Swift summation
After the momentum swayed throughout the wee phases, then settled in limbo through seven innings, the PawSox bat rack and bullpen got the better of their Gwinnett Braves counterparts to crack open a 7-3 victory at Coolray Field Monday night.
With the win, Pawtucket completed its most successful out of seven eight-game road trips in 2011, having taken three out of four bouts with Charlotte and Gwinnett each. They are also off to a 10-3 start in August at the halfway mark of the month.
Ryan Lavarnway broke the ice in a hurry for the PawSox, catapulting a home run to straightaway center for his first hit of the series and a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
Before there were any outs in the second, the Sox had sprinkled on additional three hits and two runs. Daniel Nava led off the stanza with his second solo shot in as many days. Brett Carroll followed up with a single up the middle, stole second with Hector Luna at the dish and scored ahead of Luna’s subsequent base hit to left.
The Braves pulled even under both the run and hit heading in the bottom of the third. Jeff Fiorentino deposited a leadoff single in right-center, advanced to third on a wild pitch to Matt Young and scored Gwinnett’s first run with the assistance of Young’s sacrifice fly to center.
With the bases cleared and two away, Ruben Gotay went on board, then flew home with Stefan Gartrell, who homered into the Braves bullpen to draw a 3-3 knot.
After four full scoreless innings, the PawSox were on the verge of yielding Gwinnett reliever Anthony Varvaro a second straight 1-2-3 stanza in the eighth. But Varvaro breathed life back into the visiting bat rack by walking Carroll and Luna on a combined nine pitches.
In turn, Nate Spears stepped up and singled to right to score Carroll from second and send Luna to third. Four pitches later, Jose Iglesias sent Luna and Spears home for a 6-3 edge as he doubled over the head of Young at the left-field warning track.
Luna collected his second RBI hit of the game in the ninth, scoring Nava from second on a single to the opposite field in right.
PawSox pluses
The defense bailed themselves and starting pitcher Brandon Duckworth out of multiple self-imposed scares near the end of his six-inning outing. Jeff Fiorentino mooched a leadoff single off the veteran hurler to commence the fifth, only to be caught stealing by the catcher Lavarnway and second baseman Nate Spears.
In the sixth, Duckworth saw his two challengers get on board by way of an infield single and a throwing error by Luna. But Spears proceeded to initiate a double-play that saw Mauro Gomez to third. In turn, Gomez was left stranded as Duckworth got Wilkin Ramirez to whiff on a payoff pitch.
Sox stains
Che-Hsuan Lin egregiously spilled a potential opportunity to renew Pawtucket’s lead with the 3-3 tie still intact in the top of the fifth. On board with a one-out single, he was caught stealing in an elaborate 2-3-6-4 rundown after Ryan Kalish took his second strike en route to an inning-ending swing and miss.
Granted, this was Gwinnett pitching to them, but four of the more leaned-on batters struck out multiple times apiece. Kalish whiffed three times while Lavarnway, Anderson and Spears were each benched on strikes twice. In five plate-appearances, Anderson failed to put the ball anywhere near the outfield.
Braves notes
Gomez led the offensive cause for the hosts, going 3-for-4 with three singles.
Jaye Chapman, who promptly succeeded Varvaro after Iglesias’ two-run hit, copied his successor by missing out on a 1-2-3 ninth in costly, agonizing fashion. After getting Lavarnway and Anderson out, Chapman yielded singles to Nava and Carroll before Luna singled to right, driving Nava home to finalize Pawtucket’s scoring.
Miscellany
Lavarnway, who was in Portland during Gwinnett’s visit to McCoy Stadium in May, entered Monday’s game an unlucky 0-for-13 in the series, making him the only PawSox batter without a hit against the Braves up to that point. His homer at least ensured that he hatched the Gwinnett goose-egg before heading home.
PawSox reliever Tommy Hottovy required only 13 pitches to retire all four of his challengers and claimed credit for the win. Hottovy was followed by Scott Atchison and Michael Bowden, who combined 1.2 innings pitched and allowed only one baserunner in the form of Gomez, who singled off Atchison with two out in the eighth.
