APRIL 23Rd TOLEDO (11-4) at PAWTUCKET (8-6) 4:35 Pm Doubleheader
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APRIL 23rd TOLEDO (11-4) at PAWTUCKET (8-6) 4:35 pm Doubleheader G1 Toledo Mud Hens LHP Blaine Hardy (1-0, 0.79) vs. Pawtucket Red Sox RHP Chandler Shepherd (0-0, 8.31) G2 Toledo Mud Hens LHP Josh Turley (1-0, 3.00) vs. Pawtucket Red Sox LHP Josh Smith (0-0, 1.42) Two for Monday - The Pawtucket Red Sox – coming off a 3-game sweep of the Gwinnett Stripers this weekend – continue their 7- game homestand tonight with a make-up doubleheader against the Toledo Mud Hens (AAA-Detroit) at 4:35 pm at McCoy Stadium. This will start a 4-game set (in 3-nights) against the Mud Hens who come to town with the best record in the entire International League at 11-4. Tonight’s twinbill is the first of the season for Pawtucket. Please note…the PawSox will be the home team in Game 1 today while Toledo will act as the “home team” in the nightcap. Tonight’s doubleheader was necessitated by a rain out in Toledo just over a week ago (Sunday, April 15) in what was to be the finale of that 4-game series in Ohio. Double Your Pleasure – Pawtucket played in 11 doubleheaders last season which tied with Rochester and Syracuse for the most in the league in 2017. The Sox posted three sweeps, were swept five times, and also were involved in three doubleheader splits last year. Pawtucket was swept in their final twinbill of last season at Louisville on August 15 by 3-1 & 5-1 scores. The PawSox had swept their previous doubleheader on July 28 at Indianapolis by 5-0 and 2-1 scores. Pawtucket does have another make-up doubleheader on the docket already this season on Saturday, May 26 at home vs. Lehigh Valley at 4:05 pm. We believe there is a good chance that more twinbills will be added as we continue this journey known as International League Baseball. X Marks the Spot – Boston Red Sox SS Xander Bogaerts is slated to play a pair of rehab games with the PawSox tomorrow (Tuesday) and Wednesday when Pawtucket hosts Toledo at 6:15 pm at McCoy Stadium both nights. Bogaerts was placed on the Red Sox 10-day disabled list on April 9 after suffering a small crack of the talus bone in his left ankle on April 8. The injury occured when he landed on the 3rd base dugout steps at Fenway while sliding into the dugout to (successfully) keep a loose ball in play vs. Tampa Bay. Xander was off to a terrific start with the Red Sox batting .368 in his first 9 games (14-for-38) while leading the majors with 7 doubles at the time (he also had 2 HR & 9 RBI). Bogaerts is in his 5th full Major League season while still only 25-years-old. He came into this season with a career batting average of .283 in 623 major league games (all with the Red Sox) with 51 HR & 283 RBI. He was an American League All-Star in 2016 (hitting .294 in 157 games) and hit a career-best .320 in 156 games in 2015. Since 2015, Xander had started 462 of the last 495 Red Sox games prior to this injury…only two players had more starts at SS in that time (Alcides Escobar and Elvis Andrus). In June of 2013, Bogaerts joined the PawSox and at 20 years old was the youngest player in the International League that season. He hit .284 with 9 HR & 32 RBI in 60 games for the PawSox before being promoted to Boston on August 19, 2013. That October, in Game 1 of the 2013 World Series at Fenway, he became the 11th youngest position player to start a World Series game at the age of 21 years & 22 days old. A native of Aruba, Xander speaks English, Spanish, Dutch, and Papiamento. Clean Sweep – The PawSox are coming off an entertaining 3-game weekend sweep of the Gwinnett Stripers here at McCoy. The series began with an 11-inning victory on Friday night, 5-4 and ended with a dramatic 11-inning win yesterday, 10-9 (the Sox scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the 11th to stun the Stripers). The middle game was a “ho-hum” 6-0 Sox shutout victory! The 3-game sweep marks Pawtucket’s first series sweep since last August 7-9 when the Sox swept a 3-game set vs. Charlotte here at McCoy. Reaching New Heights – Pawtucket has won 3 straight games – for the first time since last August 