Portland pounds out 17 hits in drubbing of New Britain

5/8 Cup of Coffee: Red Sox affiliates went 3-1 yesterday, with the only loss coming in Greenville's wild affair against Kannapolis.

Pawtucket pieced together nine innings with four different pitchers, but was able to hold on for a 7-6 victory over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (NYY). Andrew Miller started for the PawSox, pitching 3.1 innings, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on just 1 hit, but he did walk 4 while striking out 3. Trailing 2-0 in the fourth, Nate Spears tied the score for Pawtucket with a two-run home run. The PawSox took the lead in the next inning after an RBI groundout by Michael McKenry and a wild pitch to score Hector Luna. Newly-promoted Blake Maxwell took over for Miller in the fourth, pitching 1.2 innings of scoreless ball to earn the win. Pawtucket extended their cushion to 7-2 after Josh Reddick launched a three-run home run to right center in the sixth. The homer was Reddick's team-leading 9th of the season, one behind the International League leader. Kris Johnson came on in the sixth and struggled, pitching 2.0 innings while yielding 4 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits. Tony Pena, Jr. pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth for his first save of the season.

Portland struck early and often, scoring 10 runs in the first two innings in a 15-7 blowout of the New Britain Rock Cats (MIN). Ryan Lavarnway and Chih-Hsien Chiang both hit home runs in the first while Jonathan Hee went deep in the second. Brock Huntzinger was unable to earn the victory, however, falling one out short of qualifying for the win. He pitched 4.2 innings and gave up 6 runs on 7 hits, walking 2 and striking out 1. Chiang hit his second home run of the game in the fourth to give the Sea Dogs a 12-3 lead. Santo Luis took over for Huntzinger in the fifth, and after the Sea Dogs allowed three runs in the inning, Portland answered back with three of their own in the bottom half. Che-Hsuan Lin knocked in a run with a double and Lavarnway plated a pair with a single. Luis went on to pick up the win pitching 3.1 innings and Kyle Fernandes pitched a scoreless ninth to finish it off for Portland. All nine starters reached base for the Sea Dogs in the win.

Drake Britton earned his first win with Salem, as the Red Sox used three runs in the fourth to hold on for a 3-2 victory over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (TEX). Salem used a well-balanced attack to dispatch of the Pelicans, with its eight hits spread around eight different batters in the lineup. Britton was stellar, tossing 6.0 innings, allowing just 1 run on 2 hits while striking out 2 without a walk. The game was scoreless in the bottom of the fourth when Kolbrin Vitek led off with his Carolina League-leading fifth triple of the season. He scored on a Reynaldo Rodriguez single, while David Mailman knocked in two more with a base hit of his own to give Salem a 3-0 lead. Tom Ebert pitched the final 3.0 innings of the game, allowing 1 run on 3 hits for his first save of the season. It was Salem's third straight win and extended their Southern Division lead to four games.

Brandon Workman is still in search of his first professional victory as Greenville gave up three runs in a wild ninth inning to fall to the Kannapolis Intimdators (CWS) 5-4. Workman departed with the score tied at 2 after the fifth. The 2010 second-round draft pick pitched 5.0 innings, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 3 and walking 1. Greenville got on the board early on a Miles Head RBI groundout in the first and added to the lead in the third on a Bryce Brentz RBI single. Kannapolis tied the score at two with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third. The score remained knotted all the way until the ninth when the Drive pushed across two runs. Lucas LeBlanc knocked in a run with a single and then used his legs to score a run of his own. He advanced to second on a wild pitch, then stole third, and came around to score when the throw went into left field. Hunter Cervenka was into his fourth inning of work for the Drive in the bottom of the ninth when he walked a pair of batters and hit another to load the bases. He allowed a two-run single to tie the game and gave way to Garrett Rau, who gave up the game-winning single to the first batter he faced. Sean Coyle picked up two hits for Greenville in his first two at bats to extend his hitting streak to seven games.

Player of the Night: Chih-Hsien Chiang, who went 3-for-5, including a pair of home runs and four RBIs in Portland's 15-7 slugfest win over New Britain.

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