Vitek homers, drives in winner for Lowell

8/15 Cup of Coffee: After an abysmal Friday, things picked up a bit down on the farm with Kolbrin Vitek leading the Spinners to a victory and Portland and the DSL Sox winning in extras.

Dustin Pedroia singled and scored in a four-run third inning as Pawtucket pushed past Buffalo (NYM) 6-4. Yamaico Navarro had a home run and 2 RBI, while Lars Anderson added a pair of hits and drove a run in for the PawSox. Adam Mills allowed 4 runs in as many innings before Robert Manuel, Tommy Hottovy, and Fernando Cabrera allowed a hit each in a combined 5.0 frames of shutout relief.

Chih-Hsien Chiang doubled to score Matt Sheely and break a tenth-inning deadlock as Portland triumped over Richmond (SF) 6-5. A Ryan Lavarnway RBI single and a two-run Jorge Padron double gave Portland a 5-3 lead in the eighth, but Jason Rice gave up a pair to tie it up. Kyle Weiland struck out 5 and allowed 2 runs, 1 earned on 2 hits in 5.0 innings, and Daniel Turpen allowed a run in 2.0 innings of relief. Rice got the win, fanning 4 in 3 innings, and Padron drove in 3 on the night. Lavarnway added 3 hits in the win.

Mike Lee was torched for 8 runs, 7 earned and pitched into the third inning as Salem was thumped 11-0 by Wilmington (KC). Will Latimer gave the Sox 3.0 scoreless before Cesar Cabral was touched for 3 more runs in 2.0 innings of work. Pat Ryan pitched a perfect eighth, while Pete Hissey and Jon Hee doubled to account for 2 of Salem's 3 hits.

Jeremy Hazelbaker's two-run eighth inning home run moved the Drive into a first-place tie as Greenville powered past Asheville (COL) 4-3. Ryan Pressly fanned 6 and allowed just 2 runs in 5.0 innings, and Pedro Perez allowed a run on 4 hits in 3.0 innings. Michael Almanzar and Reymond Fuentes collected 2 hits apiece, and Dennis Neuman tossed a scoreless ninth to pick up the save.

Kolbrin Vitek homered in the first and drove in the game winning run with an eighth-inning single as Lowell snuck past Mahoning Valley (CLE) 4-3. Vitek had 3 of Lowell's 10 hits, and Joantoni Garcia had 2 hits and a pair of RBI for the Spinners. Keith Couch allowed 2 runs on 6 hits in 5.0 innings, and after 1.2 scoreless from Chez Angeloni, Wilson Matos allowed a run and Mike Hacker picked up the save with a scoreless ninth.

The GCL Red Sox finally put one over on their cross-town rivals, as Willie Holmes homered and drove in 3 and Heiker Meneses tripled and drove in 3 of his own in an 8-3 win over the Twins. TJ Large and Justin Erasmus followed up Francisco Taveras' 5.2 innings of 4 hits, 3 run ball with 3.1 combined frames of shutout relief. Jose Vinicio had 2 hits, including a triple, and Adalberto Ibarra was 1 for 4 in the win.

In action down in the Dominican, Luis Diaz struck out 3 in 5.1 innings of shutout ball as the DSL Red Sox topped the Dodgers 4-3 in 11 innings. The Red Sox played a bit of small ball, scoring on a Xander Bogaerts groundout in the eighth and twice on similar plays in the ninth to send it to extras, where the Dodgers walked in the winner in the 11th. Derward Ruiz had a double and an RBI, and William Montas allowed 3 runs, 1 earned in 2.2 innings of relief. William Cuevas gave up just a single in 3.1 scoreless innings to pick up the win.

Player of the Night: Kolbrin Vitek homered and drove in the game winning run in Lowell's win Saturday night.

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