PawSox gain ground for first place

(WPRI) - The PawSox got off on the right foot in what could turn out to be a pivotal series between the first and second place clubs in the IL North.

The Lehigh Valley IronPigs entered the series with a lead of four games over the PawSox in the IL North standings. After their 4-1 loss on Monday, the lead has been cut to four. If the worst case scenario were to play out, Pawtucket could possibly tie themselves for first place at the conclusion of the series.

The IronPigs offense continues to have periods of dormancy. Monday was one of those nights, as they were held to just one run on five hits by the Red Sox pitching staff.

On the other end of the things, the Red Sox were able to get the job done well enough for the win. In the third inning, the Red Sox jumped on Scott Mathieson for two quick runs as Ryan Lavarnway and Lars Anderson hit back-to-back RBI doubles to make it 2-0 in quick fashion.

After 69 pitches, Mathieson would be lifted from the game with two outs in the third and Ryan Edell would come on in relief. Edell allowed two singles through three and two-thirds innings before the Red Sox once again got things rolling against the IronPigs.

With one out in the seventh, Che-Hsuan Lin singled on a grounder to center field to get on board, but was cut down at second base on the ground out by Tony Thomas. With one on and two out, Ryan Lavarnway deposited a 0-1 pitch over the left field wall for a two-run homer to put the Red Sox up 4-0.

Meanwhile, Brandon Duckworth allowed just four hits over the course of five innings pitched with two walks and four strikeouts. Hideki Okajima would come in the sixth, and dazzled his way through the IronPigs lineup with two innings of hitless relief with no walks and three strikeouts.

In the top of the eighth inning, Kevin Frandsen reached second base on a fielding error by Che-Hsuan Lin, and was then moved to third on the ground out by Delwyn Young. Brandon Moss then struck an RBI single against his former team to drive Frandsen across the plate to make it a 4-1 game. It would not be enough for the IronPigs, who then went hitless throughout the remainder of the game en route to dropping a game in the IL North standings.