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Baseball Today: Tuesday, April 10 »
April 9, 2007
Pawtucket usually has more success in Durham.
Maybe the big blue wall in left -- a blatant copy of the Green Monster in Fenway -- has made the Red Sox top farm team feel at home at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. In the nine years since Durham joined the International League, Pawtucket is the only visiting team to post a winning record on the Bulls’ home field.
But the Pawsox saw their all-time record in Durham fall to 23-15 after Monday night’s 5-0 loss to the Bulls. The visiting hitters were limited to a single, ground-ball single by three Durham pitchers and that familiar “Blue Monster” in left helped sabotage Pawtucket starter Abe Alvarez (0-1).
“You take away one pitch in the ballgame and it’s a fairly interesting game,” Pawtucket manager Ron Johnson said.
That one pitch came with two outs in the second inning when Durham’s Joel Guzman blooped a fly ball double off the short wall in left. Alvarez loaded the bases with a pair of walks, but he almost pitched himself out of trouble. The lanky lefthander struck out Jorge Velandia, then retired Raul Casanova on a short pop-up.
However, right-fielder Jeremy Owens -- the No. 9 hitter for the Bulls -- lifted a 1-1 pitch over the short left-field wall for a grand slam home run that put the Pawsox in a four-run hole.
“He got the bases loaded,” Johnson said. “He battled back. He got two outs. He tried to lock up Owens on the inner half -- off the plate in. He left it out over the plate … that’s what happens.”
Alvarez gave up a solo home run to Dustin Mohr leading off the third, but he finished his five innings of work allowing just four hits and no more runs.
“I was really pleased with [Alvarez],” Johnson said. “He went back out there and started to command all his stuff in the strike zone. I thought he finished up very, very strong.”
But his mistake in the second too much to overcome on a night when the Pawsox couldn’t touch Durham starter Mitch Talbot (1-0). The 23-year-old righthander allowed no hits and just two walks in his six innings of work.
“I thought he did a great job,” Johnson said. “That kid changed speeds. He hit locations. He kept our guys off balance. It was all in his favor tonight.”
He became the second Bulls starter to leave the game with a no-hitter this season. Opening night pitch Jason Hammel, who will work the second game of the four-game series tonight, threw five no-hit innings against Syracuse before he was pulled.
“I knew he was throwing a no-hitter,” Durham manager Charlie Montoyo said. “I thought, ‘Oh no, the fans will get on me when I take him out.’ But we’ve got that pitch count.”
Talbot didn’t blame his manager for pulling him.
“Yeah, obviously it’s frustrating,” he said. “But this early in the season and being this cold, it was the right decision.”
When Montoyo pulled Hammel in the opener, the Chiefs rallied against the Bulls’ bullpen. The Pawsox weren’t so lucky. Chad Spann finally did break up the no-hitter when the third baseman slipped a ground ball through the Durham infield for a two-out single in the top of the eighth.
But he was the only base runner the Pawsox managed in the final three innings off Durham relievers Steve Andrade and Chad Orvella.
NOTES -- Lefthander Kason Gabbard (1-0, 3.60 ERA) is slated to be on the mound for Pawtucket tonight at 7 for the second game of the four-game series in Durham between the Red Sox and Bulls. The temperature in Durham was 71 degrees at the first pitch, but had dipped into the 40s before the final out.
--AL FEATHERSTON (Special to the Journal)
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