The Pawtucket Red Sox might stop pitching to Nick Evans in the clutch. Evans blasted a three-run shot in the eighth inning to break a 1-1 tie, as Buffalo downed Pawtucket 4-1, Thursday Afternoon from Coca-Cola Field.
On April 12th, Evans made the Herd walk-off winners against the Red Sox, hitting a two-run blast to end the game in the 15th inning.
The Bisons opened the scoring in the first when Mike Lamb doubled on a ball to deep right field plating Argenis Reyes, giving the Herd the 1-0 edge. With Lamb's RBI, Buffalo continued its trend of striking early. The Bisons have now tallied 48 runs in the first frame in 2009, more than any other inning. Buffalo is now 29-20 when getting on the board first.
The last time Lance Broadway pitched at home, he delivered one of the season's top pitching performances. The righty pitched a nine-inning complete game on July 8th against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, allowing just one run on seven hits. On Thursday, Broadway cruised for seven innings before giving up the game-tying run in the 8th. The veteran tossed 7.1 innings, giving up one run on nine hits and striking out four in the no-decision.
Pawtucket starter Michael Bowden delivered a quality outing for the Red Sox in the no-decision. The 22 year-old pitched seven innings, yielding one run on six hits and striking out six. Baseball America ranked the righty as the No. 2 overall prospect in the Boston Red Sox organization and the No. 1 pitching prospect. Bowden was an integral piece of a proposed trade to the Toronto Blue Jays for all-star starting pitcher Roy Halladay.
Thursday's contest featured another close, low-scoring affair between the two clubs. In 13 games played this season, 11 of those games have been decided by three runs or less, and 9 by two runs or less.
The Herd now commands the 7-6 season-series lead over Pawtucket, outscoring the Red Sox by a 37-33 margin in 2009.
Coming into Thursday's contest the Red Sox pitching had kept the Bisons bats relatively cool all season. Over the first 12 games against Buffalo this season, the Pawtucket pitching staff complied a 1.99 ERA, holding Buffalo batters to a .185 average. The Red Sox, however, are hitting just .195 themselves in those games, scoring only 2.7 runs per contest.
Tim McNab picked up the victory for the Herd, turning in 1.1 innings of shutout relief, improving his record to 5-2 on the year.
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