Anderson's bat leads Pawtucket to victory

6/24 Cup of Coffee: With only four games on Wednesday, the affiliates found different ways to bring home wins as they went 3 for 4 in their contests. Pawtucket and the GCL both came out on top in back-and-forth offensive struggles, while Lowell received stellar pitching to secure a rather easy victory. Portland missed multiple scoring opportunities and received a poor start as they fell at the hands of Altoona.

Looking to strike down their rival, Pawtucket scored a late run to hold off the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (NYY) 7-6. Ramon A. Ramirez had a tough start as he went 5.0 innings, allowing 6 runs (3 earned) on 6 hits and a walk while striking out 4. The PawSox got on the board in the second on Lars Anderson's fifth home run of the season. Down 3-1 heading into the fourth, Pawtucket scored four on an Anderson RBI double and a Gustavo Molina two run home run to reclaim the lead. Jorge Jimenez added an RBI single in the fifth to expand the PawSox lead to 6-3, a lead they would give back in the bottom half of the inning as the Yankees tied the game with three runs of their own. Niuman Romero broke the tie in the seventh as he dropped a single in front of the right fielder to bring home the eventual winning run. T.J. Large picked up his third victory of the season as he went 1.2 scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit. Robert Manuel pitched a scoreless 1.1 innings to lower his ERA to 0.95 on the season. Fernando Cabrera notched his tenth save by pitching a scoreless ninth inning. Anderson was 3 for 4 with a double, home run, 2 RBI and 2 runs scored to lead the offensive output.

Despite only being outhit 10-8, Portland was smoked by the Altoona Curve (PIT) 8-1. Sea Dogs starter Jeremy Kehrt was torched in his 5.1 innings of work, allowing 8 runs (6 earned) on 9 hits and a walk while striking out 3. Che-Hsuan Lin's RBI single in the first inning accounted for the lone run of the night for Portland. Santo Luis and Jason Rice combined for 2.2 scoreless innings of relief after taking over for Kehrt. The Sea Dogs left eleven men on base and were just 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position. Yamaico Navarro was 2 for 4 to have the only multi-hit game for Portland.

Lowell pounded out 10 hits and got some dazzling pitching to tame the Connecticut Tigers (DET) 6-1. Spinners starter Roman Mendez was on his game, tossing 5.0 innings, allowing just 1 run on 2 hits and a walk while striking out 3. Mendez was reportedly touching the upper 90's on his fastball and picked up his first victory of the season. After Connecticut got a run in the first, Lowell responded in the second on a Miles Head RBI triple to knot the score at 1-1. Head's RBI double in the fourth broke the tie and put the Spinners on top for good. Lowell padded their lead by adding two runs in the sixth on a Chia-Chu Chen RBI single and two more in the seventh on a Brandon Jacobs RBI double. Jay Broughton followed Mendez out of the bullpen and pitched 3.0 scoreless frames, allowing just 3 hits and striking out 2. Kyle Rutter pitched a scoreless ninth inning to secure the victory. Jacobs was 3 for 4 with two doubles to lead the Lowell offense as Chen, Head and Jose Garcia each added a two hit night.

The GCL Red Sox stayed perfect by breaking open a close game late to defeat the GCL Orioles (BAL) 10-8. Starter Eric Curtis pitched a solid 5.0 innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and a walk while striking out 6. Richie Wasielewski picked up the victory by pitching 2.0 scoreless innings of relief. The Red Sox scored their first run of the contest in the third on a James Kang RBI single, giving them a temporary 1-0 lead. The Orioles answered back with two of their own in the bottom half of the inning and all scoring ceased until Kang's solo home run in the top of the sixth. Leading 2-1, the Red Sox exploded for seven runs in the eighth on a Moko Moanaroa RBI double, a throwing error by the Orioles third baseman, and a Heiker Menses grand slam. Moanaroa added an RBI single in the ninth to help the Red Sox stave off a late charge by the Orioles. Michael Gleason pitched 1.2 innings, almost giving back the entire Red Sox lead by allowing 6 runs on 8 hits. Justin Erasmus stopped the Orioles rally by recording the final out of the game for his first save. Kang and Moanaroa were both 3 for 5 to lead the offensive output.

Player of the Night: Lars Anderson, who went 3 for 4, with a double, home run, 2 runs scored and 2 RBI in Pawtucket's 7-6 victory.

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