Spinners, Callahan undone by Dent

It might seem obvious, but Bucky Dent was just Bucky Dent for the first six seasons of his career.

Then, he famously hit the go-ahead home run for the Yankees in the 1978 American League East one-game playoff against the Red Sox and became known throughout New England as Bucky "Bleepin'" Dent.

On Wednesday night, Bucky's son, Cody, contributed to the family legacy. It won't quite earn him infamy throughout Red Sox Nation, but it'll get him remembered in Lowell.

The short-season Spinners were two outs from a perfect game before Dent poked Taylor Grover's offering into center field for a hit, saving the Auburn Doubledays from being on the wrong end of history.

It couldn't overshadow the efforts of Jamie Callahan (3-1), who retired all 18 batters he faced -- striking out nine -- to pave the way for Lowell's 7-0 victory.

"I didn't realize that [it was Bucky Dent's son], no. I was just a little, I guess you would say lost in the moment. I saw that hit and we just came so close," Callahan said. "But it was fun, we were enjoying it. Nobody really said anything, nothing was mentioned. It was just a heck of a game.

"It was really exciting, a heartbreaker when it was broke up. But it was amazing to be a part of that. I've never been part of that before, and even though it was broke up, it was fun to be around. It's amazing, once in every blue moon you get to be part of that and we were all just having fun, lots of smiles, lots of enthusiasm."

It was a signature effort from Callahan, who's in his second season as a pro after the Red Sox selected him in the second round of the 2012 Draft out of Dillon (S.C.) High School.

In fact, he's been pretty much flawless in his last two starts. On Friday at Connecticut, he yielded one hit and struck out eight over six frames, leaving opponents with one baserunner and 17 strikeouts over his last 12 innings.

The stretch has lowered his ERA from 5.82 on July 13 to 3.74.

"Like I said after my last outing, everything's just clicking," Callahan said. "Working down in the zone, keeping hitters off-balance, just don't do too much. Attack the zone and let them do the rest."

The 18-year-old right-hander tossed five one-hit frames in his season debut on June 21, then surrendered at least three runs in each of his next four outings. The last two efforts have put him back on track as he has 32 strikeouts against nine walks in 33 2/3 innings.

"I'm pleased, but there's still a lot of work to be done," Callahan said. "Tomorrow's a new day and I'm going to enjoy this while I can, but come to the field tomorrow ready to get after it and hopefully get out there and do it again sometime."

Mike Adams followed Callahan and struck out two over two innings to keep the perfect game alive. Taylor Grover retired Matt Reistetter leading off the ninth, but Dent and Isaac Ballou sandwiched singles around Kyle Attl's strikeout before Wilman Rodriguez flied to left to end the game.

Tzu-Wei Lin hit a two-run homer in the first to set the table for the Spinners and Forrestt Allday -- the Red Sox's eighth-round pick in this year's Draft -- went 2-for-4 with two runs scored out of the leadoff spot.