JUNE 7Th LOUISVILLE (21-34) at PAWTUCKET (26-30) 11:05 Am
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JUNE 7th LOUISVILLE (21-34) at PAWTUCKET (26-30) 11:05 am Louisville Bats LHP Justin Nicolino (2-2, 3.79) vs. Pawtucket Red Sox RHP Justin Haley (3-6, 3.18) Top of the Morning to You - The Pawtucket Red Sox (winners of 7 of their last 10 games) and the Louisville Bats (who had their 5- game winning streak snapped last night) play the rubber game of their 3-game series today at 11:05 am at McCoy Stadium. Today is the third of four morning starts here at McCoy. The Sox lost to Buffalo, 5-4 on the morning of May 16 and fell to Scranton/WB, 3-1 on the morning of May 24. The other 11:05 am home game after today will occur on July 26 vs. Columbus. Pawtucket is 8-11 in day games this season compared to 18-19 at night. This Series - Last night the PawSox evened this series at a victory apiece with an 8-1 rout of the Bats behind 3 RBI apiece from Dan Butler and Aneury Tavarez. On Tuesday in the series and homestand opener, Louisville (AAA-Cincinnati), owners of the worst record in the league at 21-34 and just 5-18 on the road, won by scoring 3 runs in the top of the 9th-inning en route to a 7-4 victory. Pawtucket – even at 1-1 in this 3-game set vs. Louisville – is 5-9-4 in their first 18 series of the season (5 wins, 9 losses, and 4 splits). The Sox and Bats will not meet again until the PawSox travel to Kentucky for their lone series in Louisville in two months for a 3- game set from August 7-9. This Homestand – Today completes the first half of this 6-game Pawtucket homestand. The PawSox will next host Indianapolis for a 3-game weekend series featuring games tomorrow (Friday) at 7:05 pm (Paws Toothbrush Holder giveaway for the first 3,000 fans), Saturday at 6:15 pm (Star Wars Night at McCoy with post-game fireworks), and Sunday at 1:35 pm (Bark in the Park – bring your dog to McCoy - and then post-game Kids Run the Bases and a Father’s Day Catch on the field). This 6-game homestand is one of two homestands the Sox will have this month. The other is also from a Tuesday – Sunday (June 19-24), but that one will begin with a make-up doubleheader on June 19 vs. Buffalo (4:35 pm), thus making that a 7-game homestand in 6-days. Pawtucket is 15-14 at home this season compared to 11-16 on the road. TV Time - The entire weekend series vs. Indy will be televised… Friday on YurView on COX as well as Worcester Spectrum TV3, and Saturday & Sunday both on myRITV throughout Rhode Island and Bristol County, MA. Getting in Tune in June – The PawSox have begun June with a 2-3 mark. They are hitting .273 (47-for-172) in the early part of this month with a 3.14 ERA (15 ER in 43 IP). Pawtucket, who finished 11-10 this April and 13-17 this May, had their best month of last season in June going 17-14. They are scheduled to play 29 games in 30 days this June. Streaky Sox - Recently the PawSox have had a 4-game losing skid from May 16-20, a 5-game losing streak from May 23-26, and a 5- game winning streak from May 27-31. They are presently 7-3 in their last 10 games since May 27. Before that, the Sox had lost 15 of their previous 19 games from May 7-26. Ten Pinned – PawSox pitchers in their last 10 games are 7-3 with a 2.15 ERA (21 ER in 88 IP) – 88 IP, 70 H, 25 R, 21 ER, 22 BB, 82 SO. In the process they have lowered their Team ERA from 3.82 on May 26 to 3.52 (it was 3.50 on June 4). Trending – The PawSox (now at 26-30) were a season-low 8-games below .500 on May 26 at 19-27. It was their lowest point since they ended last year with a 67-75 record. On May 6 the Sox had matched their season-high of 3-games over the .500 mark (at 15-12) from April 28 when they were 11-8. Pawtucket was a season-worst -8½ GB of front-running Lehigh Valley on May 26 and had been in last-place in the IL North for much of the last week of May. The Sox briefly moved into 5th-place on May 31 & June 3 (and were just -4½ GB at that time). They are now again in 5th-place and -5½ GB of the 1st-place IronPigs in the tight division. NEXT