PawSox Give up Five Runs in the 9th in Loss to RailRiders

PawSox news release…

PAWTUCKET, R.I. — Brock Holt supplied three RBI and Edgar Olmos dealt seven-plus sharp innings, but the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders plated five runs in the top of the ninth inning to overtake the Pawtucket Red Sox, 6-5, on Monday night at McCoy Stadium in front of a third consecutive sell-out crowd.

The PawSox (40-41) held a 5-1 lead entering the ninth, but the RailRiders (51-32) pushed across five runs, including four with two outs, to split the four-game series.

Holt, in the third game of his rehab assignment while coming back from vertigo, went 2-for-4 with three RBI, including a two-run shot in the fifth inning.

Rehabbing Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval (inner ear infection) went 2-for-4 with a pair of hard-hit singles to right field from the left side.

In his fourth start of the season, PawSox lefty and International League All-Star Edgar Olmos dazzled over 7.2 innings of one-run ball, using just 89 pitches (64 for strikes). Olmos, who entering the season hadn’t started a game since September 2015 with the Mariners, cruised into the eighth before allowing a pair of two-out baserunners. His 7.2 innings were the most he’d thrown since July 2011 in High-A; Olmos hadn’t even worked seven full frames since June 2012.

Pawtucket reliever Noe Ramirez surrendered four runs in an inning, and Austin Maddox (L, 2-1) allowed the eventual game-winning run.

RailRiders starter Ronald Herrera worked six-plus innings and allowed five runs (four earned) on five hits and a walk, and reliever Nick Rumbelow (W, 1-0) turned in two scoreless stanzas.

PawSox right fielder Bryce Brentz, who was added to the International League All-Star team earlier in the day, doubled to start the second and moved to third on a RailRiders error. Brentz then scored on an RBI groundout from shortstop Mike Miller.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre left fielder Billy McKinney tied the game, 1-1, in the top of the fourth on an RBI single to right field.

Pawtucket climbed ahead in the bottom of the fifth when catcher Dan Butler blooped an RBI double into left field, scoring Miller, who’d doubled to begin the frame. Moments later, Holt ripped a two-run homer to right to make it 4-1.

In the bottom of the seventh with Miller at third, Holt bounced an RBI infield single behind the mound to stretch the lead to 5-1.

McKinney led off the top of the ninth with a solo blast to right. Ramirez retired the next two he faced, but catcher Wilkin Castillo then came through with an RBI single to right to make it 5-3. Maddox then yielded an RBI single, and RailRiders designated hitter Ji-Man Choi lofted a go-ahead, two-run double to left field where Holt nearly made the catch near the wall.

The PawSox now hit the road and start a four-game series against the Rochester Red Wings on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. Rehabbing Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez is scheduled to oppose rehabbing Twins righty and former Pawtucket pitcher Justin Haley. Radio coverage on WHJJ (920 AM) and throughout the PawSox Radio Network begins with the PawSox Pre-Game Show at 6:35 p.m.

The PawSox return home Friday to open a three-game series against the Buffalo Bisons.