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April 11, 2007
By AL FEATHERSTON
Special to the Journal
DURHAM, N.C. -- Ron Johnson wasn’t quite sure he was in the right place for Wednesday afternoon’s International League game against the Durham Bulls.
Isn’t Durham in the South -- the land of sunny climes?
How come the gray, overcast sky, the misting rain and the temperatures hovering around 50 were so much like what the Pawtucket manager would normally see at home in early April?
“I was kind of hoping the Southern start for us was not going to be like our Northern start, but it’s kind of turned out to be the same thing,” Johnson said. “It’s never easy to play in poor conditions. Anybody who thinks you play a game in snow, rain, cold and it’s the same … it’s not very much fun at all.”
Still, Johnson’s Pawsox overcame both the elements and the Bulls, twice erasing one-run deficits to pull out a 5-3 victory in the third game of a four-game series. Pawtucket, which took three out of four from the Charlotte Knights to open the season, will try to duplicate that feat Thursday night at 7 in the final game of the series with the Bulls.
Johnson can’t complain about his team’s 5-2 start so far this season, a record compiled in the face of some unseasonably cold weather in the Carolinas.
“It’s the summer classic, right?” Johnson said. “It’s supposed to be played in warm weather. But we’ve got to get used to it. They’re professionals and know they have to do it, so you go out there and battle the conditions. I thought the guys did a fantastic job.”
The Pawsox got an overpowering starting performance from Devern Hansack, who struck out 10 Bulls in his five innings of work. The righthander, who threw a five-inning no-hitter for the Boston Red Sox last fall, allowed Durham just two hits and an unearned run before he was pulled after throwing 89 pitches in his five inning stint.
It’s the second straight start in which Hansack has registered 10 strikeouts. He had 10 in five and two-thirds innings at Charlotte last week.
He didn’t get the win because reliever Mike Burns gave up two runs and the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. But Manny Delcarmen (1-0) and Craig Breslow shut down the Bulls in the final three innings and that gave the Pawsox a chance to batter the Bulls’ bullpen.
The Pawtucket batters, stifled by the Bulls’ staff in the first two games of the series, pounded four Durham pitchers for 15 hits. Joe McEwing singled in a run in the fifth and Chad Spann got an RBI when he followed Bobby Scales’ triple with a single in the sixth.
But the blow came in the top of the eighth, when Kerry Robinson drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with a double that he sliced into the left-field corner.
“The pitch before that, I thought I had an opportunity to hit,” Robinson said. “So I just concentrated on staying back and trust my hands.”
The veteran infielder was making his first start of the series and just his second this year.
“I played off the bench in the big leagues for three years,” Robinson said. “You learn to btrust in your abilities and be ready when they call on you.”
Johnson was pleased to see that his bullpen was ready when he called.
“Our pitching has been very, very strong,” Johnson said. “I have faith in every guy [in the bullpen]. We’re trying to make sure certain guys get multiple innings to make sure they’re prepared to pitch in Boston when they’re called upon. I thought Burns threw the ball good. He had a couple of close pitches that could have gone either way.
“If you look at it, we’ve already got [three] different guys with saves? That does matter. Our key is to get people prepared in case the Boston Red Sox need them. It’s a good situation.”
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