PawSox Blanked by RailRiders at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre

PawSox news release…

(Moosic, PA) – The Scranton-Wilkes/Barre RailRiders tossed a three-hit shutout to blank the Pawtucket Red Sox, 4-0, on Saturday night at PNC Field.

Chandler Shepherd (1-1) made a spot start for the PawSox (66-61) after scheduled starter Henry Owens was scratched just before the game.

Shepherd tossed 3.1 innings on 56 pitches (45 strikes) in his second professional start (also done in 2014 with Short-Season-A Lowell). He had not thrown more than 39 pitches in any of his prior 14 outings for Pawtucket this season.

Shepherd struck out three of the four batters he faced in the first inning. He then pitched around a single in the second inning and recorded a 1-2-3 third inning.

However, Shepherd surrendered a single to three of the first four batters he faced in the fourth inning, loading the bases with one out.

Noe Ramirez entered the game and Pete Kozma lined his first-pitch fastball out of the reach of left fielder Chris Young deep in the left center field gap. All three of Ramirez’s inherited runners came around to score on Kozma’s three-run double.

Ben Gamel tacked on an RBI single to left field that made it 4-0 RailRiders (80-48). Each of the game’s four runs came across in the bottom of the fourth.

Noe Ramirez allowed the one run in 1.2 innings of relief.

Kyle Martin scattered four hits over three scoreless innings of work. He struck out three and walked none, improving his strikeouts-per-nine-innings ratio to 11.15, the second-best mark among International League relievers. He has surrendered one run in nine innings pitched in August.

Scranton starter Jordan Montgomery (3-1) put forth a dominant effort, fanning eight PawSox batters in seven frames of work. The lefthander allowed only four baserunners (three singles and one walk), improving his Triple-A ERA to 0.71.

Young played all nine innings in left field for the second straight night, going 1-for-4 with a single to center. Through seven games on his rehabilitation assignment, he is 5-for-23.

Pawtucket hitters have struck out 26 times over their last two games.

The PawSox complete both their season-long 10-game road trip and four-game series with the RailRiders tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. Pawtucket lefthander Brian Johnson (5-5, 3.82) is scheduled to make the start against Scranton lefty Richard Bleier (2-2, 2.76). Radio coverage on WHJJ (920 AM) and throughout the PawSox radio network begins at 12:35 p.m.

Pawtucket returns home for a four-game homestand on Monday.