PawSox Game Notes: July 17

JULY 17^th                         PAWTUCKET (45-47)   at   CHARLOTTE (42-52)      7:04 pm         
Pawtucket Red Sox RHP Justin Haley (5-7, 3.20) vs. Charlotte Knights LHP Jordan Guerrero (2-0, 2.16)
Late Inning Magic - The Pawtucket Red Sox - winners of 3 straight and 5 of their last 7 games - play game two of their 4-game series against the Charlotte Knights (AAA-White Sox) tonight at 7:04 pm at superb BB&T Ballpark in uptown Charlotte. Last night the clubs met for the first time this year with the PawSox rallying for 3 runs with 2 outs in the top of the 9^th-inning to overtake the Knights, 8-6. It was Pawtucket's second straight last-inning victory (the Sox walked-off Syracuse, 5-3 in 10-innings on Sunday afternoon at McCoy Stadium) and the second time in less than two weeks that the PawSox pulled off an improbable last at-bat stunner (they rallied for 4 runs with 2 outs in the top of the 9^th to shock Rochester, 6-5 on July 4^th). The PawSox now have 11 wins during their last at-bat of a game and 15 come-from-behind victories this season.
This Series and Trip - The PawSox and Knights play again tonight, tomorrow night, and Thursday all at 7:04 pm (the 7:04 pm start time in honor of the Charlotte area code of 704). The Sox and Knights will face each other again in about a week and a half for a 3-game weekend set at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket from July 27-29 in their only other series against each other this season.   After this series in Charlotte, Pawtucket will head further south over the weekend for a 3-game set in Lawrenceville, GA against the Braves this Friday (7:05 pm) and Saturday nights (6:05 pm) and Sunday afternoon (1:05 pm).
The Road Home - Pawtucket is off this coming Monday (July 23) before beginning their next homestand at McCoy from July 24-29 that will feature 3-game sets against both the Columbus Clippers (next Tuesday - Thursday including a matinee 11:05 am game on Thursday, July 26) and then a 3-game weekend series against these Charlotte Knights (July 27-29).
A Little Early for Scoreboard Watching, But - While Pawtucket has remained a season-high -10½ GB in the IL North for the past four days behind surging Lehigh Valley, they have made some headway in the IL wild card hunt and are now just -5 GB in the wild card race (Indianapolis is the current leader). The regular-season ends seven weeks from yesterday (Monday, September 3) as the PawSox have just 47 games remaining (26 on the road and 21 at home).
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