The Indians jumped onto the scoreboard in the top of the 4th, when Alex Presley smashed his 6th home run of the season over the right-center field wall, cutting the PawSox lead in half, to 2-1.
Burres held the PawSox batters down after the 2nd inning. He gave up a lead-off double to CF Che-Hsuan Lin in the 3rd, but Lin was thrown out trying to steal 3rd base. Burres retired the next 10 batters in order, then gave up a single to 3B Hector Luna in the 6th. Burres came out again for the bottom of the 7th, which began with another double by Nava. Nava moved on to third base on a ground out, then scored on Iglesias’ single into left field, giving Pawtucket a 3-1 lead. Justin Thomas relieved Burres at that point, getting a pop up to end the inning. Thomas also pitched the 8th inning, working around another single by Luna. Burres finished with 3 runs (2 earned) on 7 hits and one walk, with one strikeout in 6.2 innings. He threw 89 pitches, with 57 strikes. Burres was on the hook for the loss when he left the game…..
Other than Presley’s homer, the Tribe batters were not having much success against Fox, or Hideki Okajima, who replaced him. Hernandez (photo) singled in the 3rd, and was picked off first base. He was the only Indians’ base runner from the 4th until the top of the 9th, when he tripled in the 6th on a long fly into right field. The Indians went into the top of the 9th trailing 3-1. Okajima was relieved by Michael Bowden to begin the 9th, and finally the Tribe found some success. Hernandez led off with his third hit of the game, a bloopy single into center field. Presley also picked up his 3rd hit of the game, singling through the hole and into left field. RF John Bowker flied out to right field, which allowed Hernandez to tag up and advance to third. Presley stole second base, to put both runners into scoring position. A walk to Hague loaded the bases for Marte. Marte took a 1-0 pitch over the left field wall, and suddenly the Indians had the 5-3 lead. Jaramillo followed the homer with a single through the right side of the infield. A throwing error on a pick-off move put Jaramillo on third base, and Brown’s sacrifice fly brought him in with one more run for the Tribe.
Tim Wood (photo) pitched the bottom of the 9th, when the PawSox had one more chance to catch up. Wood struck out the side, earning his 10th save of the season, and the Tribe had their second win in Pawtucket. Thomas was credited with the win, as he was the pitcher of record when Marte came through with his big blast.
Indians’ Hitting Gem of the Game: Of course, Marte’s clutch grand slam in the 9th inning, which gave the Indians the win.
Indians’ Defensive Gem of the Game: The throw from CF Gorkys Hernandez to C Dusty Brown in the bottom of the 2nd, to throw out Brent Dlugach at the plate. Dlugach had been trying to score from second base on Jose Iglesias’ single. The outfield assist and play at the plate brought the PawSox rally to a screeching halt, and kept more runs from scoring.
NOTES:
Saturday’s and Sundays’ games in Pawtucket will begin at 6:05 pm.
Go Cubs!
(photos by Nancy)
