AUGUST 23rd PAWTUCKET (61-65) at ROCHESTER (57-69) 7:05 pm Pawtucket Red Sox RHP Josh A. Smith (5-4, 4.02) vs. Rochester Red Wings RHP Zach Littell (4-6, 3.63) Series Pending - The Pawtucket Red Sox – winners of 9 of their last 14 games – play the finale of their 4-game series against the Rochester Red Wings (AAA-Minnesota) tonight at 7:05 pm at Frontier Field in Rochester. The PawSox have won the last two games of this series to take a 2 games to 1 lead in the 4-game set. The Red Wings won the resumption of the suspended game (from July 5) on Tuesday, 6-3 but the Sox took the regular game that night, 5-3. Pawtucket grabbed the lead in the series with a 7-2 victory last night. The PawSox are 15-20-5 in their 40 series this season (15 wins, 20 losses, and 5 splits) with this series pending tonight. They are 6-9 vs. Rochester on the year with this their final meeting of the season tonight. This Roadtrip – After completing four games in three nights here in Rochester this evening, Pawtucket will then move a bit futher from home when they shuffle off to Buffalo for a 4-game wrap-around weekend series vs. the Bisons starting tomorrow (Friday) at 7:05 pm, Saturday (6:05 pm), Sunday (1:05 pm) and Monday (7:05 pm). The PawSox will be back at McCoy this coming Tuesday night to begin a 3-game series and homestand vs. the (all but certain) IL North division champion Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Homestands Dwindling – The PawSox have just that 3-game homestand (August 28-30 vs. Lehigh Valley) and a 2-game homestand to end the regular-season on September 2 & 3 (vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre) remaining. When Last We Met – The PawSox had a chance to complete a 3-game sweep of the Red Wings earlier this month at McCoy Stadium, but Rochester avoided the sweep with a 6-3 win in the final game of that set on August 5. The Sox had won the first two games over the Wings by 7-4 and 8-1 scores on August 3 & 4. The victory on August 3rd (thanks to a Brandon Phillips walk-off 3-run HR in the bottom of the 9th) moved the PawSox ahead of Rochester and into sole possession of 3rd-place. The Sox are currently tied with Buffalo for 3rd-place while the Red Wings are 4-games back of both. Pitching in for Offense – Back in early-August during that series at McCoy, Pawtucket took over the International League lead in Team Pitching when they surpassed Rochester. The PawSox have remained on top of the league since with their current 3.39 ERA while the Red Wings are still 2nd with their 3.48 ERA. Rochester still holds up the rear of the league in Team Batting as Rochester is last at .227 while Pawtucket has gone on a big upswing this month and they are now 9th at .250 (23 points higher than the Wings). Battling for a Batting Title – PawSox outfielder Rusney Castillo has begun to pull away in the International League batting race as he looks to become the first Pawtucket player to win the IL Batting Title in 37 years…since Wade Boggs hit .335 in 1981. Rusney, who is hitting .327 on the season, now has a 14 point lead in the race over Joey Meneses of Lehigh Valley who is at .313. Castillo (146) also leads the league in Hits over Meneses (139). Rusney is bidding to join some select company and become the 6th player to win the IL Batting Championship following…Juan Beniquez (.298 in 1973), Jim Rice (.337 in 1974), Wayne Harer (.350 in 1977 – the highest batting average in PawSox history), Garry Hancock (.325 in 1979), and Boggs (.335 in 1981). A Dozen to Go - Pawtucket has 12 games remaining this season (5 at home and 7 on the road). The PawSox – who have won 12 of their last 19 games – are 6½-games behind wild card-leading Indianaolis. However, the Sox are faced with the daunting task of having to jump over 5 teams in just over a week and a half to get to the top of the wild card standings. NEXT ON TAP - The probable pitching match-ups for the upcoming series at Buffalo: Fri. 7:05 pm RHP Mike Shawaryn (2-0, 2.49) vs. TBA Sat. 6:05 pm RHP Justin Haley (5-8, 3.77) vs. TBA Sun. 1:05 pm RHP Chandler Shepherd (6-9, 4.13) vs. TBA Mon. 7:05 pm RHP William Cuevas (9-7, 3.44) vs. TBA August Moon – Pawtucket has posted some fine