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May 13, 2007

PawSox win in 10 innings

PAWTUCKET — Pawtucket pulled off a dramatic, white-knuckle, 4-3, 10-inning victory over two-time defending Governors’ Cup champion Toledo yesterday at McCoy Stadium.

Down 3-1 with two outs and runners on second and third base in the ninth inning, Pawtucket manager Ron Johnson called on Brandon Moss to pinch-hit.

Moss, who had only one hit in his previous 24 at-bats, smacked the first pitch he saw over the head of Toledo right fielder Timo Perez for a double, driving in David Murphy and Jeff Bailey to tie the score, 3-3.

Suddenly it looked like Pawtucket, a team that has had difficulty winning close games, was going to pull off a dramatic upset.

But Chad Spann, who had only 12 hits in his previous 76 at-bats (.169) before going 2-for-4 yesterday, stranded Moss on second base when he struckout out for the third out. That forced extra innings.

Toledo had teed off for 12 hits against Pawtucket starter Runelvys Hernandez (5 innings, 9 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts) and relievers Edgar Martinez (2 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 3 strikeouts) and Travis Hughes (2 innings, 1 hit, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts) so Johnson sent Manny Delcarmen to the mound in the 10th inning to quiet the Mud Hens bats.

He did just that, striking out two of the three batters he faced to give his offense a chance to win it in the bottom of the inning.

The PawSox delivered.

After Jacoby Ellsbury walked with one out, then stole second base. Toledo catcher Dane Sardinha’s throw went into center field and Ellsbury sprinted to third base on the error.

That gave Joe McEwing the chance to be the hero.

Facing a full-count, McEwing belted a Jeremy Johnson pitch to center field for the game-winning hit. Ellsbury trotted home and raised his hands in celebration as he jumped on home plate for the game-winning run.

“In that situation I was just trying to have a quality at-bat and put one in the outfield,” McEwing said.

“Fortunately it got down, and it was a good win for us. I had a feeling that they were trying to pound me inside to get me to roll over to third or to short, so I was looking for something on the inner half of the plate. I got a fastball on the inner half and put a quality swing on it.”

The victory was just Pawtucket’s third in its last 16 outings.

“We are battling every single night,” McEwing said. “We’ve been getting quality pitching and today we got some timely hits. We have to carry the momentum into tomorrow. No matter where you are or what level, you play this game to win.”

“I think our last three wins have all been come-from-behind,” Johnson said. “That shows that these guys have a lot of fight in them and, when we get the little things worked out, this is going to be a fun bunch.”

Sardinha, Toledo’s No. 9 hitter, belted a two-run home run over the left-field fence in the top of the third inning to give Toledo the early 2-0 lead.

The Mud Hens added another run in the fourth. Jake Hannahan led off the inning with a single but he was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first base on Mike Hessman’s double off the left-field wall. Shortstop Alex Prieto made the relay to home. Hessman advanced to third base on the play. Chris Maples drove him in with a two-out single to extend Toledo’s advantage to 3-0.

Pawtucket cut Toledo’s lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning when Bobby Scales sliced a triple down the right-field line and scored on Kevin Cash’s infield groundout.

“It’s getting to the point where I can’t take him out of the lineup,” Johnson said of Scales.

Pawtucket threatened to close the gap further in the bottom of the eighth inning when Spann and Ellsbury each singled to put runners on first and second base with one out, but McEwing grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

--ROB LEE

Posted by Corey Bourassa at 8:18 PM to PawSox | Permalink

May 13, 2007

PawSox win in 10 innings

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