Shealy comes up big in Pawtucket rout

6/28 Cup of Coffee: It was a big night for offense for most Sox affiliates on Sunday, leading to four solid wins on the afternoon.

Pawtucket broke out the big bats early to back an excellent outing by Michael Bowden, rolling 8-1 over Syracuse (WAS). Ryan Shealy got the scoring started with a two-run double in the first, and after Juan Apodaca added another run with an RBI double in the second, Shealy came through again with a two-run home run in the third that made it 5-1. The big right-handed hitter was 3 for 4 in the game. A few batters after Shealy's blast, Josh Reddick stepped to the plate and opened things up in a big way, depositing his seventh home run of the year over the right-field fence, a three-run shot that scored Ryan Kalish and Aaron Bates. Bowden, meanwhile was turning in another solid outing, and ended up going 6.0 innings allowing just 1 run on 4 hits, walking 3 and striking out 4. It was the sixth time in his last seven starts that he allowed 2 or fewer runs, lowering his season ERA to 4.02.

Portland's offense also showed up on Sunday, albeit not until the eighth inning, as the Sea Dogs came from behind to best New Britain (MIN) 9-5. Che-Hsuan Lin got the scoring started in this one with a two-run single in the second, but the Rock Cats came right back in the bottom of the frame to tie things up. Portland went ahead again in the fourth when Cheh-Hsien Chang hit his fifth home run of the year, a solo shot out to right, but once again New Britain came back with a run in the fifth, this one unearned. All the damage was done against Alex Wilson, who was solid if unspectacular in his 5.2 innings, relinquishing 7 hits and 3 runs (2 earned), striking out 3 without walking a batter. It looked like it was going to be a game of missed opportunities when New Britain scored two more in the bottom of the seventh, but in the top of the eighth, the Portland laser show began. After a ground out to begin the inning, seven straight Sea Dogs reached base and 6 runners crossed the plate, and just like that it was 9-5. Matt Sheely and Nate Spears recorded the big blows in the inning, with each picking up a two-run double. Portland ended up with 12 hits in the game, including 2 each for Chiang, Sheely, Luis Exposito, and Ryan Khoury.

Salem, too, recorded double-digit hits on Sunday, but unfortunately the pitching couldn't back it up as the Red Sox fell 13-6 to Winston-Salem (CWS). As good as he's been all season, it was not Brock Huntzinger's day, as the Salem starter allowed 8 runs on 9 hits and a walk in just 2.2 innings of work. Will Latimer (3 runs on 6 hits) and Cesar Cabral (2 runs on 2 hits) didn't fair much better, as the Red Sox allowed 17 hits in the game. On the offensive side of the ball, things looked promising early, as Ryan Lavarnway and Oscar Tejeda hit back-to-back RBI doubles in the first to make it 2-0 Salem. The Dash then scored 8 unanswered runs before Jon Hee and Lavarnway each recorded RBI hits in the fifth, but the comeback was short-lived as Winston-Salem scored 3 more an inning later. Lavarnway, Tejeda, Hee, and Alex Hassan all had multi-hit games, but it just wasn't enough in this one.

Greenville got down early but came back to win a close game against Charleston (NYY), 5-4. The River Dogs scored 3 early runs against Kendal Volz, who ended up going 4.0 innings allowing 4 hits, walking 1 and striking out 4. But the Drive came all the way back in the fourth, scoring 4 runs to take a 4-3 lead. Dan Butler's RBI double and Vladimir Frias's two-run single highlighted the inning. Charleston mounted its own comeback, tying things up in the sixth, but Michael Almanzar's RBI double in the eighth put the Drive up for good. Anatanaer Batista slammed the door with 2.0 perfect innings, striking out 3.

Behind some great pitching and timely scoring, Lowell outlasted Tri-City (HOU) 7-2. The Spinners got on the board first in the third inning when Kolbrin Vitek grounded out with the bases loaded and one down, but the Valley Cats came right back with a run in the bottom half of the inning to tie the score. From there, however, it was all Lowell, beginning in the fifth inning when Vitek collected his second RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly, and Brandon Jacobs drove in two more with a double two batters later to make it 4-1. A Jose Garcia home run and a Miles Head RBI double brought home two more in the seventh, and the Spinners tacked on one more in the eighth on an RBI single off the bat of Nick Robinson. All that was more than enough for Hunter Cervenka, who started and went the first 4.1 innings allowing just 1 unearned run on 1 hit and 1 walk, striking out 6. Stephen Fox was almost equally good in relief, tossing the final 4.2 innings allowing just 1 run on 2 hits and a walk. Felix Sanchez led the Lowell hit parade from the lead-off spot with 3 of them in 6 at-bats, while Garcia, Head, Jacobs, and Seth Schwindenhammer each had 2 hits.

Despite outhitting the Dodgers (LAD) 4-2, the DSL Red Sox somehow found a way to come out on the wrong end of a 3-0 score. All three Dodgers runs came in the second inning, when a walk, a hit batsman, and an error led to three base runners who all scored against Yunior Ortega, who was otherwise brilliant in the game. The Red Sox starter did not allow a hit in 5.0 innings, though he did walk 3. Offensively, the best chance for the Red Sox came in the first inning, when a Xander Bogaerts double put runners on second and third with one out, but the runners were both stranded, and the Red Sox only had three at-bats the rest of the game with runners in scoring position.

Player of the Night: Ryan Shealy, who was 3 for 4 with a double, a home run, and 4 RBI in an 8-1 Pawtucket victory.

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