McGuiness swings hot stick in Drive win

6/21 Cup of Coffee: The Cleveland Indians organization had Sox affiliates' number on Sunday, winning two and leading in a third suspended game, but Greenville mounted an epic comeback.

Pawtucket and Columbus (CLE) were involved in a close contest on Sunday, but the rains came in the middle of the sixth inning and play was suspended with the Clippers leading 4-3. The game will be resumed when the PawSox visit Columbus again in late July.

It was a back-and-forth affair in Portland, but despite drawing 8 walks on the day the Sea Dogs fell to Akron (CLE), 3-2. Kyle Weiland was on his game and helped keep the game knotted in the early going, tossing 5.0 innings yielding just 1 earned run on 3 hits and 3 walks, striking out 7 along the way. After he gave up a run in the fourth, the Sea Dogs tied things up in the fifth when Nate Spears lofted a sacrifice fly to left. Unfortunately, Akron got right back on the board against Ryne Miller and Mitch Herold, who each relinquished a run to make it 3-1 heading to the bottom of the eighth. In that frame, Portland attempted a late comeback, putting a runner in scoring position with two outs. The next batter, Ryan Khoury, then singled to left, scoring Yamaico Navarro to make it 3-2, but Khoury was gunned down trying to reach second on the throw to end the inning. The Sea Dogs got another runner in scoring position in the ninth, but couldn't quite come all the way back.

Salem managed only 4 hits in the game and was 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position, falling 4-1 to Kinston (CLE). Stolmy Pimentel started and allowed 2 runs in his 6.0 innings of work, yielding 6 hits and a walk while striking out 3. Salem had a number of chances along the way but could not score until the seventh, when despite having the bases loaded with one out, managed to score only one run on Ryan Dent's ground out. While that made the score 2-1, Mike Lee and Kyle Fernandes conspired to allow 2 more Kinston runs in the ninth to put the game out of reach.

After allowing a boat load of early runs and at one point trailing 7-2, the Greenville offense came to life in a big way late, coming all the way back to smoke Hickory (TEX), 11-8. Drake Britton had a night to forget on Sunday, allowing 4 runs (3 earned) on 4 hits and 2 walks in just 1.1 innings. Tom Ebert wasn't much better in relief, allowing 3 earned runs of his own in his 4.2 innings to put the Drive in an early hole. But the Drive scored single runs in the fourth, on a Dan Butler RBI single, and in the sixth, on a throwing error by the Hickory catcher, to chip away, and then started to hang crooked numbers. Two came across in the seventh on wild pitches, while a sacrifice fly and an error brought home two more in the eigth to make it 8-6. But the real damage was done in the ninth, as Greenville scored five times on 3 singles, a hit batsman, a passed ball, a wild pitch, and an error. Dennis Neuman then struck out 2 in the ninth to nail things down. The Drive tallied 13 hits in this one, including 4 for Chris McGuiness and 2 each for Butler, Michael Almanzar, and Wil Vazquez. And although Reymond Fuentes didn't manage a hit in the game, he did steal two bases, his 26th and 27th of the year.

Lowell couldn't muster much on offense, recording only 3 hits, and fell to Vermont (WAS) 3-1. On the mound, though, things went pretty well for Tyler Wilson, who allowed only an unearned run on 4 hits in his 5.0-inning start, striking out 4 and walking nobody. Down 2-1 in the eighth, Sean Killeen tried to ignite a comeback when he smoked his second home run of the year out to left, but it just wasn't enough in the end. It was a challenging defensive day for two high 2010 draftees, as both Kolbrin Vitek and Bryce Brentz made errors in the field for Lowell.

Player of the Night: Chris McGuiness, who was 4 for 5 to pace the Greenville offense and help bring home the lone win of the day for Sox affiliates.

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