Atchison was credited with his fifth hold of the season.
Over their eight-game season series, Pawtucket pitchers combined to strike out G-Braves batters 76 times. Meanwhile, Gwinnett hurlers benched a cumulative 70 of their PawSox challengers in 2011.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Post-game pop-ups: PawSox 5, Braves 0
Swift summation
By the time they had overcooked Gwinnett Braves starter Yohan Flende, cracking open a 5-0 lead by the sixth inning, the only vital task at hand for the PawSox was salvaging Matt Fox’s complete game shutout.
They did just that as Fox allowed only two hits and four baserunners and became the first Pawtucket hurler to finish his own start in the 2011 season in a 5-0 victory at Coolray Field Sunday afternoon.
Fox threw a fairly efficient 99 pitches, struck out seven challengers and only doled out one walk. Meanwhile, from the top to the bottom of the order, his bat-wielding colleagues did their part.
Six different Sox pilfered a hit off of Flende. Of the three who did not, Ryan Lavarnway found his way on by way of a fielding error and walk while Ryan Kalish batted in two runs by virtue of the sacrifice fly.
The PawSox garnered each of the game’s first six baserunners, three via hits, two by way of the walk and one on an error.
Daniel Nava set the tone for a fruitful second inning with a leadoff home run to left-center. Brett Carroll and Hector Luna followed up with a double and single, respectively, to left field. Nate Spears’ sacrifice fly to the right-field warning track scored Carroll from third, augmenting the edge to 2-0.
The Sox ran on a similar sugar rush in the fourth inning, once again nailing three hits in succession and cultivating two more runs. After Spears and Jose Iglesias each batted their way on, Che-Hsuan Lin sent an opposite-field single to right, scoring Spears from second and sending Iglesias to third for a 3-0 lead in the fourth.
Following up on that, Kalish’s sacrifice fly sent Gwinnett right fielder Stefan Gartrell far enough on the run to score Iglesias for a 4-0 lead. Kalish likewise drove in the fifth run on a sacrifice to left that sent Spears home in the sixth.
That fifth run was charged to Flande, who had passed down two baserunners to Ben Swaggerty when he was removed with no outs in the sixth.
PawSox pluses
Spears, a full-time lefty at the plate, entered the game with a respectable .267 batting average against southpaws. In three confrontations with Flande, Spears did not disappoint, going 2-for-2 with a pair of singles and an RBI sacrifice fly.
Sox stains
Through seven innings Lars Anderson was the only PawSox player not to reach base or otherwise contribute to the offensive cause in any fashion. Through four at-bats, he had twice struck out and twice flied out to strand a cumulative three of his teammates.
On the other side of the ball, Anderson did his job for the most part, save for a fielding error that allowed Jeff Fiorentino on board as Gwinnett’s first baserunner in the third.
But in fairness, Anderson was only a minus by comparison to the rest of his mates. In the ninth, he singled to right to at least extend his hitting streak to 11 games.
Braves notes
In relief of Flande, his fellow southpaw Swaggerty retired each of his first six challengers over the sixth and seventh innings. Swaggerty subsequently gave way to righty J.J. Hoover to commence the eighth while another lefty, Dustin Richardson, came on for the ninth. Hoover and Richardson combined to allow two baserunners while striking out three.
Wilkin Ramirez attained the anti-hat trick against Fox, striking out in each of their three meetings, thus constituting the third out of the second, fourth and seventh innings.
Miscellany
Braves’ shortstop Tyler Pastornicky injured his leg in the seventh amidst a vain attempt to tag Iglesias as he stole second base. He was replaced by Brandon Hicks.
By the time they had overcooked Gwinnett Braves starter Yohan Flende, cracking open a 5-0 lead by the sixth inning, the only vital task at hand for the PawSox was salvaging Matt Fox’s complete game shutout.
They did just that as Fox allowed only two hits and four baserunners and became the first Pawtucket hurler to finish his own start in the 2011 season in a 5-0 victory at Coolray Field Sunday afternoon.
