with at least one hit and one run-scored in each of the final three games.
Overall, dating back to the start of the season’s final road trip, he has curtained the tune-up for the playoffs by going 13-for-39 for a .333 batting average over the last dozen games. This coming after he had retained a mere .227 average with eight extra-base hits and 26 RBIs through his first 89 outings. He upped his final success rate eight points to .235 over the final two weeks of the regular season.
In addition to his productively bold baserunning that helped crack open the crater in the fifth, plus another infield hit in the seventh, Gathright made a key contribution from his left-field post in the fourth. After two Rochester runners found themselves in scoring position, Gathright caught Chase Lambin’s fly and threw back into the infield to keep Ray Chang on third base, where he was ultimately stranded.
Sox stains
After setting such an efficient tone with six straight outs and only 21 pitches through two innings, starting southpaw Greg Smith appeared victimized by subconscious complacency with his newly bestowed 4-0 edge. Over the next two innings, he spiked his pitch count up to 66, allowing two runs in the third and having to bail himself out after walking his first two challengers in the fourth.
Red Wings notes
Hacker, who victimized the PawSox in their first loss of the season at McCoy back on April 8, lasted only five innings after throwing 96 pitches and allowing seven runs on seven hits while also walking three and hitting Anderson with a 2-0 pitch in the third.
Hacker took the loss to finish his season at 7-14 with three of those losses coming against Pawtucket.
Relievers Carlos Gutierrez, Jake Stevens and Dusty Hughes each threw one inning apiece. They combined to allow only two hits out of 10 challengers to at least stop the bleeding in the sixth, seventh and eighth.
Miscellany
Butler, recalled on Sunday, who played two games at this level last year, is the fifth catcher to have seen action with the PawSox this season, joining Luis Exposito, Ryan Lavarnway, Michael McKenry and Matt Spring. Overall, Butler makes 63 different players to have seen action in Pawtucket attire in 2011.
Lavarnway, multifaceted fielder Nate Spears and starting pitcher Kyle Weiland were all recalled to Boston. Meanwhile, the PawSox lost another key hitter in Drew Sutton as the parent club designated him for assignment Monday. Ryan Khoury came back up from Double-A Portland to help supplement the losses.
Sutton could still rejoin the team for the postseason if he clears waivers on time. However, he is officially off the BoSox’ 40-man roster, which now means his only realistic hope for a title in the 2011 season is at the Triple-A level.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Post-game pop-ups: PawSox 4, Red Wings 3
Swift summation
In the afterglow of their I.L. North championship party, the PawSox were not quite inclined to sleep in all day Sunday.
Although it appeared that way at times, they perked up at all the right times to pilfer a 4-3 brownie victory from the hapless Rochester Red Wings before a brimful audience of 10,507 at McCoy Stadium.
The game was decided in the eighth when Lars Anderson drew a leadoff walk and a pair of previously 0-for-4 batters came to life. First, Hector Luna lined a single to nudge Anderson to second.
And then, after Luis Exposito and Luna preoccupied the Rochester defense with a double play and allowed Anderson to reach third, Will Middlebrooks stepped up. One night removed from a grand slam, Middlebrooks sent the first pitch from Chuck James onto the left field lawn and Anderson home to bust a 3-3 tie.
Moments later, Anderson made another decisive step on another bag. With one out and one on in the ninth, he snatched Chase Lambin’s liner and singlehandedly carried out a game-ending double play by beating Jeff Bailey to his post at first base.
Pawtucket was still without a hit in the third inning when Jose Iglesias and Joey Gathright drew back-to-back walks, then advanced to scoring position on a wild pitch to Drew Sutton. One play later, Daniel Nava hatched two goose-eggs at once by lining a single into right to score both runners for a 2-0 lead.
Lambin cut into that lead in the top of the fourth with a two-out triple to the right-center wall that pushed Dustin Martin home from first base. In turn, former PawSox infielder Aaron Bates usurped the lead, flying Lambin home with a dinger to left-center.
In his next at-bat, Nava deleted the 3-2 deficit in the fifth. He scored Iglesias from second and ushered Drew Sutton to third base with a one-out double to right field.
After Bates’ home run, PawSox starter Alex Wilson and reliever Hideki Okajima combined to retire nine consecutive Red Wings. That string ended with two down in the seventh, when Jair Fernandez reached base on the third baseman Middlebrooks’ fielding error.
The error ultimately amounted to no damage, but Middlebrooks made substantial amends for it anyway in the bottom of the eighth.
PawSox pluses
While Wilson started his outing with gratifying efficiency, the bat rack sapped Rochester hurler Deinys Suarez in a hurry. By the end of the third inning, Wilson had thrown a mere 27 pitches as opposed to the 60 issued by Suarez. Accordingly, Wilson could afford a busier inning in the fourth and lasted through six stanzas, having thrown 80. Suarez, on the other hand, was finished with one out in the home half of the fifth, having thrown 93.
Wilson and Okajima combined for eight strikeouts and no walks over seven innings, in which time the Red Wings sent each of their batters to the plate three times for 27 batters over the first 21 outs.
Okajima got through the eighth in nimble fashion with a strikeout and a double play. He then saw his record improve to 8-1 when the PawSox pulled ahead for good in the bottom half.
Sox stains
In the bottom of the sixth, Luis Exposito spilled a chance to seize a 4-3 lead when a pitch to Brett Carroll landed in the dirt. Exposito daringly made a break for second base, but was thrown out with relative facility.
