MAY 8th PAWTUCKET (15-13) at LEHIGH VALLEY (15-14) 7:05 pm Pawtucket Red Sox RHP Marcus Walden (0-0, 9.00) vs. Lehigh Valley IronPigs LHP Brandon Leibrandt (1-0, 0.00) Battle for Supremacy – The 1st-place Pawtucket Red Sox play the middle game of their 3-game series agains the 2nd-place Lehigh Valley IronPigs (AAA-Philadelphia) tonight at 7:05 pm at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, PA with the top spot in the division at stake. The IronPigs took the series-opener last night, 4-1 to move into 2nd-place and pull to within just a ½-game of the IL North-leading PawSox – who had their 3-game winning streak snapped. The winner this evening will have sole possession of 1st in the division with one game remaining in the series…to be played tomorrow morning at 10:35 am. This Trip - The PawSox are making their first visit of the year to Lehigh Valley one month after opening the season on April 7 with a 3-1 loss to the IronPigs in Pawtucket. The Sox and Pigs play tonight at 7:05 pm and tomorrow morning at 10:35 am. Pawtucket’s 7- game roadtrip will continue with a 4-game series in Syracuse later this week (Thursday – Sunday) before the PawSox return to McCoy Stadium for a 3-game series (and homestand) vs. Buffalo this coming Monday & Tuesday nights (at 6:15 pm) and Wednesday morning (11:05 am). 2018 Season-Series vs. Lehigh Valley – The PawSox trail the season-series vs. the IronPigs by a 2-1 count. The clubs split an abbreviated 2-game series one month ago in Pawtucket to begin the 2018 season. Opening Night was snowed-out on April 6, the next (Opening) day Lehigh Valley was a 3-1 winner. The Sox gained the split with a 4-3 victory in the series finale on April 8. Lehigh grabbed the season-series lead with their 4-1 victory Monday night. These two teams will meet 17 times this season…10 in Pawtucket and 7 in Allentown. The Sox and IronPigs will go at it again later this month over Memorial Day weekend in Pawtucket for a 5-game series from May 25-28 including a make-up doubleheader (from the April 6 snow-out) on Saturday, May 26 at 4:05 pm at McCoy. Alone for First Time in a While – The PawSox have moved into sole possession of 1st-place atop the IL North on Sunday. It marked the first time the PawSox had been in 1st-place in the division since they started last year with a 2-0 record and were alone in 1st on April 8, 2017. Climbing the Ladder – The PawSox (now at 15-13) had matched their season-high of 3-games over the .500 mark on Sunday from April 28 (11-8). They have not been 4-games above .500 since last July 20 (50-46). The Sox went over .500 on April 21 for the first time since last July 30 when they were 54-53. The PawSox have not been below .500 since April 18 at 5-6. What Have You Done For Me Lately – Pawtucket has won 3 of their last 4. Their 3-game winning streak from May 4-6 equalled their longest winning streak of the season (also 3 straight from April 20-22). The Sox have not won 4 consecutive games since a 5- game winning streak last August 7-11. The PawSox have also won 4 of their last 6 following their season-high 3-game losing streak from April 29 – May 1. They had won 6 of their previous 8 games from April 20-28. NEXT ON TAP -The probable pitching match-up for the remainder of the series at Lehigh Valley: Wed. 10:35 am LHP Jalen Beeks (2-1, 1.71) vs. RHP Enyel De Los Santos (3-0, 1.07) The probable pitching match-ups for the upcoming series at Syracuse: Thur. 6:35 pm RHP William Cuevas (1-1, 2.93) vs. LHP Tommy Milone (1-2, 5.34) Fri. 6:35 pm RHP Chandler Shepherd (1-2, 5.33) vs. RHP Austin Voth (2-1, 2.49) Sat. 6:35 pm RHP Justin Haley (1-4, 3.60) vs. RHP Erick Fedde (1-1, 4.55) Sun. 1:05 pm LHP Josh Smith (0-1, 1.86) vs. RHP Edwin Jackson (0-1, 4.56) First Come First Served – Some positive early trends for the PawSox