The Providence Journal

John Wagner - Mud Hens 5, PawSox 4 -- Strikeout-wild pitch scores winning run in crazy game

How many people can say they watched a game where the winning team scored on a walk-off strikeout? The 9,905 fans at Fifth Third Field yesterday afternoon can, as Toledo’s Freddy Guzman scored from third on a wild pitch by Pawtucket reliever Lincoln Holdzkom with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning. And here’s the crazy part: The wild pitch was a curveball that the Hens’ Timo Perez swung at and missed for Toledo’s 17th strikeout of the game. By the time PawSox catcher Dusty Brown retrieved the wild pitch, Guzman had scored and Perez narrowly beat Brown’s throw to first. It marked the second time Pawtucket has lost a game on a wild pitch by Holdzkom, with the first time coming in a loss at Richmond on July 8. “Lincoln’s got nasty stuff, and it was a tough pitch to handle,” Pawtucket manager Ron Johnson said. “I thought ‘Brownie’ did a great job of getting to the ball and nearly threw [Perez] out at first.”

PawSox throw one away

Brown got the offense off to a good start with a two-run single in the top of the first inning. Joe Thurston’s sacrifice fly in the second inning gave Pawtucket an early 3-1 lead behind starting pitcher Devern Hansack, who gave up the
lead when Toledo scored twice in the fifth on a two-run double by Clete Thomas.

Both teams scored a run in the eighth inning. Pawtucket got theirs when Gil Velazquez led off with a walk and was bunted up a base by Jonathan Van Every. Toledo shortstop Derek Wathan then misplayed a grounder hit by Pawtucket’s Jeff Bailey and Velazquez came home with an unearned run.

Kevin Thomas - Dogs' day goes doubly wrong; After falling short in the completion of a suspended game, Portland loses again to New Hampshire.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Fresh from a sweep of first-place Trenton over the weekend, the Portland Sea Dogs dropped two games to struggling New Hampshire Monday night at Merchantsauto.com Stadium.

New Hampshire won the first game 7-5, the conclusion of a game that began June 22 and was suspended because of rain. Iggy Suarez kept Portland close with two home runs.

In the second game, the opportunistic Fisher Cats got five runs on five hits to beat the Sea Dogs, 5-1.

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Sea Dogs pitcher Daniel Haigwood (2-2) got out of that inning but allowed a run in the fifth.

The Sea Dogs came back to tie it. Mickey Hall and Suarez hit homers on back-to-back pitches in the sixth to close the Sea Dogs to within 5-3.

Lars Anderson picked up his first RBI in Double-A with a two-out single in the seventh to make the score 5-4, and Suarez tied the game with another home run to left field in the eighth off reliever Daryl Harang (3-2).

It was Suarez's fifth home run of the season and the second time he has hit two in a game.

"It was nice to see the guys come back," Sea Dogs Manager Arnie Beyeler said. "We had a chance."

In the bottom of the eighth, J.P. Arencibia hit a Haigwood fastball over the right-field wall to give the Fisher Cats a 6-5 lead. Haigwood gave up another run but drew praise for going 4 1/3 innings for the Sea Dogs, who are playing eight games in six days.

"(Haigwood) did a great job of filling some innings for us," Beyeler said.

Dan Goldberg - Doing it His Way; Reddick promoted despite his approach

LANCASTER - The Red Sox preach patience, making Josh Reddick something of a heretic.

In his first 300 plate appearances, Reddick walked just 15 times. Though the Boston brass keep pushing him to be more selective, Reddick pushes back, continuing to approach the game the way he always has - with unabashed abandon.

His stubbornness was rewarded last week when he was promoted to Double-A Portland after hitting .343 for the JetHawks. In his first four games with the Sea Dogs, though, he is 3-for-16 with five RBI.

He refers to free-swinging as his "personal baseball philosophy."

The left-handed outfielder hit 17 home runs and drove in 56 runs with the JetHawks.

The numbers are impressive but the Red Sox are even more pleased with what cannot be quantified.

