Chiefs rally for extra-inning win
After Chiefs starter Mitch Atkins and Red Sox starter Justin Germano swapped zeroes in the first two innings, both teams got on the board in the third inning.
Pawtucket (45-28) started the scoring with three straight two-out hits. Jason Repko singled, Josh Kroeger knocked him home with a double, and Ryan Larvanway scored Kroeger with a single to right field to make the score 2-0.
Syracuse (35-37) answered with a run in the bottom of the frame. Catcher Koyie Hill's first hit in Syracuse was a solo home run over the right-field wall.
After two more scoreless innings, the early pitchers' duel gave way to a slugfest in the sixth inning. Lavarnway led off the top of the frame with a double, his third of four hits on the night, and scored on another double from Mauro Gomez to give Pawtucket a 3-1 lead. Che-Hsuan Lin extended the PawSox lead to three on an infield single that allowed Gomez to score from third.
Atkins left the game after working six innings. He allowed four runs on eight hits.
Meanwhile, Germano cruised for Pawtucket. The right-hander, who threw a perfect game last July at Alliance Bank Stadium, was nearly perfect Wednesday night. He allowed just that lone Chiefs run and three hits in his seven innings on the mound.
The Chiefs then made things interesting against the Red Sox bullpen. Syracuse scored a pair of two-out runs in the eighth against Junichi Tazawa. Jim Negrych singled and Hoffpauir walked to put runners on first and second. Corey Brown brought them both home with a double to right field to pull the Chiefs within a run, but Daniel Bard relieved Tazawa and got Mark Teahen to fly out to end the inning.
The Red Sox answered with a crucial insurance run in the top of the ninth inning. Tony Thomas led off the inning with a walk against Christian Garcia, stole second, and scored the fifth Pawtucket run of the night on Jonathan Hee's single to left-center field.
Down two runs, the Chiefs rallied against Bard in the ninth. Chris Marrero led off the inning with a double to left-center. Xavier Paul followed with a single to put runners on the corners. With Carlos Rivero batting, pinch-runner Seth Bynum scored on a wild pitch to make the score 5-4 and Paul moved to second. Rivero flew out to right field, allowing Paul to move to third base. With two outs, Bard uncorked another wild pitch and Paul scored to tie the game at five. Bard escaped further damage and the game moved to extra innings.
Syracuse had a chance to win it in the bottom of the tenth, but Red Sox reliever Garrett Mock worked out of a bases-loaded one-out jam by striking out Bynum and inducing Paul to fly out.
After Hassan Pena pitched a scoreless top of the eleventh, the Chiefs finally ended the game in the bottom of the frame. Hill set the table with a one-out single to left field. Negrych followed by poking another single through the hole on the right side of the infield to put runners on the corners. That brought Hoffpauir to the plate with one out. The third baseman came through with an RBI single to left field, scoring Hill to end the game.
The Chiefs look to sweep the Red Sox Thursday night at Alliance Bank Stadium. John Lannan is scheduled to start for Syracuse against Pawtucket's Billy Buckner. First pitch is set for 7:00.