PawSox Come Back Again

Outfielder Jeff Corsaletti belted a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to lead the PawSox to a 8-7 victory over the Rochester Red Wings. It's the second night in a row Pawtucket erased a Rochester lead and earned the win in their last at bat.

Pawtucket found themselves trailing 7-1 entering the bottom of the eighth with little momentum going its way. By the end of the eighth the game was tied 7-7.

With one out and Rochester reliever Julio DePaula on the mound, Chris Carter (#24) and George Kottaras (#20) belted back-to-back homers. Dusty Brown then reached on an error by Wings' third baseman Luke Hughes. Corsaletti pinch hit for Sean Danielson and singled to center, advancing Brown to second. After Rochester brought in Tim Lahey to relieve to DePaula, Gil Velazquez belted a three-run homer to left, cutting the deficit to one. The Wings' second error of the inning, this time by second baseman Trevor Plouffe, but Jonathan Van Every on second. Two batters later Keith Ginter drove in the tying run with a RBI single to left off Rochester reliever Casey Daigle.

PawSox starter Edgar Martinez did not pitch poorly, but was the victim of three Rochester homers, back-to-back shots by Alejandro Machado and Howie Clark in the third, and one by Matt Macri in the fourth. Overall Martinez worked seven innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on five hits. He walked two and struck out seven.

Michael Tejera came in to pitch the eighth and gave up three Rochester on three hits in only 1/3 of an inning. Jose Vaquadano finished the eighth. Hunter Jones (7-2) pitched a scoreless ninth and earned the win.

Rochester starter Tom Shearn made his Red Wings debut and pitched well, giving up only one run, a Brown solo homer in the fifth. He surrendered three hits while walking two and striking out five. Daigle (1-5) gave up Corsaletti's game winning homer and suffered the loss.

Corsaletti and Ginter were the only PawSox to collect two hits. Jason Pridie, Machado, and Hughes had two hits each for Rochester.

With the win the PawSox remain a 1/2 on top in the IL North over the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees. A lot could change beginning tonight (6:05 pm) as the PawSox and Yankees begin the first of six straight games. The first two will be played at McCoy. Alan Horne (2-3) throws for the Yankees in game one. He'll be opposed by Davern Hansack (5-9) for Pawtucket.

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