"Even if he goes 0-for-4 he is going to stand out for the way he plays the game," Boston's assistant general manager Allard Baird said. "Besides the performance and obvious skill which he possesses, I think the aggressiveness with which he plays is also very impressive."

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The desire for more coupled with an awe for what he has accomplished illustrates the delicate balance of tutoring Reddick, a responsibility that fell to hitting coach Carlos Febles and now falls to Dave Joppie in Portland.

"You never want to take his aggressiveness away," Febles said. "He's a free swinger and never going to be selective, so what you try and do with those guys is get them to see the pitch first and don't commit until they see the ball."

Febles worked on keeping Reddick's upper body back to avoid lunging for breaking balls, but said he never tried to change the means of Reddick's success.

"He can keep his hands back better than anybody," Febles said. "That is why he is so good."

John Habib - Fisher Cats bridge suspension

But New Hampshire answered with two runs in the home eighth as J.P. Arencibia launched his 10th homer to right off losing pitcher Daniel Haigwood (2-2). Later in the inning Chris Gutierrez supplied an insurance run with an RBI single plating David Smith, who doubled.

Haigwood started the suspended game with two outs in the fourth and finished the game. He allowed five hits, three earned runs, three walks and whiffed five.

Already leading 4-1 when the suspended game resumed, the Fisher Cats padded the lead to four when Travis Snider scored on a wild pitch in the fifth inning.

Pinto was rolling along fanning four straight batters before allowing consecutive home runs to Mickey Hall (his seventh) and Suarez that cut Portland's deficit to 5-3.

Lars Anderson, a top prospect in the Red Sox organization, collected his first RBI on the Double-A level when his infield hit in the seventh inning allowed Bryan Pritz to score. The hit came off Harang, but the run was charged to Pinto, who ended up allowing three earned runs, three hits and one walk in two innings. He fanned four before departing with his injury.

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In the seven-inning nightcap, New Hampshire grabbed a 3-0 first inning lead as Kyle Phillips highlighted the frame with a two-run homer, his fifth of the season.

Portland got one back in the third inning on Zach Daeges' sacrifice fly. The Fisher Cats padded the lead to 5-1 in the fourth as Jacob Butler belted a two-run double.


John Habib - Jackson finding his way

MANCHESTER – Kyle Jackson is a free agent after this season, but he refuses to think about it.

"I'm not going to start planning for something that hasn't happened yet. If I start to look to the future now, I'm going to fail," said the Nashua native and Litchfield resident after he took the loss in a 5-1 defeat to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats at Merchantsauto.com Stadium last night.

Jackson (5-2) lasted 3 2/3 innings, fanning three batters and walking five (one intentional). He allowed five runs, all earned, and four hits.

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"It doesn't matter whether I start or relieve. I'm doing what they ask of me," said Jackson. "We had some guys move on and others injured and I was asked to be a starter in the rotation. Now it's just a matter of getting ready for my next start."

Portland manager Arnie Beyeler said Jackson has "handled his assignment like a pro. He's responded, giving us innings. He's throwing strikes and he's shown us that he has command of the baseball. Tonight he threw some low strikes and we should have been out of that first inning sooner than we did."

Herald Bulletin

Richard Torres - Arabian product moves up in Red Sox organization

After making his Class A Short-Season New York-Penn League debut last month with the Lowell Spinners, Brock Huntzinger seemingly had no where else to go but up.


Saturday, the Boston Red Sox organization decided that time was now, promoting the right-handed pitcher to the Low A Greenville Drive, a member of the South Atlantic League, following an impressive stint for the Spinners


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Through his first 10 innings, he didn’t allow a single run, walked one and struck out 11 to garner his first of two New York-Penn League Pitcher of the Week distinctions.

Huntzinger collected his second honor July 23, after he notched his third consecutive win.

Later that week, he extended his string of wins to four games despite seeing his scoreless-inning streak come to end during his start on Friday, July 25. Before the game, he hadn’t surrendered an earned run in 17.0 innings.

Huntzinger spent the 2007 season in the Gulf Coast League for Rookie Ball instruction. There he made four appearances, started three games and logged seven innings pitched. He finished 0-1 with a 2.57 ERA, but averaged more than a strikeout per inning.