JULY 17th PAWTUCKET (45-47) at CHARLOTTE (42-52) 7:04 pm Pawtucket Red Sox RHP Justin Haley (5-7, 3.20) vs. Charlotte Knights LHP Jordan Guerrero (2-0, 2.16) Late Inning Magic – The Pawtucket Red Sox – winners of 3 straight and 5 of their last 7 games – play game two of their 4-game series against the Charlotte Knights (AAA-White Sox) tonight at 7:04 pm at superb BB&T Ballpark in uptown Charlotte. Last night the clubs met for the first time this year with the PawSox rallying for 3 runs with 2 outs in the top of the 9th-inning to overtake the Knights, 8-6. It was Pawtucket’s second straight last-inning victory (the Sox walked-off Syracuse, 5-3 in 10-innings on Sunday afternoon at McCoy Stadium) and the second time in less than two weeks that the PawSox pulled off an improbable last at-bat stunner (they rallied for 4 runs with 2 outs in the top of the 9th to shock Rochester, 6-5 on July 4th). The PawSox now have 11 wins during their last at-bat of a game and 15 come-from-behind victories this season. This Series and Trip – The PawSox and Knights play again tonight, tomorrow night, and Thursday all at 7:04 pm (the 7:04 pm start time in honor of the Charlotte area code of 704). The Sox and Knights will face each other again in about a week and a half for a 3- game weekend set at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket from July 27-29 in their only other series against each other this season. After this series in Charlotte, Pawtucket will head further south over the weekend for a 3-game set in Lawrenceville, GA against the Braves this Friday (7:05 pm) and Saturday nights (6:05 pm) and Sunday afternoon (1:05 pm). The Road Home - Pawtucket is off this coming Monday (July 23) before beginning their next homestand at McCoy from July 24-29 that will feature 3-game sets against both the Columbus Clippers (next Tuesday – Thursday including a matinee 11:05 am game on Thursday, July 26) and then a 3-game weekend series against these Charlotte Knights (July 27-29). A Little Early for Scoreboard Watching, But – While Pawtucket has remained a season-high -10½ GB in the IL North for the past four days behind surging Lehigh Valley, they have made some headway in the IL wild card hunt and are now just -5 GB in the wild card race (Indianapolis is the current leader). The regular-season ends seven weeks from yesterday (Monday, September 3) as the PawSox have just 47 games remaining (26 on the road and 21 at home). Threepeat - The PawSox have currently won three in a row for the first time in just under a month…since a 4-game winning streak from June 19-22. Pawtucket has gone win, loss, loss, win, loss, win, loss, win, loss, win, win, win to get to 7-5 in July. Series Business – Pawtucket – up 1-0 in this 4-game series at Charlotte - most recently took 3 of 4 at home from Syracuse to win a series (of multiple games) for the first time since taking 2 of 3 from the Chiefs at McCoy from June 22-24. Pawtucket is 11-15-4 in their first 30 series of the season (11 wins, 15 losses, and 4 splits). They have posted three 3-game sweeps this season along with a 2- game sweep and a 1-game sweep (in Rochester on July 4). Turning the Beat Around – Pawtucket is 5-2 and 6-3 of late. This comes after they had dropped 7 of their previous 8 games from June 26 – July 3. Home Has Been Sweet, Road Looking Smoother – Pawtucket is 11-7 at home since June 19. The PawSox are 26-23 at home (they had equaled their season-high of 4-games over .500 at McCoy on June 24). The Sox are 19-24 on the road but they have won 3 in a row on the road following a 5-game road losing streak from June 26-30. NEXT ON TAP - The probable pitching match-ups for the remainder of the series at Charlotte: Wed. 7:04 pm LHP Drew Pomeranz (0-1, 7.24) vs. RHP Spencer Adams (1-3, 3.86) Thur. 7:04 pm RHP William Cuevas (6-5, 3.38) vs. RHP Michael Kopech (3-7, 4.48) Two Away From Even - 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. Pawtucket is now 45-47 and tied for 3rd-place in the IL North as they trail front-running Lehigh Valley by 10½ games (matching their season-high deficit). What Have You Done for Me Lately – Pawtucket is 13-11 since June 19. 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 June 30. 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 is 18-15 and they have won 26 of their last 46 games since May 27. Before that, the Sox had lost 15 of their previous 19 games from May 7-26. North Face - From June 11 July 15 the PawSox played 31 straight games against IL North rivals. The Sox are now playing outside their division starting tonight in Charlotte through July 29 (playing at Charlotte & Gwinnett from the IL South and then hosting Columbus of the IL West and Charlotte). The PawSox return to IL North foes when they head to Syracuse on July 30. Pawtucket is 30-37 vs. their IL North rivals. They are 7-8 vs. the IL West and 8-2 vs. the IL South. When Last We Met in Uptown – Prior to this week, Pawtucket’s last visit to beautiful BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte came 15 months ago during a well-played 3-game series from April 18-20 of 2017. The clubs split the first two games as the Knights took the opener, 3-1 (in 2 hours & 16 minutes) but the Sox evened matters with a 4-0 victory the next night (in 2 hours & 37 minutes). Charlotte won the series outright with a 6-4 victory in the finale on April 20 (taking 2 hours & 54 minutes to complete the rubber game). And Last Time the Knights Were at McCoy – More than 15 weeks after they faced off in Charlotte in April of 2017, the clubs met again at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket last August 7-9. The PawSox swept that 3-game series by scores of 7-0, 9-2, and 6-5 to take the overall season-series by a 4-2 count. Stats vs. the Knights in 2017 – The PawSox hit .247 in the 6 games vs. Charlotte last year with 7 HR while Sox pitchers were 4-2 with a 2.77 ERA (11 ER in 43 IP) with 8 HRA. The PawSox out-scored the Knights, 31-16 in the 2017 season-series. Charlotte’s Web – By virtue of a 1-0 lead in the 2018 season-series, going 4-2 vs. Charlotte last season, and 5-2 vs. the Knights in 2016, the PawSox have taken over the lead in the all-time regular-season series with the Knights by a slim 115-110 margin since Charlotte joined the IL in 1993. (This count does not include the 2012 Governors’ Cup Championship series won by the PawSox, 3 games to 0). The PawSox are 55-57 at McCoy Stadium vs. the Knights but 60-53 in Charlotte during regular-season play. They were 52-47 at Knights Castle in Fort Mill, SC and they are 8-6 at BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte. Midpoint in July – The Sox are 7-5 thus far in July batting .227 (88-for-388) with 9 HR and posting a 2.97 ERA (36 ER in 109 IP). They are now scheduled to play 26 games in 31 days this July. Pawtucket went 15-14 last July. 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. 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).