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Baseball Today: Friday, August 10 »
August 9, 2007
MOOSIC, Pa. -- Two long days, four tough losses. Two of those of the walk off variety.
The PawSox found a way to make a two-day stay in Scranton seem twice as long, by losing back-to-back double headers to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees.
The second of those came last night when Pawtucket dropped dropped counts of 4-2 and 3-2 (in extra innings) before a sellout crowd of 10,310 at PNC Field.
The nightcap was settled by Scranton’s Eric Duncan, whose one-out single off Travis Hughes ended an 11-inning marathon.
Duncan lashed the first pitch he saw from Hughes (5-6) into left field, scoring pinch-runner Andy Canizzaro from third.
Pawtucket has now lost five straight, scoring just seven runs in the process.
The offensively challenged PawSox went down meekly in the opener, after falling behind 4-0 in the second inning.
Starter Devern Hansack (7-7) was charged with all the runs, two of which were doubled in by Bronson Sardinha.
Pawtucket squandered scoring chances in the early innings, but pulled to within two runs in the fourth.
New arrival Bobby Kielty, late of the Oakland A’s, singled to lead off that frame, then legged it in from first when Brandon Moss, just back from a brief stay with Boston, doubled to center.
Moss later scored on Junior Spivey’s ground out.
Game 2, at least, provided some interesting twists and turns, but unfortunately for Pawtucket, produced the same sad result.
Trailing 1-0 heading into the fifth, the PawSox scratched out a pair of runs off reliever Ross Ohlendorf to take the lead.
Light-hitting catcher Kevin Cash, led off the frame with a homer to left, his fourth of the season.
One batter later, Ed Rogers reached on a fielder’s choice, then was doubled in from second by Jacoby Ellsbury.
But Scranton knotted the score in the bottom of the fifth with a run off reliever Lincoln Holdzkom.
The PawSox left the go-ahead run stranded at third in both the eighth and ninth innings.
AROUND THE BASES: Moss was still a little bleary-eyed from his all-night cross country flight on the Bosox charter, which landed in Baltimore, yesterday morning. Nonetheless, he was still buzzing from his first taste of the big leagues, a three day stay while Boston was in Anaheim.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” said Moss, “because I’d never been there before. I was a little nervous, but everything settled in and I got more comfortable. It was awesome, I loved it.”
Moss went just 1-for-7 (with a walk) in two games with the Bosox, but was pleased to get that first big league hit, a single, under his belt.
“I was wondering if I was going to get that,” he said, “because I’d hit some balls well earlier in the game. I thought, ‘man, I might not ever get that hit’. But it finally came, and it was a big relief.”
To make room for Moss on the PawSox roster, RHP Craig Hansen was placed on the disabled list (retroactive to Aug. 6) with a contusion of his pitching forearm, suffered in an off-field mishap…Although Johnson wasn’t completely certain, he said that RHP Charlie Zink, who had received a “temporary” promotion from Double-A Portland last week, would finish the year with Pawtucket. “He’s earned it,” he said. ..As if things weren’t tough enough for the PawSox, they were without the services of both catcher George Kottaras (sore knee) and first basesman Jeff Bailey (sore neck)…In Game 2, PawSox lefty Craig Breslow, who has been exclusively a reliever, made the first start of his six year professional career…
After the game, the club motored on to Syracuse, the second stop on their three-city, 10-day sojourn, to begin a four-game set with the Chiefs. RHP Mike Burns (3-7, 4.39) will get the start tonight (7 p.m.) against Syracuse RHP Jeremy Cummings (2-1, 2.64).
--DAN HICKLING
Posted by Chris Venditto 
at 11:01 PM to PawSox
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