thus far…they are 11-0 when they score first in a game, 12-0 when they lead after 6-innings, and 12-1 when they score more than 3 runs in a game. Conversely, the Sox are 4-13 when the opponent scores first, 2-12 when trailing after 6-innings, and 3-12 when they score 3 runs or less in a game (two of those wins came last weekend vs. Scranton/WB, both by 2-0 scores). Busy May - The PawSox have begun a busy May at 4-3. Pitchers have led the way posting a 2.79 ERA this month (19 ER in 61.1 IP) while batters are hitting .234 with 7 HR in 7 May games (52-for-222). The Sox are slated to play 31 games in 31 days in May (including a make-up doubleheader on May 26 at 4:05 pm at McCoy) with just one scheduled off-day (May 17) during the entire month. 16 games this month will be at McCoy and 15 on the road with all but the final three coming against IL North division clubs. Pawtucket plays Rochester 5 times (1-1), Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 8 times (3-1), Lehigh Valley 8 times (0-1 thus far), Syracuse 4 times, and Buffalo 3 times to cover most of May. After facing each of their IL North rivals from now through Memorial Day, the final three games of the month will be at IL South foe Norfolk from May 29-31. 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). Pawtucket has had just one losing month of April since 2010 and that came last year (10-12). Since 2011 the Sox have gone 13-10, 16-9, 15-12, 16-11, 14-8, 11-11, 10-12, and 11-10 in April. 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. Series Business – The PawSox – down 0-1 in this 3-game set at Lehigh Valley - are 4-4-2 in their first 10 series of the season (4 series wins, 4 lossses, and 2 series split). Pawtucket finished 13-17-12 in their 42 series last season. Throwing Strikes – Pawtucket pitchers are 2nd in the International League with 287 strikeouts (just one behind Durham). Sox hurlers have posted strikeout games of 20 (April 9), 18 (April 20), 15 (twice), 14 (twice), 13, 12, 11 (twice), and 10 (six times) this season. Close Encounters – The Sox are 7-3 in 1-run games this season…tied with Syracuse (7-5) for the most 1-run victories in the league thus far. Pawtucket’s .700 winning pct. in 1-run games is the best in the IL. Working Overtime – The PawSox and Syracuse have both played an IL-high five extra inning games already this season and both are 4-1. Pawtucket has played four overtime games at home (winning 3 of those 4 extra inning games at McCoy). Blanketed – The PawSox were shutout on May 1 for the 5th time already this season. Last year it took until Game #86 on July 7 before the Sox were shutout for the 5th time (5-0 vs. Buffalo). Pawtucket was blanked 9 times total in 2017. They went 18-9 in shuout games last year. They are 3-5 in shutout games thus far in 2018 following their back-to-back shutout victories last weekend. The 2017 Season-Series vs. Lehigh Valley – The PawSox finished 7-10 vs. the IronPigs last season (going just 2-7 in Pawtucket but 5-3 here in Allentown, PA). Pawtucket went 7-6 when the clubs played single games, but 0-4 when the teams were involved in doubleheaders. Stats vs. the IronPigs Last Season – Pawtucket hit .254 in the 17 games vs. Lehigh Valley last year with 11 HR. PawSox pitchers were 7-10 with a 4.34 ERA vs. the IronPigs. The Pigs out-scored the Sox by a 79-70 margin in the 17 game season-series. Recently vs. the IronPigs –The PawSox – who lost the season-series to the IronPigs last year by a 7-10 margin - had reversed their fortunes against Lehigh Valley the prior three years…the teams split the season-series in 2016 at 9-9 but Pawtucket won the season- series over the IronPigs in both 2015 (10-8) and in 2014 (11-5) – that after going 5-11 vs. Lehigh Valley in 2013. 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.