7-11 when they had a 5-game winning streak. They have also won 5 of their last 6 games to move 2-games over the .500 mark at 8-6 on the young season (they went over .500 on Saturday for the first time since last July 30 when they were 54-53). This Homestand – This 7-game homestand (in 6-days) runs through Wednesday at McCoy. The Sox and Hens play single games tomorrow and Wednesday nights (both at 6:15 pm) to conclude Pawtucket’s second homestand of the year. The Sox are currently 3-0 on this stand after going 2-3 during their first homestand from April 7-11. NEXT ON TAP - The probable pitching match-ups for the remainder of the series vs. Toledo at McCoy: Tues. 6:15 pm LHP Chad Bell (0-0, 2.70) vs. RHP Justin Haley (0-2, 3.21) Wed. 6:15 pm RHP Artie Lewicki (2-1, 5.79) vs. RHP Marcus Walden (NR) The Road Ahead - The PawSox will enjoy their second straight Thursday off this coming Thursday before flying to Buffalo on Friday morning to begin a 3-game weekend series (and roadtrip) to Buffalo. The Sox will face the Bisons on Friday at 6:05 pm and then Saturday & Sunday both at 1:05 pm before heading right back to McCoy for a brief 3-game series (and homestand) from April 30 – May 2 vs. Rochester. Last week Pawtucket finished 3-3 during their annual Ohio roadtrip – losing 2 of 3 during an abbreviated series in Toledo but winning 2 of 3 in Columbus to complete their only other trip thus far. Throwing Strikes – Pawtucket pitchers are tied with Durham for the International League lead with 160 strikeouts. Sox hurlers have posted strikeout games of 20 (April 9), 18 (last night), 15, 14 (twice), 13, 11 (twice), and 10 (twice) already this season. Furthermore, they have reached double figures in strikeouts in 6 of their last 7 games since April 14 in Toledo. The 2018 Season-Series vs. Toledo – Toledo took 2 of 3 from the PawSox at Fifth Third Field in downtown Toledo, OH just over a week ago. The Mud Hens were 4-3 winners in their home-opener on April 12, the Sox bounced back for a 10-2 victory the next night, but Toledo won the series outright with a 4-0 shutout win on April 14. The scheduled finale of that 4-game set was postponed due to rain on Sunday, April 15…thus tonight’s twinbill at McCoy. Stats vs. the Mud Hens This Season – Pawtucket is hitting .255 in the 3 games vs. Toledo this season (26-for-102) with 3 HR (2 by Jeremy Barfield and 1 by Ramon Florers). PawSox pitchers are 1-2 with a 2.16 ERA vs. the Hens (6 ER in 25 IP). The PawSox have out-scored the Mud Hens by a 13-10 margin thus far in the 2018 season-series. The 2017 Season-Series vs. Toledo – The PawSox finished 4-3 vs. the Mud Hens last season (going 2-1 here in Pawtucket last July and then going 2-2 in Toledo later that month). Pawtucket hit .270 in the 7 games vs. Toledo last year with 7 HR. PawSox pitchers were 4-3 with a 3.69 ERA vs. the Hens. The PawSox out-scored the Mud Hens by a 31-25 margin in the 2017 season-series. Handling the Hens – The last time Toledo (currently up 2 games to 1) won a season-series over the PawSox came way back in 2005 when the Hens went 7-1. Pawtucket (4-3 winners during the 2017 season-series vs. Toledo) has won the season-series over the Mud Hens 4 times in the last 8 years and tied the Hens the other 4 years during this span. The PawSox won in 2013 (6-2), 2015 (6-1), 2016 (4-3), and 2017 (4-3). The other 4 years in this stretch ended in ties as the Sox and Mud Hens wound up even in their season-series at 4 wins apiece in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014. Western Front – The PawSox are 3-3 vs. the IL West this season. They finished 12-14 vs. the IL West last year. A Look Back Before We Go Forth – Pawtucket finished 67-75 last year and in 4th-place in the IL North for the second straight season. They dropped to a season-low 9-games under .500 on August 26 at 62-71. On July 18, 2017 the PawSox were a season-best 6-games over .500 at 50-44. Sad Endings and Close Calls – Pawtucket lost 22 games during an opponent’s final at-bat of the game in 2017 (compared to 8 such victories during their own last AB). The PawSox went 14-19 in 1-run games, 14-23 in 2-run games, and 5-10 in extra innings.