May 28, 2015 at 7:00 AM
Cup of Coffee: Moncada returns, Bradley Jr. goes off
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The PawSox offense got off to a hot start against New York Yankees star Masahiro Tanaka, who was making a rehab start. Jackie Bradley Jr. started the game with a double, his 10th of the year, and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly from Travis Shaw. Bradley Jr. took Tanaka deep in his next at-bat for his second long ball of the year. He also singled and finished 3 for 5 at the dish. Deven Marrero also had a multi-hit game.
Pawtucket fell short in the slugfest due to a rough outing from Keith Couch, who surrendered six earned runs in three innings pitched. Dalier Hinojosa was the lone bright spot on the pitching staff tonight, as he went three scoreless innings to lower his season ERA to 1.89.
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The Sea Dogs were able to hold on for a tight, low-scoring victory that included William Cuevas earning his sixth win of the season. He continued his strong campaign by going six innings and allowing just one hit and one earned run. His ERA is now 3.02. Marco Hernandez, Aneury Tavarez, and Janzen Witte provided run-scoring hits to account for Portland's offense. Luis Martinez also added a pair of hits. Jorge Marban came on in the eight inning and earned his second save of the season.
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The Red Sox jumped out to an early 2-0 lead when the first three batters of the game got hits and were able to hold on late. Tz-Wei Lin, Sam Travis, Wendell Rijo, and Jake Romanski each went 2 for 4 and Kevin Heller added a two-run homer. MLB veteran Denny Bautista started and went 5 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and two earned runs to pick up his first win. Taylor Grover threw well in relief by tossing 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Austin Maddox closed it off for his seventh save of the year.
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The Drive out-hit the GreenJackets eight to three, but struggled with runners in scoring position and lost 5-2. Jeffry Fernandez pitched well, but ran into trouble in the sixth inning. He left runners on base for Mario Alcantara, who took the blown save. Rafael Devers and Javier Guerra each had two hits and the only RBI for the Drive came on a Mike Meyers single.
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The Drive were able to gain a doubleheader split in game two, as Yoan Moncada made his return to the lineup. He had been out since Saturday with a hamstring tweak. He went 0 for 3 with an RBI. The game was scheduled for seven innings, but ended in eight innings after the Drive broke a 1-1 tie. Rafael Devers was the hero, smacking an RBI double to give Greenville the lead in extras. The double was his 13th on the year, and is now batting .331. Michael Kopech continued to throw well and rack up strikeouts, as he punched out eight in just four innings of work. He allowed one earned run and three hits. Jake Drehoff got the win after providing three scoreless innings of relief. Ryan Harris threw a scoreless eighth inning to earn the save.
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Player of the Night: Jackie Bradley Jr. came up to Boston and failed to record a hit in 13 plate appearances, but has continued his torrid pace with the PawSox when he came back down. He is now batting .342 with 10 doubles and two home runs for the PawSox.
Photo Credit: Michael Kopech by Kelly O'Connor