PawSox beat IronPigs 7-2

(WPRI) - Another night and another dominating game for Pawtucket's catcher Ryan Lavarnway as the Pawtucket jumps back in the playoff picture as they now hold a 0.5 game lead over Durham in the Wild Card race.

Lavarnway hit a game-tying double in the fourth inning before crushing a lead-padding bomb to centerfield in the sixth inning to propel the PawSox to a second consecutive win over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. The win trimmed another game off Lehigh Valley's lead in the IL North and now trail the division leaders by just 2.0 games.

With a slim 3-2 lead in the sixth inning, Lavarnway hit a ball to centerfield that hit off the roof of the centerfield concession stand. The fence is 400 feet away and the back wall of the concession stand starts eight feet off the ground. Conservative estimates say that the baseball landed on the roof some 25-plus feet off the ground over 400 feet from home plate. The blast scored Nate Spears and gave Pawtucket a 5-2 lead. Pawtucket scored twice in the eighth inning to win 7-2.

With Pawtucket and Lehigh Valley tied 2-2 entering the bottom of the sixth, Che-Hsuan Lin started the inning off with a single. Nate Spears chopped a ball to third base that was charged and fielded nicely by Lehigh's Kevin Frandsen. As Fransden turned to throw to second base to get the lead runner, he recognized the wiser play was to try and get Spears at first base. By the time Frandsen adjusted to make the throw to first base he threw wildly. Spears was credited with an infield single and advanced to second base as the ball rolled in foul territory up the right field line. As first baseman Cody Overbeck scrambled to track it down, Lin raced around to score from first base for the go-ahead run.

After going 2-for-3 with a double, homerun, walk, two runs scored and three RBI in the game Lavarnway is now hitting .526 (20-for-38) in his last 10 games. In that time he has hit five doubles, six homeruns, 13 RBI while scoring 10 runs.

Pawtucket was held hitless through three innings until Lin led-off the fourth with a single and advanced to second base on an errant pick-off attempt by Lehigh's starting pitcher, Brian Bass. Spears then pulled a groundball to the right side to advance Lin to third base with one out.

IronPigs' manager Ryne Sandberg had the opportunity to walk Lavarnway, who entered the game hitting 10-for-18 (.556) against Lehigh this season, to set up a potential inning-ending double play. Instead Sandberg allowed Bass to pitch to Lavarnway who was retired in his first trip to the plate on the evening, and Pawtucket's catcher made him pay with a double that banged off the wall in left field to drive home Lin. First baseman Lars Anderson, Pawtucket's very next batter, smoked a ball over the head of the centerfielder Rich Thompson that found its way to the 400-mark in center field to knock in Lavarnway for a 2-1 lead.

Felix Doubront left the ballgame with an apparent leg injury. On pitch No. 69 of the evening, Doubront came up hobbling after pitching a ball. His infielders huddled around him before the training and coaching staffs made their way to the mound. Doubront never even bothered throwing a few warm-up pitches to see if he could get through the injury. His night was finished after 4.1 innings of three-hit, one-run baseball. When Doubront exited the game Pawtucket held a 2-1 lead, but he could not qualify for the win because he had not completed five innings.

Scott Atchison trotted in from the leftfield bullpen with a 1-0 count and a runner at third base with no outs. He proceeded to strike out Tagg Bozied for the first out of the inning (officially, the strikeout is credited to Felix Doubront who finished the game with three strikeouts total) and induced a groundball to Spears at shortstop from the next batter. Josh Barfield was the runner at third base and he broke for the plate on contact. A perfect throw from Spears had Barfield by several steps and Lavarnway was able to brace for the collision and record the inning's second out. Brian Bocock lined out to centerfield to end the scoreless frame, and the IronPigs were unable to capitalize on having a runner at third base with no outs to begin the inning.

The PawSox and Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs will battle for the third consecutive day Wednesday with the first pitch scheduled for 12:05 p.m. Pawtucket will send veteran Kevin Millwood (5-0, 4.14 ERA) to the mound against Nate Bump (2-6, 6.34 ERA) of the IronPigs. Pawtucket is 9-0 this year in games in which Millwood has started.