PawSox Game Notes: July 22

JULY 22^nd                         PAWTUCKET (45-52)   at   GWINNETT (46-53)      1:05 pm         
Pawtucket Red Sox RHP Justin Haley (5-7, 3.50) vs. Gwinnett Stripers LHP Kolby Allard (6-4, 2.85)
                                                                               
We Meet Again - For the final scheduled time in 2018, the Pawtucket Red Sox and Gwinnett Stripers (Atlanta Braves) square off again and wrap up their three-game weekend series today at 1:05 p.m. at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, Georgia. In its road trip finale, Pawtucket will aim to avoid the sweep after Gwinnett scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning Friday to win 7-4 and walked off Saturday with a 5-4 win over the PawSox. Back in April when these teams met, Pawtucket swept that 3-game set at McCoy beginning with a 5-4, 11-inning victory in the series opener on April 20 on a Mike Olt game-winning single. The next night, the Sox got 6 shutout innings (with 10 strikeouts) from starter and winner Jalen Beeks in a 6-0 blanking of the Stripers. And then on the afternoon of April 22, the PawSox pulled out a dramatic 10-9 win in 11 innings as Gwinnett scored 3 runs in the top of the 11^th only to see the Sox rally for 4 runs in the bottom of the 11 innings capped by a Mike Miller walk-off single. That game also featured a PawSox triple play as the Sox pulled off a rare 3-1-6-2 triple play to thwart a Gwinnett uprising in the 2^nd inning.
Tough Trip - The PawSox have dropped five games in a row after losing three of four to Charlotte earlier this week (with three of these five defeats suffered in walk-off fashion - 2 against Charlotte and last night against Gwinnett). The PawSox won the opener of the closely-played Charlotte series with an 8-6 come-from-behind victory on Monday (scoring 3 runs with two outs in the top of the 9^th). However, the Knights won the next three games by scores of 6-5 in 11 innings on Tuesday, 3-0 Wednesday (despite being held to 1-hit - a solo homer - over 6-innings by rehabbing Red Sox starter Drew Pomeranz), and 4-3 on Thursday as the Knights used a bases-loaded walk to win in the bottom of the 9^th. Gwinnett used 6 runs in the bottom of the 8^th inning Friday night to win 7-4 and walked off in the bottom of the 9^th Saturday. It marked the 9^th time this season the PawSox have lost a game in their opponent's final at-bat (compared to 11 victories in Pawtucket's final AB of a game).
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