The Pawtucket Red Sox didn’t so much earn its 5-4 win over the Louisville Bats on Saturday night as much as the visitors unearned it.
The Bats gave up three unearned runs in their second consecutive loss at McCoy Stadium in Rhode Island. It’s the first losing streak for Louisville (24-26) since early May, before the Bats reeled off 11 wins in 14 games to climb above .500 for the first time all season.
Pawtucket (26-24) scored all three of those aforementioned unearned runs in the bottom of the third to take a 4-1 lead on Louisville. The Bats rallied to tie it with a trio of runs in the sixth, but Luke Montz’s RBI-single in the bottom of the eighth lifted the PawSox to victory.
Louisville took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Steve Selsky led off with a single, advanced to second on a fielding error by Pawtucket centerfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., moved to third on Eugenio Suarez’s fly out, then scored on Jermaine Curtis’ ground out.
The Bats’ lead didn’t last long, though. That’s because Allen Craig led off the bottom of second with a home run off Louisville starter David Holmberg.
The Red Sox took the lead in the next inning. Holmberg walked Bradley with two outs before Mike Miller reached on a throwing error by Suarez, the Bats shortstop. Both came home moments later on Travis Shaw’s three-run homer to right field.
It was 4-1 until the top of the sixth. That's when Irving Falu led off the inning with a double to left, moved to third on Ivan De Jesus Jr.’s one-out ground out, then scored on Selsky’s single to left. Suarez then followed with a two-run homer to left-center to tie the game.
In the bottom of the eighth Louisville reliever Jose De La Torre gave up a leadoff single to Bradley, who moved to second on a sacrifice. De La Torre then intentionally walked Shaw and walked Craig before being replaced by Pedro Villarreal. The right-hander struck out Bryce Brentz for the second out before Montz came up with the game-winner, a ground-ball single to left.
Louisville tried to rally in the top of the ninth as Ryan LaMarre singled with one out, but he was erased moments later when Chris Dominguez grounded into a game-ending double play.
De La Torre (1-3) took the loss for the Bats, who are 3-10 in games in which they’ve given up at least one unearned run.
Falu led Louisville with three hits while Selsky tallied two.
The Bats will try to get their first win in the final game of the three-game series Sunday, when the two teams are scheduled to meet at 1:05 p.m. Louisville right-hander Jon Moscot (6-1, 3.35 earned run average) is slated to take on fellow righty Justin Masterson (2-2, 6.37 with the Boston Red Sox).
Photo courtesy Louisville Bats Facebook Page
