Cup of Coffee: Spinners hit the road, hammer Tigers

Jeremy Hazelbaker (Kelly O'Connor)

6/21 Cup of Coffee: Lowell looked great in their first road game of the season, beating the Connecticut Tigers. The PawSox and Portland both fell short in their bids, while the GCL Red Sox held on for a close win and the DSL Red Sox were crushed by their opponents.

The PawSox fell 6-5 in extra innings to the Syracuse Chiefs (WAS). The PawSox had a good lead through most of the game, however the Chiefs' late rally was enough to send it to extra innings. The PawSox picked up their first runs of the game in the top of the third. Jason Repko singled to reach base, followed by a Josh Kroeger double that drove Repko in, and Ryan Lavarnway then singled to drive in Kroeger. Syracuse retaliated in the bottom of the third with a home run off of Pawtucket starter Justin Germano. The PawSox didn't score again until the top of the sixth when Lavarnway doubled to kick off the inning, followed by a Mauro Gomez double to drive him in. Gomez advanced to third on a ground out and scored when Che-Hsuan Lin hit a single. Germano stayed on the mound through the seventh inning, only giving up one run to the Chiefs. In total, he pitched 7.0 innings for three hits, one run, and two walks. He was replaced in the eighth by Junichi Tazawa, who got the first two batters he faced out, but let in two runs and was replaced with two outs and two on by Daniel Bard. Tazawa pitched 0.2 innings with two hits, two runs, and two walks. In the top of the ninth, Tony Thomas reached on a walk, stole second base, and scored when Jonathan Hee singled. Bard reappeared in the ninth inning and let in two more runs for the Chiefs, tying the game. Bard pitched 1.1 innings with two hits, two runs, and no walks. Garrett Mock took the mind in the tenth and kept the Chiefs scoreless until a trio of  eleventh inning singles drove in a run. Mock pitched 1.1 innings with five hits, one run, and one walk. In total, PawSox and Chiefs batters tied with 12 hits each on the night, Lavarnway was the player with the most hits, boasting four.

The Harrisburg Senators (WAS) took an early lead that the Sea Dogs just couldn't catch up to in a 7-3 home loss. The Senators started it all off with two runs against starter Drake Britton in the top of the first. Jeremy Hazelbaker homered in the bottom of the first to put Portland on the board. However, Harrisburg answered with a homer of their own in the top of the second. This was followed by a five hit, four run top of the third that rocked Britton. In total, Britton pitched 3.0 innings with ten hits, seven runs, seven errors, and a walk. Hazelbaker homered again in the bottom of the third to give the Sea Dogs another run. Caleb Clay took the mound in the top of the fourth, and kept the Senators scoreless for 3.0 innings, giving up just two hits and no walks. In the bottom of the fourth, Bryce Brentz doubled, followed by a Marquez Smith single that drove Brentz to third. Dan Butler grounded into a double play but got Brentz to cross the plate. Will Latimer took the mound for the Sea Dogs in the top of the seventh and stayed on for the last three innings of the game, giving up four hits, no runs, and one walk. The Senators out-hit the Sea Dogs 16-9 in the contest. Smith and Hazelbaker each had two hits, the most of any of the Portland batters.

The Spinners and the Connecticut Tigers (DET) took their series on the road to Connecticut and Lowell bested the Tigers 11-5, giving them the series lead 2-1. The Spinners took a commanding lead with four runs in the top of the first. Dreily Guerrero reached base on a single, followed by a walk from Matt Gedman and a single from Kendrick Perkins to drive in Guerrero. David Chester drew a walk to load the bases, followed by Seth Schwindenhammer grounding into a force-out, however he made it to second base on a throwing error while Gedman and Perkins scored.  The last run of the inning came when Williams Jerez singled to drive in Schwindenhammer. Lowell added to their lead in the top of the third when Chester blasted a home run to left field. They increased their lead by even more in the fourth inning with five runs. Guerrero drew a walk, followed by a single from Gedman and a single from Perkins that drove in Guerrero. After a pitching change, Gedman scored on a wild pitch, and Chester singled to drive in Perkins. Schwindenhammer hit a home run to score himself and Chester. Connecticut put their first runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth with two runs against pitcher Jacob Dahlstrand. He stayed on through the end of that inning, and in total pitched 4.0 innings with four hits, two runs, and three walks. Tyler Wilson took the mound in the bottom of the fifth and stayed on until the bottom of the eighth where he got into some trouble. He had let in one run before being replaced with two outs and the bases loaded by Kevin Brahney. Brahney let in another of Wilson's runs but otherwise got out of the inning unharmed. Wilson pitched 3.2 innings with two hits, two runs, and two walks and was credited with the win, his first of the season. The Spinners put up one more run in the top of the ninth when Perkins reached base on a single and scored when Chester reached base on a fielding error. Brahney let in one run for the Tigers in the bottom of the ninth. In total, Spinners batters had 12 hits, Guerrero and Perkins each had three, leading the team.