ON TAP - The probable pitching match-ups for the upcoming series vs. Indianapolis: Fri. 7:05 pm (YurView on COX) RHP Clay Holmes (3-3, 4.31) vs. RHP Justin Haley (3-6, 3.18) Sat. 6:15 pm (myRITV) RHP Tyler Eppler (5-2, 3.12) vs. TBA Sun. 1:35 pm (myRITV) LHP Brandon Waddell (1-1, 6.14) vs. LHP Josh Smith (1-3, 3.26) Going Batty – Despite going 2-4 vs. the Bats last year (and 1-1 thus far this season), Pawtucket is 26-13 against Louisville dating back to the 2012 season. The PawSox won the season-series vs. the Bats in 2013 (7-1), 2014 (6-2), and 2016 (5-1). They did drop the 2015 season-series by a 3-4 count and last year by a 2-4 margin. Before this recent stretch of success for the PawSox, Louisville had traditionally given Pawtucket a tough time over the years. The PawSox had just one winning season against the Bats from 2001 - 2013 (5-3 in 2011) as the Sox finished at .500 or below vs. Louisville in 12 of 13 years. The 2017 Season-Series vs. Louisville – Pawtucket went 2-4 vs. Louisville last season going 1-1 during an abbreviated series at McCoy a year ago May and then 1-3 in Louisville in August. The Bats won the series-opener on May 23, 2017 by a 7-4 score but the PawSox routed Louisville, 13-6 the next night. The finale on May 25 was washed out necessitating a doubleheader in Louisville more than two months later when the Sox visited Louisville Slugger Field. The Bats swept that twinbill on August 15, 3-1 and 5-1. The PawSox got on the board with an 11-5 triumph the next night, but Louisville captured that 4-game series and the season-series by outlasting the Sox, 6-5 in 14-innings in the finale last August 17. 2017 Stats vs. the Bats - The PawSox hit .318 in the 6 games vs. Louisville last season with 8 HR while pitchers were 2-4 with a 4.70 ERA and 4 HRA vs. the Bats. Pawtucket actually out-scored the Bats, 35-32 despite dropping 4 of the 6 games. The End to a Hectic May - The PawSox finished an extremely busy May with a 13-17 record for the month. The topsy-turvy travel month included four different homestands and four different roadtrips. Pitchers posted a 3.60 ERA in May while batters hit .227 with 22 HR and 97 runs in 30 May games (for an average of 3.2 runs per game). The Sox played 30 games in 31 days in May with just one scheduled off-day (May 17) during the entire month. June will be a bit better with two scheduled off-days (June 4 & 18) and with “only” 29 games in 30 days (including a make-up doubleheader at home vs. Buffalo on June 19 at 4:35 pm). April Comes up a Winner – The PawSox posted a winning April for the 6th time in the last 8 years as they finished the month with an 11-10 record and in 2nd-place in the IL North (-2 GB of front-running Syracuse at the time). Pawtucket has had just one losing month of April since 2010 and that came last year (10-12). The Sox hit .233 in April with 16 HR in 21 games while pitchers were 11-10 with a 3.51 ERA along with a league-leading 230 strikeouts in 190 innings. One and Done – The PawSox are 12-6 in 1-run games this season (.667) – tied with Toledo for the best winning pct. in 1-run affairs in the league. Throwing Strikes – Pawtucket pitchers are 2nd in the International League with 520 strikeouts. Durham leads with 566 SO. Sox hurlers have posted strikeout games of 20 (April 9), 18 (April 20), 15 (twice), 14 (twice), 13, 12 (four times), 11 (three times), and 10 (11 times) this season. Walk This Way – PawSox batters are last in the league with their .234 average, but they are tied for 2nd in the IL with 198 walks. Defensive – Last year the PawSox led the International League with a .987 fielding pct. while making a league-low 64 errors on the season (both new franchise-records). This season the Sox are last in the league with a .976 fielding pct. (47 errors in 1943 total chances) as their 47 errors are most in the IL. Louisville is next to last with their .977 fielding pct. (46 errors). Working Overtime – Buffalo (4-3) has played an IL-high seven extra inning games this season followed by the PawSox and others with six.