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April 22, 2007

PawSox roll over Bison, 6-1

BUFFALO — Nothing like being the beneficiary of some long balls if you’re a struggling starting pitcher.

Abe Alvarez won for just the second time in his last 13 Triple-A decisions, and David Murphy, Luis Jimenez and Brandon Moss each hit home runs to give the Pawtucket Red Sox a convincing 6-1 win over the Buffalo Bisons in front of a sun-drenched crowd of 8,184 at Dunn Tire Park yesterday afternoon.

Alvarez (1-2) won for the first time in three starts this season, allowing just two hits over five innings of work while throwing 95 pitches. He also walked three and struck out three, as Pawtucket (8-8) won for the third time in the last four games after dropping five straight.

“To get those runs up early it makes you feel more comfortable as a pitcher,” said Alvarez, who was staked to a 2-0 second-inning lead. “That made it easy for me to calm down.”

Over the first two games of this three-game set, Pawtucket has mashed five home runs against the second-stingiest pitching staff in the International League. Coming into the series, the Bisons’ pitchers had allowed just three homers in their first 12 games.

PawSox hitters, meanwhile, had gone deep eight times in their first 14 games before starting to blast away along the shores of Lake Erie.

“We got the things we needed,” manager Ron Johnson said. “You can only go so long trying to manufacture a run here or there. It gets to the point where you need someone to hit the ball out of the ball park, and we got it today.”

Murphy led off the second by crushing Buffalo starter Brian Slocum’s 1-1 pitch over the right-center field wall, and Jimenez followed three batters later with an opposite-field job that made it 2-0. The early lead helped Alvarez, who labored through the first two innings, allowing a run on two hits and three walks before settling down.

The southpaw retired the next nine hitters he faced before departing in favor of reliever Travis Hughes. Hughes continued the mound dominance by setting down five straight before Hector Luna’s single.

Hughes gave up just that hit and struck out three in three innings, and has not allowed a run in his five appearances.

“That was the momentum time of the game,” Johnson said about the middle innings. “Travis worked fast, he threw strikes and let the defense play.”

After leaving the bases loaded in the third, Pawtucket extended its lead to 3-1 in the fourth on Kevin Cash’s run-scoring double that plated Jimenez.

The PawSox broke it open in the fifth on Moss’ third homer of the young season, a two-run blast off Slocum that easily cleared the right-center field wall. They added to their lead in the seventh after Buffalo third baseman Keith Ginter’s throwing error allowed Murphy to score an unearned run.

Murphy finished 2-for-4 with a walk, and has hit safely in five of his last six games. The 2003 first-round pick is hitting .400 over those half-dozen games.
Moss had two hits, including a double in the seventh, his fourth extra-base hit in the last four games.

Slocum (1-1) lasted five innings for Buffalo, giving up five runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out five.

“That was one of those textbook kind of games,” Johnson said.

Johnson also had good news to report on Runelvys Hernandez, who left Saturday’s start in the third inning after grabbing his left hamstring after a pitch. Johnson said Hernandez is sore, but there is no damage, and the righty shouldn’t miss any starts.

The three-game series concludes tonight at 6. Lefty Kason Gabbard (2-1, 4.41 ERA) is scheduled to start for the PawSox, while right-hander Jeff Harris (1-0, 3.27) will counter for the Bisons.

PawSox roll over Bison, 6-1

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