« The Lester Plan
Main
Starting Lineups -- April 29 »

PawSox lose in 11 innings, 10-7

Luis Rivas bases-loaded walk with two out in the 11th snapped a 7-7 game and propelled the Bisons to a 10-7 victory, Saturday afternoon in Pawtucket. Ben Francisco added a two-run single to ensure the Herd their first extra-inning win of 2007.

The victory was also Buffalo's first in four games against Pawtucket this season.

After battling back from a 7-4 deficit to force extra frames, the Bisons looked like they were going to let a golden opportunity slip for a win slip away. Joe Inglett and Ryan Mulhern opened the 11th with singles and Trent Durrington also reached with a hit when he beat out his sacrifice bunt attempt. But Pawtucket reliever Travis Hughes responded by striking out Mike Rose and inducing Franklin Gutierrez to pop out on the infield.

With two outs, Rivas turned the tides back in favor of the Bisons by drawing a five-pitch walk to force in the go-ahead run. Three pitches later, Francisco stung a pitch to left field to plate two more runs.

Edward Mujica preserved the win by retiring the PawSox 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 11th inning for his sixth save of the season.

It was a see-saw battle through the first nine innings of play. Buffalo struck first with home runs from Gutierrez and Hector Luna in a three-run first and added a fourth run on triple from Mulhern and an RBI-ground out from Durrington.

The next seven runs, however, were scored by Pawtucket. Kevin Cash went deep and David Murphy doubled home a run to cut the Bisons advantage in half in the third inning. Brandon Moss' two-run homer in the sixth tied the game at four. Ed Roger's home run in the seventh capped a three-run rally that put the Paw Sox ahead, 7-4.

Buffalo tied the game at seven with three runs in the eighth inning. Three consecutive singles by Gutierrez, Rivas and Francisco made it 7-5 Pawtucket. Luna then picked up his second big hit of the game with a two-out, two-run single to tie the game.

The win for the Bisons went to Sean Smith (1-1). Smith came on in the bottom of the eighth inning a quieted the Pawtucket offense with three shutout innings. He allowed just two hits and struck out four to earn his first career Triple-A win.

--BISONS.COM

Posted by Chris Venditto  at 5:44 PM to PawSox | Permalink