Before the game, manager Torey Lovullo said the thing he loves about Gabbard is his versatility — he can come out of the 'pen or start, and this time, it's his bullpen work that sends the PawSox home with the win.
End 8th, Pawtucket 7-1: The PawSox strand two, after Jorge Jimenez and Niuman Romero hit back-to-back singles off Wordekemp.
There's a scare for Wordekemp as he loads the bases with a two-out walk to Lars Anderson, but he gets Ryan Kalish to ground out and end the threat. Sigh of relief for the Yankees' pitching, which has had anything but an easy go of it tonight.
Middle 8th, Pawtucket 7-1: Right-hander Robert Manuel starts the inning for the PawSox, concluding what has been a brilliant night for starter Adam Mills.
Manuel has gone 2-1 over his last 17 outings with a 1.21 ERA, and he's 8-for-8 in save opportunities with a 0.00 ERA.
He works around a two-out walk in this one to continue that streak of excellence.
The final line on Mills is seven innings, five hits, one earned run, two walks and two K's.
End 7th, Pawtucket 7-1: A nightmarish seventh finally comes to an end for the Yankees, courtesy of Eric Wordekemper.
He takes the mound for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to face No. 9-hitter Juan Apodaca. Wordekemper promptly strikes him out to get out of the seventh, in which Pawtucket scored three on one hit and three walks.
Seventh inning, 2 Out, Pawtucket 7-1: This has not been Mark Melancon's best outing, to say the least.
Melancon replaced Tim Redding to start the seventh, boasting a 5-1 record with a 2.86 ERA and six saves. He was also riding a 10 1/3-inning scoreless streak — a streak that very quickly comes to an end.
After striking out leadoff man Gil Velazquez, he walks two and hits one before allowing a two-run double to Lars Anderson.
It's Anderson's second double of the night and makes it 6-1.
Ryan Kalish then hits a grounder to second and Reegie Corona throws home but fails to get Aaron Bates, which gives Pawtucket its seventh run and puts runners at first and third with one out. Josh Reddick grounds out to first, but the nightmare isn't over for Melancon, who walks Tug Hulett.
That's it for him.
The final line on Redding: six innings, six hits, four runs (all earned), three walks, five K's and one hit batter.
Middle 7th, Pawtucket 4-1: Adam Mills has his toughest inning yet — but still gets a couple of good bounces to escape relatively unscathed.
With one out in the seventh, Mills allows his first hit since Justin Christian singled to lead off the fourth. Then, for the first time tonight, he allows two straight hits, as P.J. Pilittere doubles to the wall in right-center.
After an extended conference with the infield, Mills gets Reegie Corona to ground out, but then Rene Rivera hits a two-out double, bringing home Vasquez — and Pilittere tries to score but is out at the plate. Inning over.
And it appears that Yankees manager Dave Miley has been ejected.
End 6th, Pawtucket 4-0: Seems like manager Torey Lovullo was right to proceed with caution with Ryan Kalish. The designated hitter is 2-for-3 tonight, singling with one out in the sixth.
Just like he did in the second, Kalish gets another rally started. After his single and a Josh Reddick strikeout, Tug Hulett knocks a two-out double to right-center to bring in Kalish and Anderson (walk).
Middle 6th, Pawtucket 2-0: Niuman Romero makes the defensive play of the game — either that, or he sells it very, very well.
With two out and one on, Eduardo Nunez sends a fast-sinking liner to right-center. Romero dives, skids and comes up with the ball in his glove. Did he catch it? Maybe. Maybe not. But it works for Adam Mills, who works around a walk to get out of the frame unscathed.
End 5th, Pawtucket 2-0: The Yankees are in first place in the North, but weirdly enough, they hold the best record in the IL for a team that has given up more runs than it has scored. So either they get blown out or they win by a run.
It seemed like Tim Redding was on the verge of being pulled in the fourth, but he cruises through the fifth, inducing three groundouts to first.
Middle 5th, Pawtucket 2-0: Does Reegie Corona not sound like a name that belongs on the Yankees' roster?
The second baseman's last home run came against Adam Mills on June 24, but no such luck this time around. With one man on and one out, he flies out to center.
End 4th, Pawtucket 2-0: It's literally been an up-and-down season for Josh Reddick, who's had several tours of duty with the big club thus far. He was most recently optioned back to Pawtucket on June 25 after a brief three-day stint with the Red Sox. In total, Reddick has gone 4-for-25 with a double, a triple and two RBIs with Boston.
He leads off this inning and lines out to Tim Redding, who makes a crafty play.
Middle 4th, Pawtucket 2-0: Adam Mills works around a leadoff single by Justin Christian to get out of the fourth unscathed.
Christian, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre's leadoff man, hit .338 with two runs scored, two RBIs and a walk in the Yankees' last series, but prior to this at bat, he was just 2-for-12 (.167) against the PawSox.
End 3rd, Pawtucket 2-0: Lars Anderson is inches away from his 10th homer of the season. He drills one off the wall in center just above the 400-feet mark, and after a brief conference, the umpires decide it didn't strike above the yellow line. Alas, no home run.
Instead, Anderson is stranded on second with a two-out double.
