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May 5, 2012 at 8:11 AM

Two wins, two losses in close games all around


5/5 Cup of Coffee: Pawtucket and Portland both clinched road victories, but Salem and Greenville both couldn't rally in close games throughout the system Friday night.

Jose Iglesias (Kelly O'Connor)
Pawtucket took a 4 run lead early in the game and held on to win 5-2 against the Toledo Mud Hens (DET) on the road. Pawtucket scored a flurry of 4 runs in the second inning, giving them a 4-0 lead. Josh Kroeger popped a sacrifice fly to score Lars AndersonDaniel Nava scored on a wild pitch, and Jose Iglesias doubled to score Alex Hassan and Nate Spears. The Mud Hens tried to answer in the bottom of the third, scoring 2 runs against PawSox starter Justin Germano. Germano, who picked up his third win of the season, pitched 5 innings with 4 hits, 2 runs, and 2 walks. He was replaced to begin the sixth by Andrew Miller, who threw 1 inning of relief with no hits, no runs, and 1 walk. Alex Wilson came out for Pawtucket in the seventh, and went 2 innings with 1 hit, no runs, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts. The PawSox recorded one more run in the eighth when Iglesias tripled and eventually scored on a Ryan Lavarnway sacrifice fly. Garrett Mock closed out the game for the PawSox and pitched 1 inning for 1 hit, no runs, and no walks. All but three Pawtucket batters recorded a hit, and Iglesias, Nava, Hassan, and Pedro Ciriaco each had 2.

The Sea Dogs pulled off a 4-3 win in a matchup on the road against the New Britain Rock Cats (MIN). New Britain started things offensively when they recorded a run in both the second and third innings off of starter Chris Martin. Portland answered in the top of the fourth when Derrik Gibson scored on a Juan Carlos Linares sac fly, followed by a Oscar Tejada home run that also drove in Kolbrin Vitek. They put up one more tally in the fifth when Ryan Dent was driven in on a ground-out by Gibson. With one out and two men on in the sixth inning, Martin was replaced by Will Latimer. Martin threw 5.1 innings, with 6 hits, 3 runs, 3 errors, and no walks. The Rock Cats scored a run in the sixth that was credited to Martin, but were otherwise held silent by the duo of Latimer and Caleb Clay on the mound. Latimer pitched 2 innings of relief for 2 hits, no runs, and no walks. He was replaced with 1 outs in the eighth by Clay, who went 1.2 innings throwing for no hits, no runs, a walk, and 4 strikeouts. The Sea Dogs had five hits on the night, shared by Vitek, Tejada, and Bryce Brentz.

Salem started the game off with a 4 run lead in the first, but couldn't hold on in a 10-8 loss to the Winston-Salem Dash (CHW). The Red Sox scored 4 runs in the first thanks to a Christian Vazquez double that scored Jackie Bradley, a Michael Almanzar single that drove in Travis Shaw and Vazquez, and a Drew Hedman double that scored Almanzar. Winston-Salem recorded their first run of the game in the bottom of the third. The Red Sox answered in the fourth, when Shannon Wilkerson drove in James Kang with a single. Winston-Salem put up two more runs against Salem starter Keith Couch in the bottom of the fourth, however he didn't get into any real trouble until the fifth inning. Three runs had crossed the plate with 1 out and two men on when Couch was replaced by Marco Duarte in the bottom of the fifth. Two more runs scored, both credited to Couch, before the inning was over. Couch got his third loss of the season, pitching 4.1 innings for 10 hits, 8 runs, 8 errors, and no walks. With the Dash up 8-5, the Red Sox tried to rally, putting up a run in each of the sixth and seventh innings. Ruben Flores took the mound for Salem in the bottom of the seventh, and the Dash answered the rally with 2 runs of their own. The Red Sox tried one more rally in the ninth, putting up one last run when Xander Bogaerts singled to score Shaw. Every Salem batter except Kang had a hit, with Shaw recording 3 in the loss.

The Drive fell 6-5 in a barn burner against the Lexington Legends (HOU) at Fluor Field. Lexington scored first, with a run in the second inning against Greenville starter Jason Garcia. The Drive answered in the bottom of the third when Jose Vinicio stole second base and then scored on an over-throw error from the Legends' catcher to their center fielder. Lexington scored again in the top of the fourth with two more runs against Garcia. Greenville retaliated in the bottom of that inning, tallying two runs of their own when Garin Cecchini was driven in by a Henry Ramos double, and Boss Moanaroa scored off of a Blake Swihart sacrifice fly. With one out and two on, Hunter Cervenka came in to relieve Garcia, who threw 4.1 innings for 7 hits, 4 runs, and 2 walks. Another Legends run scored, credited to Garcia, before the inning was over. The Drive tied the game up in the bottom of the fifth when Bryan Johns scored on a wild pitch. Lexington took the lead again in the sixth, and the Drive tied it up one more time in the bottom of that inning when Ramos singled to score David Renfroe. Cervenka, who pitched 2.2 innings with no hits, a run, and 5 walks, was replaced in the top of the eighth by Nefi Ogando. He gave up a home run in that inning to give the Legends the lead. Ogando pitched 2 innings with 1 hit, 1 run, and no walks. All but two batters for the Drive recorded hits, with only Cecchini and Ramos recording multiples.

Player of the Night: Jose Iglesias, who returned to the PawSox on Thursday, went 2-4 with 2 RBI and 1 run to help propel Pawtucket to a 5-3 victory.