Fox threw a fairly efficient 99 pitches, struck out seven challengers and only doled out one walk. Meanwhile, from the top to the bottom of the order, his bat-wielding colleagues did their part.
Six different Sox pilfered a hit off of Flende. Of the three who did not, Ryan Lavarnway found his way on by way of a fielding error and walk while Ryan Kalish batted in two runs by virtue of the sacrifice fly.
The PawSox garnered each of the game’s first six baserunners, three via hits, two by way of the walk and one on an error.
Daniel Nava set the tone for a fruitful second inning with a leadoff home run to left-center. Brett Carroll and Hector Luna followed up with a double and single, respectively, to left field. Nate Spears’ sacrifice fly to the right-field warning track scored Carroll from third, augmenting the edge to 2-0.
The Sox ran on a similar sugar rush in the fourth inning, once again nailing three hits in succession and cultivating two more runs. After Spears and Jose Iglesias each batted their way on, Che-Hsuan Lin sent an opposite-field single to right, scoring Spears from second and sending Iglesias to third for a 3-0 lead in the fourth.
Following up on that, Kalish’s sacrifice fly sent Gwinnett right fielder Stefan Gartrell far enough on the run to score Iglesias for a 4-0 lead. Kalish likewise drove in the fifth run on a sacrifice to left that sent Spears home in the sixth.
That fifth run was charged to Flande, who had passed down two baserunners to Ben Swaggerty when he was removed with no outs in the sixth.
PawSox pluses
Spears, a full-time lefty at the plate, entered the game with a respectable .267 batting average against southpaws. In three confrontations with Flande, Spears did not disappoint, going 2-for-2 with a pair of singles and an RBI sacrifice fly.
Sox stains
Through seven innings Lars Anderson was the only PawSox player not to reach base or otherwise contribute to the offensive cause in any fashion. Through four at-bats, he had twice struck out and twice flied out to strand a cumulative three of his teammates.
On the other side of the ball, Anderson did his job for the most part, save for a fielding error that allowed Jeff Fiorentino on board as Gwinnett’s first baserunner in the third.
But in fairness, Anderson was only a minus by comparison to the rest of his mates. In the ninth, he singled to right to at least extend his hitting streak to 11 games.
Braves notes
In relief of Flande, his fellow southpaw Swaggerty retired each of his first six challengers over the sixth and seventh innings. Swaggerty subsequently gave way to righty J.J. Hoover to commence the eighth while another lefty, Dustin Richardson, came on for the ninth. Hoover and Richardson combined to allow two baserunners while striking out three.
Wilkin Ramirez attained the anti-hat trick against Fox, striking out in each of their three meetings, thus constituting the third out of the second, fourth and seventh innings.
Miscellany
Braves’ shortstop Tyler Pastornicky injured his leg in the seventh amidst a vain attempt to tag Iglesias as he stole second base. He was replaced by Brandon Hicks.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Starting Nine: PawSox-Braves pregame tidbits
1. Upon taking the mound at Coolray Field Saturday evening, Kyle Weiland will seek his first winning decision at any level since he and the PawSox surpassed the host Rochester Red Wings, 6-3, on Independence Day. Since then, Weiland has endured a cumulative two losses and three no-decisions between a two-start promotion to Boston and his return to Triple-A late last month.
2. Weiland previously lost to Gwinnett, 2-0, on May 11. His line that evening consisted of 6.0 innings-pitched, two hits, two earned-runs, four walks and a strikeout. A third-inning walk, a double and a single in unanswered succession proved the fatal blemish for Pawtucket.
3. Weiland enters this start with a team-best 3.23 ERA, also good for No. 8 on the International League leaderboard. His Gwinnett counterpart, Todd Redmond, is No. 3 under that heading with a 2.91 average. Weiland and Redmond are also two of only seven I.L. hurlers with at least 110 strikeouts on the year.
