PawSox hurt by tough 2nd against Cheifs

(WPRI) - Pawtucket starting pitcher Felix Doubront ran into early trouble for the second consecutive start, and PawSox couldn’t overcome an early deficit and lost to the Syracuse Chiefs 7-4.

Doubront was charged with six, second-inning runs and finished with five hits allowed in one-plus inning of work. When Doubront needed just 12 pitches in the first inning to strike out two batters and record a 1-2-3 inning it appeared he had put his struggles of five days ago behind him.

He threw 32 pitches to the first six batters in the second inning- retiring none of them- before being relieved by Royce Ring. Doubront’s ERA has ballooned from 3.14 to 4.43 after allowing 11 runs on 11 hits in four innings over his last two starts.

The PawSox were outhit 10-to-8 by Syracuse on the ballgame, but of the PawSox’ eight hits five were doubles. Che-Hsuan Lin accounted for two of those doubles as part of a 2-for-4 ballgame. It was Lin’s first multi-hit game since August 5 against Buffalo, a span of 14 games without one.

Hector Luna, who was playing at first base for the game’s designated hitter Lars Anderson, was 3-for-4 including a two-run homer in the ninth inning, his 13th of the season, in what would be the PawSox’ final runs of the ballgame. Luna has hit safely in 13 of his last 14 games and in the last 10 games is hitting .571 (20-for-35).

Catcher Matt Spring was transferred from Portland Thursday when Ryan Lavarnway was selected to Boston. After a few days of waiting, Spring made his Triple-A debut and drove an 0-2 fastball in the seventh inning into the left field corner for a double. He finished 1-for-4 with a double and a pair of strikeouts.

Third baseman Will Middlebrooks played in his third game for Pawtucket and remains hitless for the PawSox. After an 0-for-4 afternoon he is 0-for-11 with six strikeouts in three games.

The PawSox and Syracuse Chiefs will play game three of their four-game series Monday at McCoy Stadium.