Double dip
It was a tough afternoon at McCoy Stadium for the home team as the PawSox were swept — 3-2 and 21 — by Rochester.
PAWTUCKET — Just 10 batters into Game 1 of Sunday’s doubleheader against Rochester, it looked like Pawtucket manager Kevin Boles was going to wear out a path between the dugout and pitcher’s mound.
Having already conceded that Game 2 of the doubleheader was going to be a bullpen contest, Boles watched lefty starter Henry Owens allow three singles, three walks and a hit batsmen, while recording just three outs.
And, just when it seemed he was on his way to a third short outing, Owens, with plenty of help from third baseman Jantzen White, escaped the second inning and went on to set down 17 of the final 18 batters he faced. Owens and Game 2 starter Edgar Olmos combined to pitch 13 innings, allow eight hits and just two earned runs, but the PawSox’ offense and defense failed to support their starters.
The PawSox committed three errors which led to two Almos earned runs in Game 2 of Rochester’s sweep of the series. The Red Wings won Game 3-2 in eight innings on a Matt Hague home run and they earned a 2-1 win in Game 2 in front of 7,140 fans at McCoy Stadium.
“Both starters did a terrific job,” Boles said. “Owens did a nice job. His command was suspect early; three walks and a hit batter. He got into a groove. Him and (catcher Blake) Swihart worked well together. He gave us the length we needed and helped with the inventory in our bullpen because we’ve played a lot of innings lately.”
While Owens’ performance bodes well for Pawtucket in the long term, Almos’ effort in Game 2 was very important in the short term.
Boles expected to roll out a number of pitchers Sunday afternoon and he even had infielders Brian Bogusevic and Mike Miller on the bench ready to throw.
Instead, Almos ( 3- 2) went six innings, which is his longest outing since 2012. The lefty was victimized by errors and unearned runs in the third and fifth innings. He did give up back-to-back hits to lead off the sixth inning, but he induced three straight ground balls to keep the deficit at just one.
“I thought Olmos was terrific, very efficient,” Boles said.
Pawtucket (34-32) had a chance to avoid the doubleheader sweep when Rusney Castillo delivered a two-out single in the seventh to bring the game-winning run to the plate in the guise of Ryan Court. Rochester sidearm hurler Trevor Hildenberger needed just three pitches to strike out Court to finish off a six-out save in relief of starter Tim Melville. Melville allowed just three hits and struck out four batters in five innings to earn the win.
Outside of Swihart’s tworun home run off of Chris Heston in the fourth inning of Game 1, the PawSox didn’t record an extra-base hit. Castillo had four hits over both games, while Sam Travis had three.
“I thought we swung at some pitches outside of the zone,” Boles said of his squad, which didn’t earn a walk in the opener. “I thought they did a nice job ob reading swings. We got beat numerous times on the inner half. We didn’t execute with runners in scoring position. We had plenty of opportunities today and we didn’t execute.”
Rochester ( 32- 33) jumped all over Owens in the opening inning. The lefty struck out two batters, but then he issued his second walk of the inning before Byung Ho Park hit an RBI single.
Owens (4-5) was in more trouble in the second when J.B. Shuck (hit by pitch), Bengie Gonzalez ( walk), Engelb Vielma (single) and Zach Granite (RBI single) all reached base without an out recorded. After hitting two loud foul balls, Hague