The GCL Red Sox held off the GCL Orioles (BAL) in a 7-6 win on the road. The Red Sox kicked things off int the top of the first when Cleuluis Rondon hit a leadoff triple. This was followed by a Jose Colorado single that drove in Rondon. The Orioles answered with two runs in the bottom of the first against pitcher Jeffry Fernandez. The Orioles picked up another run in the bottom of the second. The Red Sox put two runs on the board in the top of the third. Ynoel Aguero drew a walk, followed by a single from Jeremias Pineda. Rondon popped put but advanced Aguero and Pineda. A wild pitch scored Aguero, Colorado drew a walk, and Kevin Mager was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Another wild pitch scored Pineda. The Orioles responded with another run against Fernandez in the bottom of the fourth. Fernandez pitched 4.0 innings for the Red Sox with eight hits, four runs, and two walks. In the top of the fifth, Colorado doubled and was advanced to third on a wild pitch. Mager singled to drive in Colorado. Nick Moore singled and Shaq Green-Thompson drew a walk to load the bases. David Sopilka grounded out but drove in Mager, followed by Aguero getting out with a sacrifice fly but causing Moore to cross the plate. The Red Sox would remain scoreless for the rest of the game. Ricardo Betancourt took the mound for the Red Sox in the bottom of the fifth. He gave up two runs to the Orioles in the sixth. Betancourt was credited with the win and pitched 3.0 innings with six hits, two runs, and no walks. He was replaced in the eighth by Gerardo Olivares who pitches 2.0 scoreless innings with three hits and no walks. The Red Sox played a great defensive game, as they were outhit by the Orioles 17-9 but still managed to hold on to the lead. Rondon led the Red Sox with three hits on the night.

The DSL Red Sox fell 12-8 to the DSL Rangers (TEX). The Rangers picked up two runs in the bottom of the first against Red Sox starter Dioscar Romero. However, the real trouble for Romero didn't start until the second inning. A series of walks and errors caused two runs to score and Romero was replaced with two on and no outs by William Abreu. Abreu let in two more runs credited to Romero before getting out of the inning. Romero pitched 1.0 inning with two hits, six runs, four errors, and four walks. The Red Sox put their first run on the board in the top of the third. Roberto Duncan reached base on a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Osvaldo Almengo doubled, sending Duncan to third, followed by a sacrifice fly from Robert Del Rosario to score Duncan. In the top of the fourth, Aneudis Peralta, Anthony Amaya, and Pablo Urena all singled to load the bases. Almengo then singled to drive in Peralta, followed by a ground out from Raymel Flores that drove in Amaya. Abreu got into trouble in the bottom of the fifth inning when he allowed two batters to reach on fielding errors and walked a third to load the bases. He was replaced with no outs by German Taveras. In total, Abreu pitched 3.0 innings with one hit, three runs, and five walks. Taveras let in Abreu's three runs, as well as three of his own in a six run fifth inning. Taveras stayed on for two more innings, and pitched 3.0 innings total with three hits, three runs, and two walks. He was replaced in the ninth inning by Yankory Pinentel who pitched 1.0 inning with no hits, no runs, and no walks. In the top of the eighth, Del Rosario walked to reach base and advanced to both second and third bases on wild pitches. Alixon Suarez and Peralta both drew walks to load the bases. Amaya was walked, causing Del Rosario to score, followed by Ricardo Andujar also drawing a walk to send Suarez across the plate. The Red Sox out hit the Rangers 9-6, but poor pitching performances cost the Red Sox the game.

Player of the Night: Jeremy Hazelbaker, who despite a loss for Portland, hammered two home runs and went 2 for 3 with two RBI's.

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