Owens Dominates On The Mound, PawSox Hit Three Home Runs In Win Over Knights

Pawtucket Red Sox Press Release

(Pawtucket, RI) – Henry Owens took a no-hit bid two outs into the eighth inning, pushing the Pawtucket Red Sox to a 6-3 victory over the Charlotte Knights on Saturday evening at McCoy Stadium.

The no-hit bid was broken up on Jake Peter’s ground ball that eluded the diving Chris Marrero at first base. Second baseman Mike Miller was able to field the ball but his throw to Owens (6-5) at first base was too late to record the out.

The infield single was the only hit Owens allowed in his 7.2 innings of work. The no-hit bid matched the longest of his career. He lost such a bid on May 8, 2014 with Double-A Portland.

“I wasn’t focused on the no-hitter,” said Owens. “I was focused on getting ahead of guys and putting them away early and going as deep into the game as possible.”

Owens took a no-hitter into the seventh inning for the second time in less than a month and he did not surrender a hit in the first four frames for the fourth time this season.

“There was some deception to his fastball but he pounded the zone and got them swinging early,” said manager Kevin Boles. “Watching him tonight, he looks much more relaxed, and I thought he was able to repeat his delivery more times than not.”

He retired the first 10 batters he faced and 16 of the first 17.

“He had better fastball command, showed feel for his changeup,” said Boles. “I thought his hand speed with the changeup was terrific and he made sure that he showed them that pitch to keep them off balance.”

Owens faced only 22 Charlotte hitters over the first seven frames, one batter over the minimum.

“I feel like this outing I had a little bit of everything working,” said Owens. “There was probably more use of the cutter today and I got some more outs with that.”

Owens struck out four and walked a season low-tying two. One of those walks followed his lone hit surrendered and came on four pitches.

Following that free pass, Owens left the game to a standing ovation with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth. The next batter, Jason Bourgeois lined a three-run double over the leaping Chris Marrero and down the right field line against reliever Chandler Shepherd. All three runs were charged to Owens.

Prior to this effort, Owens had allowed five runs in each of his last three starts, including a loss to the Knights (43-52) in his previous outing, which came 10 days earlier.

“I’ve been working on the repeatability of my mechanics and getting comfortable with my windup and it’s just been kind of about repetition to where it gets to muscle memory and this was the best it’s felt all year,” said Owens. “When I felt out of sync, I was able to make the adjustment quicker rather than carrying it over to the next batter, which has kind of plagued me throughout this year, so I think there’s still a little work to be done but as a whole I feel I’m going in the right direction.”

Pawtucket (49-45) lost a no-hitter with two outs in the eighth inning for the second time in 10 days. Durham broke up an attempt from a quartet of PawSox relievers on July 7.

Meanwhile, three home runs and Ryan LaMarre’s three hits powered the Pawtucket offense. The PawSox provided more than enough run support for Owens with a four-run third inning.

Chris Dominguez, Jose Vinicio and Mike Miller began the frame with three singles to load the bases. LaMarre followed by grounding a two-run single into center field. LaMarre and Miller advanced to second and third base on the throw to the plate.

The next batter, Marco Hernandez, chopped a ball to first base that turned into a double play since LaMarre attempted to advance to third base while Mike Miller did not break to the plate. LaMarre was ruled out trying to retreat to second base even though he appeared to return safely.

However, any wounds from the double play were healed when the following hitter, Chris Marrero, lined a ball into the PawSox bullpen for a two-run home run. It was his sixth long ball in his last nine games (not including his home run derby rampage and All-Star game home run that occurred over the stretch).

Pawtucket tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning thanks to back-to-back, two-out blasts from Dan Butler (3) and Chris Dominguez (7).

Butler, who has reached base in 23 of his last 24 games, delivered a ball just over the left field fence and into the flowerbed.

Dominguez followed with a blast to center field for his fifth home run in his last 12 games.

It was the third time the PawSox went back-to-back this season and the first occurrence since May 31.

LaMarre went 3-for-4 with a double and a stolen base to extend his on-base streak to 23 games, the longest active such streak in the International League and the longest for Pawtucket in the last two seasons.

“LaMarre’s getting his timing back,” Boles said. “Overall, our guys took some real good passes at the ball tonight.

Chris Volstad (6-8) took the loss for Charlotte, suffering his second defeat to the PawSox in two weeks.

Pawtucket concludes its four-game series with the Knights tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. PawSox lefthander Roenis Elias (6-4, 4.21) is set to face off against Charlotte righty Tyler Danish (0-2, 12.71). Radio coverage on WHJJ (920 AM) and throughout the PawSox radio network begins at 12:35 p.m.

Good seats for tomorrow’s game are still available at the McCoy Stadium box office; call (401) 724-7300 or visit pawsox.com to get your tickets today.