PawSox a win away from postseason

(WPRI) - The magic number is down to one. Pawtucket returned to McCoy Stadium Friday night after being swept in a two-game series at Rochester, and were in the midst of having lost 7-of-12 games before grinding out a 4-3 victory over the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees.

With the victory, Pawtucket is one win -- or a Lehigh Valley IronPigs’ loss -- away from clinching the team’s first postseason berth since 2008. It would be the team’s first postseason bid in four seasons and the team’s first I.L. North Division title since 2003.

The PawSox had a chance to clinch the division Friday night, but Lehigh Valley walked-off with a 2-1 win against Buffalo to extend the I.L. North race for at least another day.

The PawSox fell behind the Yankees quickly, but got on the board in the first inning after three of the first batters reached against Adam Warren.

Lars Anderson had an RBI double to score Che-Hsuan Lin and put runners at second and third with one out. Daniel Nava grounded out to score Ryan Lavarnway and put Pawtucket ahead 2-1. The PawSox would not trail the rest of the ballgame.

Hector Luna crushed his 14th homerun of the season to left centerfield in the sixth inning in what would be the game-winning run. It made the score 4-1 at the time, and Pawtucket was able to cling to the lead as Scranton chipped away for two runs in the eighth, but it was enough for a 4-3 victory.

Pawtucket starting pitcher Matt Fox allowed a leadoff home run to Scranton’s third baseman Kevin Russo to begin the game. Fox settled down over the remainder of his outing to hold the Yankees off the board from that point onward. He went five innings, allowing one run on four hits while striking out four.

In his first game for Pawtucket since August 4th (and just his second game since July 21st), Drew Sutton reached base in two of his four plate appearances. He was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. He returned to the PawSox lineup for the first time since being placed on the disabled list with a right finger contusion August 5th.

In the final game of the two-game series between Pawtucket and Scranton, the PawSox will send Tony Pena Jr. (9-6, 3.40 ERA) to the mound against the Yankees’ lefty Manny Banuelos (2-2, 3.03 ERA).