Pawtucket Ninth Inning Rally dooms Clippers

Pawtucket staged a miraculous ninth inning comeback as they rallied past Columbus 6-5 at McCoy Stadium.

The Clippers wasted no time getting the offense going when they came to bat in the top of the first. Cord Phelps started the scoring with an RBI double. Mike McDade then added to the Columbus lead with a two out, two run double to stake his club to an early 3-0 advantage.

Pawtucket would then cut into the Columbus lead with a two run double by Justin Henry in the bottom of the third. The Clippers would respond in the next two innings with an Omir Santos RBI sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth and a Cedric Hunter solo homer in the top of the fifth.

Pawtucket would inch closer in the bottom of the eighth on a Mark Hamilton RBI double.

The PawSox would then stage a rally in the bottom of the ninth. Drew Sutton drove home a run with an RBI single. The next batter, Justin Henry, would tie the game at 5-5 with an RBI single. The Red Sox would then load the bases with two outs. Reliever Jerry Gil, who was brought in to send the game to extra frames, instead walked Brandon Snyder, bringing the winning run home and capping off a three run rally for Pawtucket.              

Joe Martinez (ND) pitched well for Columbus, striking out seven and walking three while limiting Pawtucket to two runs on five hits in 6  innings. Pedro Beato (W, 2-1) got the win for the Red Sox. Matt Langwell (L, 2-1) was saddled with the loss for the Clippers.

Columbus continues its four game series with Pawtucket on Sunday afternoon. Japanese righty Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-2, 4.58) will look for his first win in a Clippers uniform. He'll oppose Red Sox right-hander Terry Doyle (2-0, 1.48). First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 PM.