Carroll’s bat appeared anything but refreshed after getting three full days off, including the team’s rest day on Thursday and the recent short-stack series with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The right fielder went 0-for-4 on the night and stranded Middlebrooks in both the fourth and eighth.
Red Wings notes
Suarez could not solve Nava in three confrontations, allowing the left fielder to knock in each of Pawtucket’s first three runs in two at-bats and also walking for the PawSox’ first baserunner in the first. Conversely, reliever Cole DeVries induced Nava to fouling off a pair of payoff pitches before he popped up to short to strand Iglesias on second and end the seventh.
DeVries allowed no runs on two hits in 2.2 innings of work as Suarez’s immediate successor.
Martin was the only Rochester batter with multiple hits on the night with a single in each of his first two at-bats.
Miscellany
The PawSox set a franchise record with their 149th double play on the season. Anderson’s unassisted twin killing was No. 150 for the team.
Randy Williams closed his second consecutive victory and earned his eighth save.
Iglesias joined Anderson, Luna and Nava as the only four PawSox to have taken part in at least 100 games during the 2011 regular season.
Sunday’s game marked the end of Dan Hoard’s six-year tenure in the McCoy Stadium radio booth. He will leave his post at the PawSox radio network this week to focus exclusively on his new job calling the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals.
In the afterglow of their I.L. North championship party, the PawSox were not quite inclined to sleep in all day Sunday.
Although it appeared that way at times, they perked up at all the right times to pilfer a 4-3 brownie victory from the hapless Rochester Red Wings before a brimful audience of 10,507 at McCoy Stadium.
The game was decided in the eighth when Lars Anderson drew a leadoff walk and a pair of previously 0-for-4 batters came to life. First, Hector Luna lined a single to nudge Anderson to second.
And then, after Luis Exposito and Luna preoccupied the Rochester defense with a double play and allowed Anderson to reach third, Will Middlebrooks stepped up. One night removed from a grand slam, Middlebrooks sent the first pitch from Chuck James onto the left field lawn and Anderson home to bust a 3-3 tie.
Moments later, Anderson made another decisive step on another bag. With one out and one on in the ninth, he snatched Chase Lambin’s liner and singlehandedly carried out a game-ending double play by beating Jeff Bailey to his post at first base.
Pawtucket was still without a hit in the third inning when Jose Iglesias and Joey Gathright drew back-to-back walks, then advanced to scoring position on a wild pitch to Drew Sutton. One play later, Daniel Nava hatched two goose-eggs at once by lining a single into right to score both runners for a 2-0 lead.
Lambin cut into that lead in the top of the fourth with a two-out triple to the right-center wall that pushed Dustin Martin home from first base. In turn, former PawSox infielder Aaron Bates usurped the lead, flying Lambin home with a dinger to left-center.
In his next at-bat, Nava deleted the 3-2 deficit in the fifth. He scored Iglesias from second and ushered Drew Sutton to third base with a one-out double to right field.
After Bates’ home run, PawSox starter Alex Wilson and reliever Hideki Okajima combined to retire nine consecutive Red Wings. That string ended with two down in the seventh, when Jair Fernandez reached base on the third baseman Middlebrooks’ fielding error.
The error ultimately amounted to no damage, but Middlebrooks made substantial amends for it anyway in the bottom of the eighth.
PawSox pluses
While Wilson started his outing with gratifying efficiency, the bat rack sapped Rochester hurler Deinys Suarez in a hurry. By the end of the third inning, Wilson had thrown a mere 27 pitches as opposed to the 60 issued by Suarez. Accordingly, Wilson could afford a busier inning in the fourth and lasted through six stanzas, having thrown 80. Suarez, on the other hand, was finished with one out in the home half of the fifth, having thrown 93.
Wilson and Okajima combined for eight strikeouts and no walks over seven innings, in which time the Red Wings sent each of their batters to the plate three times for 27 batters over the first 21 outs.
Okajima got through the eighth in nimble fashion with a strikeout and a double play. He then saw his record improve to 8-1 when the PawSox pulled ahead for good in the bottom half.
Sox stains
In the bottom of the sixth, Luis Exposito spilled a chance to seize a 4-3 lead when a pitch to Brett Carroll landed in the dirt. Exposito daringly made a break for second base, but was thrown out with relative facility.
Carroll’s bat appeared anything but refreshed after getting three full days off, including the team’s rest day on Thursday and the recent short-stack series with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The right fielder went 0-for-4 on the night and stranded Middlebrooks in both the fourth and eighth.
Red Wings notes
Suarez could not solve Nava in three confrontations, allowing the left fielder to knock in each of Pawtucket’s first three runs in two at-bats and also walking for the PawSox’ first baserunner in the first. Conversely, reliever Cole DeVries induced Nava to fouling off a pair of payoff pitches before he popped up to short to strand Iglesias on second and end the seventh.
DeVries allowed no runs on two hits in 2.2 innings of work as Suarez’s immediate successor.
Martin was the only Rochester batter with multiple hits on the night with a single in each of his first two at-bats.
Miscellany
The PawSox set a franchise record with their 149th double play on the season. Anderson’s unassisted twin killing was No. 150 for the team.
Randy Williams closed his second consecutive victory and earned his eighth save.
Iglesias joined Anderson, Luna and Nava as the only four PawSox to have taken part in at least 100 games during the 2011 regular season.
Sunday’s game marked the end of Dan Hoard’s six-year tenure in the McCoy Stadium radio booth. He will leave his post at the PawSox radio network this week to focus exclusively on his new job calling the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals.
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