Martinez, Pen Stop Yankees, 5-1

Starter Edgar Martinez worked six shutout innings and the PawSox bullpen held its own as the Pawtucket beat the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees last night 5-1 at McCoy. The PawSox are now 1 1/2 games behind SWB in the IL North Division and their magic number to clinch a playoff berth is down to 9 games.

Martinez (7-2), starting in the spot previously occupied by Charlie Zink, gave up only four hits while walking four and striking out two in earning the win. He threw 93 pitches, 53 for strikes.

The PawSox pen also performed well as Beau Vaughan, Hunter Jones, and Eric Hull all pitched one inning. Vaughan was the only pitcher to struggle a bit, giving up four hits and one run in the eighth. That run came on a sacrifice fly by Yankees DH Ben Broussard.

Offensively the PawSox scattered 11 hits with Jeff Bailey (1 RBI), Sandy Madera (homer, 2 RBI), Jeff Corsaletti (2 doubles) and Josh Wilson (2 doubles, RBI) knocking two hits each. Gil Velazquez also added an RBI for Pawtucket.

Yankees starter Alfredo Aceves (1-2) took the loss for SWB. He worked six innings, yielding four runs on eight hits. He walked one and struck out two. Reliever Scott Patterson gave up Madera's long homer (his 8th) to center in the bottom of the eighth.

The PawSox ended with a split of this two game series with Scranton and also ended 8-8 with the Yankees this season. There is a good chance these two teams may meet sometime in the Governor's Cup Playoffs. Stay tuned.

Pawtucket now moves on to a four game road trip beginning tonight (7:00 pm) with the first of two games in Syracuse with the Chiefs. David Pauley (13-4) will throw for Pawtucket. He'll be opposed by Davis Romero (5-0) for Syracuse.

NOTES: There were a number of player moves yesterday. Pauley was promoted to Boston to fill the roster pot left void with the announcement that Mike Lowell was placed on the disabled list with an oblique strain. After the game Pauley was optioned back to Pawtucket and Jeff Bailey was recalled to Boston.

Also announced was that reliever Lincoln Holdzkom was designated for assignment. Holdzkom was 5-5 with a 5.24 ERA in 33 relief appearances for the PawSox.

I would expect more moves to be announced as the PawSox are now two players under the 24 man roster limit.

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