Pawtucket shuts down Railriders

After a rainout on Sunday, the Railriders went on the road to take on the Pawtucket Red Sox. Hector Velazquez got the start for the Red Sox. The Railriders went with Daniel Camarena. Velazquez started the Top of the first with a 1-2-3 inning for the Red Sox. Aneury Tavarez reached on an error to lead off the inning for Pawtucket but Camarena would retire the next three batters to keep it scoreless after one. Velazquez threw another 1-2-3 inning in the second for the Red Sox. Sam Travis hit a leadoff double to right. Travis moved to third on a wild pitch. After a groundout and a lineout, Dan Butler drew a walk but a forceout ended the inning. Cito Culver hit a one out single to left but a double play would end the Top half of the third inning. Rusney Castillo would hit a single to center but a flyout and groundout ended the inning. Tyler Wade led off by getting hit by a pitch but Velazquez would retire the next three batters to keep the game scoreless. Sam Travis hit a leadoff home run to right for a 1-0 Pawtucket lead. After a groundout, Matt Dominguez would hit a homer to right for a 2-0 Red Sox lead. A groundout and a popout would end the inning. Ruben Tejada would single to center with two outs but a groundout would end the Top half of the fifth. Tavarez would led off with a bunt single. Tavarez would be forced out at second on a Castillo grounder. Castillo would steal second on the next batter. After a popout, Steve Selsky would double to left to score Castillo and a 3-0 Red Sox lead. Abiatal Avelino would draw a leadoff walk. Tyler Wade would follow with a walk then Dustin Fowler singled to left to load the bases. A strikeout and a double play would end the Top of the sixth. Jantzen Witte drew a leadoff walk but a double play and a strikeout ended the sixth. After a groundout, Pawtucket went to Brandon Workman in relief. Mason Williams would single to center. After a groundout, Cito Culver drew a walk but a groundout would end the Railriders threat. Tyler Jones came in to pitch the seventh for the Railriders. Jose Rosario would lead off with a single to center but Jones would get a forceout, a strikeout and a flyout to end the seventh. Dustin Fowler drew a one out walk. After a flyout, Blaine Boyer came in to pitch for Pawtucket. Boyer would get a groundout to keep the shutout going. Witte drew a two out walk but a popout would end the eighth. Kyle Higoshioka drew a leadoff walk to start the ninth for the Railriders. After a strikeout, Tejada would single to left to move Higoshioka to second as the tying run reached the plate. Boyer would get a strikeout for the second out of the ninth. Mark Payton would come in to pinch hit for the Railriders as their last chance to keep the game alive. Boyer would strikeout Payton to preserve the shutout as the Red Sox would take the first game of the series against the Railriders 3-0.

Thoughts on the game: The pitching for Pawtucket was fantastic. They combined for seven strikeouts and got out of jams. For the Railriders, they had their chances to score but couldn't capitalize. Two home runs in the fourth would kill the Railriders' chances.

Railriders 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pawtucket 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 x 3

Railriders
CF Wade 2 0 0 0
RF Fowler 3 0 1 0
LF Frazier 4 0 0 0
1B Choi 4 0 0 0
C Higashioka 3 0 0 0
DH Williams 4 0 1 0
2B Tejada 4 0 2 0
SS Culver 3 0 1 0
3B Avelino 2 0 0 0
PH Payton 1 0 0 0

Pawtucket
RF Tavarez 4 0 1 0
CF Castillo 4 1 1 0
DH Holt 4 0 0 0
LF Selsky 4 0 1 1
1B Travis 4 1 2 1
2B Witte 2 0 0 0
3B Dominguez 4 1 1 1
C Butler 2 0 0 0
SS Rosario 3 0 1 0

2B: Travis, Selsky
HR: Travis, Dominguez

Pitching
Railriders
Camarena (L) 6 IP 6 H 3 R 3 ER 2 BB 1 K
Jones 2 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 2 K

Pawtucket
Velazquez (W) 6.1 IP 3 H 0 R 0 ER 2 BB 4 K
Workman (H) 1.1 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 2 BB 1 K
Boyer (S) 1.1 IP 1 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 3 K