Paw Sox Win Slug-Fest In Buffalo While Steven Wright Is Pulled In The Sixth Inning
The Paw Sox began their three-game weekend series with the Buffalo Bisons on Friday night, where they sent rehabbing Steven Wright to the mound. Wright was cruising for the Paw Sox up until the 6th, inning when he loaded up the bases with no outs and one run in before he was pulled from the game. But the real story of the night was the Paw Sox being able to win a slug-fest 9-8 over the Bisons in 10 innings. That was thanks to home runs off the bats of Jordan Betts, Mike Olt, and Dan Butler.
Steven Wright
Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Steven Wright was making his second rehab appearance for the Paw Sox tonight. He was cruising through his first 5 innings of work, even though he gave up a run in the 5th. But in the sixth inning, he allowed 4 straight batter to reach base to bring in one run for the Bisons. With Bases loaded, Paw Sox manager Kevin Boles made the pitching change to bring in Marcus Walden, who was making his first appearance for the Paw Sox since he was optioned to AAA from Boston on April 20th.
Unfortunately, all three runners who were on base scored to give the Bisons a 5-4 lead after the 6th inning. The final pitching line for Wright in 5 innings of work, he gave up 6 hits, 5 runs (4 earned), 1 walk, and 4 strikeouts on 82 pitches (51 strikes). All throughout the night, there were a lot of plays were Wright had to run over to first base to cover the bag. He was getting guys out pretty efficiently through the first few innings, which is a great sign since he does throw a knuckle-ball. You can’t really judge him on how he’s pitching, but he did look comfortable actually pitching, and he was able to move around.
Paw Sox Offense
The Paw Sox were able to put up runs thanks to the home runs. The home runs began in the fifth inning in this one. With the Paw Sox already up 2-0, Jordan Betts who was called up earlier this week from AA Portland hit one right down the left field line to give the Paw Sox a 3-0 lead.
The Paw Sox had their second home run of the game an inning later. To lead off the inning, Mike Olt came up to the plate. During the course of the at-bat, he fouled off a ball off of his foot, and one that came back and hit him on the inside of the knee. But with a 3-2 count, he was able to hit one deep to center field to give the Paw Sox a 4-1 lead. After the at bat, he did stay in the game so there really isn’t injury concern. But at the time, it looked very similar to the ball that Dusitin Pedroia fouled off his foot back in 2010 which forced him to miss the rest of the season.
The game ended up being tied at 7 after nine full innings tonight. So the Paw Sox played their fourth extra inning game in the last 8 days. In the 10th inning, with one out, Paw Sox catcher Dan Butler hit his second home run of the season right down the right field line to give the Paw Sox a 9-7 lead. The Bisons would end up scoring one run in the bottom of the tenth inning to make it a 9-8 ballgame, but that would be it. The Paw Sox went on to win the game 9-8.
Rusney Castillo had another impressive game for the Paw Sox tonight. In five at-bats, he had three hits, and two RBI’s. All three of his hits were double. The biggest of his doubles came in the seventh inning, with the Paw Sox down 5-4. The Paw Sox had a runner at second base, with two outs. That’s when Castillo hit one into the left-center gap to bring in the game-tying run.
Then in the ninth inning, Castillo made by far the play of the night. With one out in the inning and runners at second and third base, Tim Lopes hit a line drive to Castillo in center field. That’s when Castillo had a perfect throw home to get Roemon Fields out at the plate who was tagging up from third base. This brought the game into extra innings.
The Paw Sox will play the final two game of this series on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Both are 1:05 pm start times. On Saturday, the Paw Sox will send out Jalen Beeks (1-1, 0.64 ERA). Then the Paw Sox will pitch William Cuevas (1-0, 3.86 ERA) on Sunday. The Paw Sox will come home to McCoy Stadium on Monday to play the Rochester Red Wings for three games.