4. Somewhat eclipsed by Che-Hsuan Lin and the rest of the eleventh-hour, ninth-inning offense Friday night was the way reliever Jason Rice earned credit for his third win in a span of 11 days. Although he finished his night with a newfangled 3-2 deficit glowering upon his team, Rice retired seven of 10 challengers in 2.1 innings-pitched. In addition, he charged up three strikeouts for the second time in as many relief outings.
5. Lin will seek to build upon his Friday night heroics and continue to thaw out the recently chilled, somewhat idled bat of his. Lin’s game-winning single amounted to his first RBI since July 28, ending a drought in that department that spanned 41 straight at-bats and 55 plate-appearances (14 walks). Lin has hit safely once in each of his last three games and in four of his last six.
6. Other aspiring streak-stokers include Lars Anderson, who has hit in each of his last nine games-played and Hector Luna, whose 4-4 performance on Friday prolonged a five-game streak.
7. Conversely, Ryan Lavarnway is vying to unshackle his fetters. After whiffing twice and going 0-for-5 in his first encounter with Gwinnett’s stingy pitching staff, the once-otherworldly slugger is suddenly batting 4-for-29 with nine strikeouts in the month of August.
8. Similarly, Brett Carroll has just rounded out his first week in Pawtucket’s clubhouse, seeing action in seven games. He made a sound first impression with a walkoff hit in his first outing and went a respectable 4-for-13 over his first three games. But since then, he has gone 0-for-12 with one RBI by virtue of a sacrifice at Charlotte Thursday night.
9. Outfielder Ronald Bermudez, demoted to Double-A Portland primarily to make room for Ryan Kalish, is hitting 5-for-12 as of three starts with the SeaDogs. He had his first hitless outing on Friday versus Erie, going 0-for-3, but did reach base by drawing a walk.
2. Weiland previously lost to Gwinnett, 2-0, on May 11. His line that evening consisted of 6.0 innings-pitched, two hits, two earned-runs, four walks and a strikeout. A third-inning walk, a double and a single in unanswered succession proved the fatal blemish for Pawtucket.
3. Weiland enters this start with a team-best 3.23 ERA, also good for No. 8 on the International League leaderboard. His Gwinnett counterpart, Todd Redmond, is No. 3 under that heading with a 2.91 average. Weiland and Redmond are also two of only seven I.L. hurlers with at least 110 strikeouts on the year.
4. Somewhat eclipsed by Che-Hsuan Lin and the rest of the eleventh-hour, ninth-inning offense Friday night was the way reliever Jason Rice earned credit for his third win in a span of 11 days. Although he finished his night with a newfangled 3-2 deficit glowering upon his team, Rice retired seven of 10 challengers in 2.1 innings-pitched. In addition, he charged up three strikeouts for the second time in as many relief outings.
5. Lin will seek to build upon his Friday night heroics and continue to thaw out the recently chilled, somewhat idled bat of his. Lin’s game-winning single amounted to his first RBI since July 28, ending a drought in that department that spanned 41 straight at-bats and 55 plate-appearances (14 walks). Lin has hit safely once in each of his last three games and in four of his last six.
6. Other aspiring streak-stokers include Lars Anderson, who has hit in each of his last nine games-played and Hector Luna, whose 4-4 performance on Friday prolonged a five-game streak.
7. Conversely, Ryan Lavarnway is vying to unshackle his fetters. After whiffing twice and going 0-for-5 in his first encounter with Gwinnett’s stingy pitching staff, the once-otherworldly slugger is suddenly batting 4-for-29 with nine strikeouts in the month of August.
8. Similarly, Brett Carroll has just rounded out his first week in Pawtucket’s clubhouse, seeing action in seven games. He made a sound first impression with a walkoff hit in his first outing and went a respectable 4-for-13 over his first three games. But since then, he has gone 0-for-12 with one RBI by virtue of a sacrifice at Charlotte Thursday night.
9. Outfielder Ronald Bermudez, demoted to Double-A Portland primarily to make room for Ryan Kalish, is hitting 5-for-12 as of three starts with the SeaDogs. He had his first hitless outing on Friday versus Erie, going 0-for-3, but did reach base by drawing a walk.
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