Middle 3rd, Pawtucket 2-0: Another easy 1-2-3 inning for Adam Mills, who notches his first strikeout of the night, victimizing No. 9 hitter Eric Bruntlett.
It's too early to tell, but could the tides be turning for Mills? He has just one win to his name thus far in 2010, and the PawSox are just 5-10 in his 15 starts, averaging 3.5 runs of support.
End 2nd, Pawtucket 2-0: Ryan Kalish gets things going in the second, singling to right to send Lars Anderson (walk) to third. Kalish steals second, and then Josh Reddick flies out to deep center to bring in Anderson with the first run.
After Tug Hulett walks, Juan Apodaca singles right down the middle, bringing in Kalish for the 2-0 lead.
Apodaca has now hit in three straight games since being promoted from Portland.
Middle 2nd: Kind of a strange double play here in the second that greatly benefits Adam Mills.
After allowing a long leadoff single down the third baseline to Jesus Montero, Jorge Vazquez hits a sharp liner to Jorge Jimenez at third. Jimenez has to leap to get it, then fires a high throw to first. Lars Anderson makes a great play on it to double Montero off first.
End 1st: Our Yankees starter this evening has had some experience with the Red Sox before — and it's not pleasant.
Tim Redding was on the mound on July 15, 2005, at Fenway Park and allowed six earned runs on four hits in one inning. He was designated for assignment the next day.
Tonight, he works around a two-out HBP to get out of the inning unscathed.
Middle 1st: It's an easy 1-2-3 inning for PawSox starter Adam Mills, who gets three straight flyouts to kick off his night at McCoy Stadium.
Mills has been the victim of some unfortunate luck lately, going 1-3 in his last four starts with a 3.44 ERA. He's been in Pawtucket since Aug. 9, 2009.
6:46 p.m.: Ryan Kalish is batting sixth for Pawtucket, and according to Torey Luvullo, the No. 5 prospect in the organization is almost ready to start every day.
Kalish was activated from the DL on June 26 after being sidelined with a strained right hip flexor.
"He's in line to start playing every day very, very quickly," Lovullo said. "The unfortunate part about Ryan is that we put him on the DL to eliminate any chance of him being too aggressive with his recovery. He just has that football player mentality. We took that option away from him. We sat him down, put him in tennis shoes and said, 'You rest.' … We just have to monitor his playing time very cautiously. He's about to be wide open to playing every day."
5:58 p.m.: We have injury updates abound in Pawtucket. First on the docket is Dusty Brown, who is about 7-10 days away from losing the cast on his hand, at which point he will be reevaluated.
"There's no structural damage — we're very encouraged by that," manger Torey Lovullo said prior to Tuesday's game. "It's not going to require surgery. It's just shutdown, rest, let the ligament settle down. He has a history of injuries with that left thumb, so we're being very cautious with it. At this time, we have to take care of the guy, not the baseball player, and we want to make sure we don't put him in harm's way."
Also blazing down the comeback trail is outfielder Bubba Bell, who is at about "70 percent" and should be ready to go on Wednesday.
"Bubba went through a little bit of a physical test today and is probably about 70 percent, increasing daily to the point where he feels like he'll be ready to go [Wednesday]," Lovullo said. "The way I've always looked at it is, if you give them one more day on the front side, it's bound to help them on the back side. We're talking about a guy who's been locked in, one of our offensive catalysts every day. I can't ask him to go out there and give less than what he's given."
5:46 p.m.: Lineups for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre are in as well.
Starting for the Yankees is Tim Redding, who boasts a 2-3 record and a 3.89 ERA.
1. Justin Christian, LF
2. Reid Gorecki, CF
3. Eduardo Nunez, SS
4. Jesus Montero, C
5. Jorge Vasquez, 3B
6. P.J. Pilittere, 1B
7. Reegie Corona, 2B
8. Rene Rivera, DH
9. Eric Bruntlett, RF
5:38 p.m.: The big story in Pawtucket today is the fallout from the Red Sox' catching situation. With Victor Martinez on the DL, Boston called up Gustavo Molina — and with PawSox catchers Dusty Brown and Mark Wagner both on the seven-day DL, there was plenty of shuffling in the minors.
Daniel Butler and Juan Apodaca have both been added to Pawtucket's roster, and Apodaca will bat ninth against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The rest of the PawSox' lineup is as follows:
1. Gil Velazquez, SS
2. Jorge Jimenez, 3B
3. Niuman Romero, RF
4. Aaron Bates, LF
5. Lars Anderson, 1B
6. Ryan Kalish, DH
7. Josh Reddick, CF
8. Tug Hulett, 2B
9. Juan Apodaca, C
Pitching for Pawtucket is Adam Mills.
8 a.m.: After an eight-game road trip and a day off, the PawSox finally return home to McCoy Stadium to kick off a four-game set against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
It hasn’t been an easy month for Pawtucket, which just dropped three of four against Syracuse, including a 9-4 defeat on Monday night. However, the PawSox faced the Yankees four times during the road trip and split the set.
Pawtucket, currently in fourth place in the International League North, would love pick up some wins against the first-place Yankees, and hopefully it starts on Tuesday night.
