A late rally falls short in the 7-6 defeat to the PawSox.
PAWTUCKET, R.I. — Pawtucket used a four-run bottom of the 5th inning immediately after Rochester plated three runs in the top half as the PawSox beat the Red Wings 7-6 Wednesday afternoon at McCoy Stadium.
The Red Wings (10-11) won the first two games of the series before the PawSox (12-11) were able to salvage the series finale.
Pawtucket had early threats against Myles Jaye (0-2) as two singles and a walk to begin the 2nd inning loaded the bases with nobody out. Chad De La Guerra lifted a sacrifice fly to make it 1- 0 but Jaye got two groundouts to prevent further damage.
Rochester was scheduled to face former Wing Marcus Walden but a 13-inning game by the Red Sox the night before meant Walden was summoned to Boston and Josh Smith was called upon to make the spot start. Smith was brilliant, allowing just two hits with one strikeout over 4.0 innings.
Jermaine Curtis gave the Red Wings their first lead in the 5th with a 3-run homer off Brandon Workman (2-1).The PawSox responded with a 2-out, 3-run homer from Jordan Betts followed by an Aneury Tavarez solo blast that gave Pawtucket a 5-3 lead and chased Jaye from the game. Jaye was charged with 5 runs on 8 hits, including 2 homers, a walk and a hit batter with 3 strikeouts over 4.2 innings.
The Wings pulled within a run in the 7th despite not recording a hit in the frame. James Ramsey walked to lead off the inning and advanced to third base two batters later on an error. He would score on a wild pitch to make it 5-4. Pawtucket’s second error of the inning pushed runners to second and third but Kennys Vargas grounded out to end the threat.
Tavarez capped his four-hit day with a two-run double in the bottom of the 7th to make it 7-4. Willians Astudillo started the 8th with a solo home run and Curtis drove in his fourth run with an RBI single to cap the scoring at 7-6.
Pawtucket outhit Rochester 13-7. Ramsey reached base four times (2-for-2, BB, HBP) and scored twice for the Red Wings. Betts and Tavarez both drove in three runs for the PawSox.
*NOTES — In roster moves Wednesday, RHP Fernando Romero was recalled by the Minnesota Twins; and OF Jimmy Kerrigan was transferred from Single-A Ft. Myers… The Red Wings went 6-1 at McCoy Stadium last season, winning 6 games in Pawtucket for the first time since becoming affiliated with the Minnesota Twins. It marked only the fourth season that the Wings had a winning record on the road against the PawSox since 2003 (2014, 2009 and 2007). Rochester is just 98-141 in Pawtucket since 1990 but the Red Wings have won nine of the last 11 games in Pawtucket since 2016. The other loss came in Game 1 on June 17, 2017 when Yohan Pino took a no-hitter into the 7th inning before the PawSox tied the game in the 7th and won it in the 8th on a Jantzen Witte walk-off homer off Pino.