numbers in August with just over a week to go in the month. The Sox are batting .285 in the first 20 games this month (197-for-691) with 12 HR & 93 runs scored. The PawSox hit .233 in April, .227 in May, .258 in June, and .251 in July. Sox pitchers in August are 13-7 with a 2.57 ERA (50 ER in 175.1 IP). Night Owls – The PawSox are 5-games under .500 this year but they are over .500 at night posting a 47-45 record in night games this season compared to 14-21 in day games. The Sox have just two day games remaining…this Sunday in Buffalo (1:05 pm) and Labor Day Monday, September 3rd vs. Scranton/WB (1:35 pm) in the season-finale. More Hits and More Runs – The PawSox have out-hit their opponents on the season (1057 hits to 1021) and have out-scored the opposition as (Sox have scored 491 runs and allowed 488 runs). Road Getting Smoother – The PawSox have won 6 of their last 7 road games since August 9 and are now 27-35 on the road – they had the worst away mark in the league until this recent road surged. They had dropped 15 of their previous 20 on the road between June 26 – August 8. The Sox have won 10 of their last 18 games at home dating back to July 14. Pawtucket was a season-high 5- games over .500 on August 4 and they are now 34-31 at McCoy. What Have You Done for Me Lately – The PawSox are 13-8 since August 1 after going 3-11 in their previous 14 games between July 17-31. Included during that stretch was a season-high 6-game losing streak from July 17-22. Their recent 4-game winning streak (August 9-12) marked the first time they had been able to win more than two in a row since a 3-game winning streak from July 14-16. Sweep (kind of) - The PawSox were credited with a one-game “sweep” the last time these two teams faced each other here in Rochester prior to this week thanks to the most improbable PawSox victory of the season. On the night of July 4th at Frontier Field in Rochester, the Sox rallied for 4 runs with two outs in the top of the 9th to stun the Wings, 6-5. Game two of that series the next night was suspended due to rain after a ½-inning with the game scoreless. Rough Go vs. Rochester – Despite Pawtucket’s winning 5 of their last 7 meetings with Rochester, the Red Wings have still won 9 of the 15 meetings with the PawSox this season (including a 4-3 mark here at Frontier Field). And dating back just over two years ago, Rochester has won 12 of their last 16 games at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket since July 28 of 2016. The Red Wings won that game on July 28, 2016 in Pawtucket (after the PawSox had won 3 in a row over the Wings at McCoy earlier in that series), won 6 of 7 played in Pawtucket last season, and finished 5-3 at McCoy this season. Stats vs. the Wings - Pawtucket is hitting .227 vs. the Red Wings thus far (110-for-485) and have scored 51 runs in the 15 games - having been shutout three times, held to 1 run three times, 2 runs once, and 3 runs twice during their 9 defeats. On the other hand, the Sox have scored 5 runs once, 6 runs once, 7 runs three times, and 8 runs once during their 6 victories. The PawSox have hit 13 HR vs. the Wings (3 by Ockimey & 3 by Phillips along with 1 each from Miller, Lin, Olt, Tavarez, Renda, Witte, and the departed Jordan Betts). PawSox pitchers are 6-9 with a 3.56 ERA (51 ER in 129 IP). The Wings have out-scored the Sox, 55-51. Recently vs. Rochester – Theses two clubs have traded season-series victories of late although the Wings will win for the second straight year (up 9-6 with one game left). Rochester took last year by an 11-6 count, but the PawSox finished 10-8 vs. the Red Wings in 2016. Pawtucket went 7-11 vs. Rochester in 2015 (going winless in 8 tries in Rochester, although they were 7-3 at McCoy). The PawSox and Rochester wound up even at 8-8 in the 2014 season-series. Pawtucket lost the 2013 regular-season series to Rochester by a 9-7 count as the Sox dropped a season-series to the Red Wings for the first time since 2009 (6-10). However, Pawtucket (as the IL North Champ) and Rochester (as the IL Wild Card) met in the International League playoffs in September of 2013 with the PawSox emerging victorious in the semi-final series, 3 games to 2.