JULY 3rd ROCHESTER (40-40) at PAWTUCKET (39-43) 6:15 pm Rochester Red Wings RHP Fernando Romero (1-1, 2.33) vs. Pawtucket Red Sox LHP Chandler Shepherd (4-6, 3.74) Red Sox vs. Red Wings During the Holiday Week - The Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings (AAA-Minnesota) finish the first half of their home and home holiday week series tonight with the finale of a 2-game set here at McCoy Stadium at 6:15 pm (the game will be followed by another patriotic post-game fireworks extravaganza and is again being televised on YurView TV on COX). The Red Wings got the jump in the overall 4-game series with a 6-2 victory last night to pull back to the .500 mark at 40-40 while sending the Sox to their 6th loss in their last 7 games as Pawtucket fell 4-games under .500 at 39-43. See You Soon - Following tonight’s game, the clubs will head to Western New York overnight before spending the 4th of July holiday together at Frontier Field in Rochester for games tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7:05 pm and Thursday at 5:05 pm. Per International League scheduling policy, the clubs home on July 3rd will be on the road on July 4th, so Pawucket will play the role of guest in Rochester for a 2-game set on July 4 & 5. The busy holiday week continues back at McCoy for a 3-game weekend series against the Scranton/WB RailRiders (AAA-Yankees) this Friday (7:05 pm), Saturday (6:15 pm with more fireworks), and Sunday (1:35 pm) to lead into the Triple-A All-Star break (from July 9-11). Rough Go vs. Rochester – Rochester has won 10 of their last 12 games at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket dating back to 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 here last season, and are 3-1 thus far at McCoy this season. A Slight Bump in the Road – After winning 6 of 7 games from June 19 (G2) to June 25, the PawSox suffered a 5-game losing streak from June 26-30 (which matched their season-high from May 23-26) before snapping that skid with a 2-0 victory at Scranton/WB on Sunday afternoon (thus finishing 2-5 on their last trip). The Sox have dropped 6 of their last 7 games and have scored 2 runs or less in 5 of those games (17 runs total in their last 7 games). Nice While it Lasted - After winning on June 25, the PawSox went over the .500 mark at 38-37 for the first time since May 8. They also (for one night anyway) moved into sole possession of 2nd-place in the IL North for the first time since they were alone in 1st-place on May 11. However, Pawtucket is now 39-43 and in 5th-place in the IL North as they trail front-running Lehigh Valley by 8-games in the division. Home Has Been Sweet – Despite the defeat last night, the PawSox have still won 6 of their last 9 home games and are 22-19 at home (they had equaled their season-high of 4-games over .500 at McCoy on June 24). The Sox are 17-24 on the road. What Have You Done for Me Lately – Despite losing 6 of their last 7 games, Pawtucket is 7-7 in their last 14 games. The Sox had a pair of 4-game winning streaks last month from June 10-13 and G2 on June 19-22. Those fell one shy of equaling their longest of the season when the Sox won 5 straight from May 27-31. Over a longer stretch, Pawtucket has won 12 of 23 and 20 of their last 36 games since May 27. Before that, the Sox had lost 15 of their previous 19 games from May 7-26. NEXT ON TAP - The probable pitching match-ups for the remainder of the home and home series with Rochester: ROCHESTER PAWTUCKET Wed. 7:05 pm @ Rochester LHP Stephen Gonsalves (5-3, 4.30) vs. LHP Jalen Beeks (5-5, 2.91) Thur. 5:05 pm @ Rochester LHP Adalberto Mejia (4-2, 2.74) vs. TBA The 2018 Season-Series vs. Rochester – Pawtucket is 1-6 vs. Rochester this season including a 1-3 mark here at McCoy and an 0-3 record in Rochester. Prior to this week, the teams had last met about a month and a half ago when the Red Wings swept a 3-game set from the Sox in a low-scoring series from May 18-20 at Frontier Field in Rochester by scores of 2-0, 2-1, and 3-0. The clubs played their only other series against each other here (before this week) from April 30 – May 2 at McCoy with Rochester winning 2 of 3. The Red Wings won 5-1 on April 30 and 2-0 on May 1 before the Red Sox salvaged the finale on May 2, 7-6 (their only win vs. Rochester thus far in 2018). Stats vs. the Wings - Pawtucket is hitting just .183 vs. the Red Wings thus far (40-for-219) and have scored only 11 runs in the 7 games…having been shutout three times, held to 1 run twice, 2 runs once, and scored 7 runs in their lone victory. The PawSox have hit 3 HR vs. the Wings (Mike Olt, Aneury Tavarez, and the departed Jordan Betts). PawSox pitchers are 1-6 despite a 3.60 ERA (24 ER in 60 IP). The Wings have out-scored the Sox, 26-11. The teams will meet 16 times this season…8 in Pawtucket and 8 in Rochester. After the next two nights in Rochester, the clubs will face each other again for a 3-game weekend set at McCoy from August 3-5 and then for a 3-game series in Rochester from August 21-23. The 2017 Season-Series vs. Rochester – The PawSox finished 6-11 vs. the Red Wings last season (going just 1-6 in Pawtucket but 5- 5 in Rochester). Pawtucket hit .250 in the 17 games vs. Rochester last year with 14 HR. PawSox pitchers were 6-11 with a 3.39 ERA vs. the Wings. Rochester out-scored the Sox by a 56-47 margin in the low-scoring 17 game season-series last year (the Wings averaged 3.3 runs/game while the Sox just 2.8/game). Recently vs. Rochester – Theses two clubs have traded season-series victories of late. 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. North Face - On June 11 the PawSox began a span of 32 straight games against IL North rivals through July 15 (which is just after the All-Star break). Pawtucket is 25-33 vs. their IL North foes thus far. They are 7-8 vs. the IL West and 7-2 vs. the IL South. Series Business – Pawtucket – down 0-1 in this 2-game set vs. Rochester - is 9-13-4 in their first 26 series of the season (9 wins, 13 losses, and 4 splits). They have posted three 3-game sweeps this season along with a 2-game sweep. Last Tune in June – The PawSox – due to a 5-game losing skid to end the month of June – finished with a losing record in June at 14- 15. They hit .258 with 27 HR in 29 games during the month along with a 3.41 ERA. Pawtucket finished 11-10 this April and 13-17 this May (hitting just .227 in May). They had their best month of last season in June going 17-14. They are scheduled to play 27 games in 31 days this July. Pawtucket went 15-14 last July. 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. 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).