PawSox season looking up
Pawtucket cruises past Syracuse for road sweep
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Pawtucket’s pitching staff continued its dominance out of the All-Star break, as the PawSox finished a four-game sweep of the Syracuse Chiefs with a 7-1 victory Sunday afternoon at NBT Bank Stadium.
A trio of Pawtucket pitchers combined on a one-run effort, Aneury Tavarez homered and tripled, and the PawSox (48-44) rolled by the Chiefs (32-59) to earn their sixth consecutive win — matching a season-long winning streak — and their eighth in the last nine games. The PawSox only allowed six total runs in the four-game series.
PawSox starter Marcus Walden allowed just one run in 5.1 sturdy innings with five strikeouts. In his last four outings, Walden has logged 17.1 innings of three-run ball. Right-hander Kyle Martin followed with 1.2 shutout frames, and fellow righty Chandler Shepherd struck out two in the ninth.
In his second Triple-A game, PawSox third baseman Rafael Devers went 0-for4 with an eight-pitch walk and a flyout to the warning track in straightaway center.
Tavarez (2-for-5), designated hitter Matt Dominguez (3-for-5, two doubles and two RBIs), second baseman Heiker Meneses (2-for-5, a run and an RBI), left fielder Bryce Brentz (2-for-4 with three RBIs) and shortstop Mike Miller (3-for4) headlined the 13-hit offensive onslaught.
Syracuse starter Jaron Long, the son of Mets hitting coach Kevin Long, gave up five runs on eight hits in five-plus frames.
Tavarez led off the game with a solo home run pulled to right field — his fourth of the season, all of which have come at NBT Bank Stadium.
The Chiefs tied the game in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly from right fielder Caleb Ramsey.
Pawtucket climbed back ahead, 2-1, in the third when Tavarez rocked a one- out triple to left-center and scored on an RBI base knock from Meneses.
Brentz mashed a three-run blast in the sixth inning off the top left corner of the batter’s eye in straightaway center – a titanic shot tracked at 431 feet. Brentz, who won the Triple-A Home Run Derby on Monday, is now tied for third in the International League with 19 home runs.
In the seventh inning, Dominguez sliced an RBI double into the right-field corner to make it 6-1. Dominguez drove in another with a two-bagger to rightcenter in the ninth.
Following their four-game series in Syracuse, the PawSox return home to McCoy Stadium to open a seven-game homestand beginning with a three-game series against Toledo on Monday at 7:05 p.m.