PawSox Starter Justin Haley Roughed Up by the Iron Pigs

PawSox news release…

(Allentown, PA) – The Lehigh Valley IronPigs scored nine runs in the first two innings to coast to a 9-4 victory over the Pawtucket Red Sox in Wednesday night’s rubber match at Coca-Cola Park.

Since the All-Star Break, the PawSox (65-59) have won all five of their home series and dropped all five of their road series.

Justin Haley (7-4) entered the game with a 21-inning scoreless streak that spanned his last three starts, but the righthander surrendered all nine of the runs in his two-inning outing.

However, Robby Scott and Kyle Martin shined in relief of Haley, delivering six shutout frames.

Scott allowed two baserunners (a single and double) and struck out four over four innings of work. The lefthander possesses a 0.66 ERA over his last 10 appearances, which spans 27.1 innings pitched dating to June 28.

Martin faced six batters over two innings and struck out three.

Pawtucket jumped out to an early lead in the first inning against Lehigh Valley starter Ben Lively (8-5).

The first batter of the game, Rusney Castillo, walked for the sixth time in his last four games, equaling the number of free passes he earned in his previous 50 games.

Ryan LaMarre followed with a single and Castillo advanced to third. LaMarre then attempted to steal second base and the throw to second popped out of the glove of second baseman Darnell Sweeney. As the ball rolled away, Castillo scored on the error.

LaMarre then scored on Chris Marrero’s line-drive single into center field. Marrero has 16 hits and 11 RBI in seven games at Coca-Cola Park this season.

In the bottom of the inning, the IronPigs (74-50) used three singles and an RBI groundout to score their first run and place two runners on base with two outs.

Brock Stassi smacked a three-run home run (10) over the right field wall that put Lehigh Valley ahead, 4-2.

Chris Dominguez responded in the next frame by lining a laser over the right field fence for his ninth home run of the season, cutting the deficit to 4-3.

The IronPigs answered in a big way in the bottom half of the inning. After a four-run first, Lehigh Valley hung five one-out runs on the board in the second.

Following a walk and a single, Cam Perkins lined an RBI single to center. The next batter, Nick Williams, sent a two-run double into right field. The rally was capped by Darin Ruf’s two-run home run over the right field fence, his second blast in as many nights and 17th of the season.

Haley allowed eight hits, matching the number of knocks he allowed in his previous three starts (21 innings) combined. He surrendered two home runs after allowing only five long balls over his first 23 appearances of the season between both Double-A and Triple-A.

Haley had also won each of his previous five starts before Wednesday’s loss.

In the seventh inning, Jose Vinicio tripled and scored on Castillo’s sacrifice fly for the only run of the final seven frames.

Chris Young played seven innings in left field and went 1-for-3 with a line-drive single to center field and two fly outs. He is 3-for-15 through four games on his rehabilitation assignment.

The PawSox move on to the final leg of their season-long 10-game road trip tomorrow as they begin a four-game series with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders at 7:05 p.m. Pawtucket lefthander Roenis Elias (8-4, 3.72) is scheduled to make the start against Scranton lefty Tyler Webb (3-2, 2.79). Radio coverage on WHJJ (920 AM) and throughout the PawSox radio network begins at 6:35 p.m.

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