After going 2-for-4 in
tonight's victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates, Josh Fields has eight hits on the year. Here are the victims:
- Jason Jennings
- Jennings
- Adam Eaton (entered game with 5.99 ERA)
- Kyle Kendrick (making first career start)
- Paul Maholm (entered game with 5.32 ERA)
- Maholm
- John Van Benschoten (making his first start since 2004, fifth overall)
- John Grabow (reliever, entered game with a 5.82 ERA)
Jennings is a proven and quality big-league pitcher, but the rest have been Triple-A fodder on weak staffs. I'm not raining on any parades here -- Sox hitters have had difficulty with just about everybody throwing against them, whether they're Johan Santana or Chad Durbin, so it's great to see Fields racking up hits against anybody. At the same time, when a guy like Dan Kolb strikes out Fields on three pitches like he did tonight (his 13th in 34 at-bats), it illustrates it's still going to be a slow and trying process watching Fields develop.
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In case that previous point was too negative for a generally happy night, here's something to offset it: We won't have to hear "try to salvage the final game" or "look to avoid the sweep" in the pre-game show for the first time in three series.
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More musical bullpen chairs: Dewon Day hits the DL -- he looked like something was wrong when two of his final three pitches went astray
Friday night, and it turns out he strained his back. So
David Aardsma will follow Mike MacDougal's jet trail to Pittsburgh as the next reliever trying to right his season.
Hey, at least Andrew Sisco, who entered this season with the reputation of a slacker, can now say he's the first to show up to the ballpark and the last to leave. More on his evening in a bit.
One more transaction note -- the Sox
agreed to terms with first-round pick Aaron Poreda.
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Minor league round-up (Aaron Cunningham Memorial Edition):- Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 3, Charlotte 2
- Gavin Floyd had his third straight strong outing -- two runs on three hits and two walks over seven innings, striking out seven. The two runs came on one swing. His line over his last three outings: 22 IP, 15 H, 4 ER, 5 BB, 21 K
- Sisco took the loss by walking in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning. He issued four free passes over the final two innings (one intentional).
- Ryan Sweeney went 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI; Scott Podsednik went 1-for-3 and was successful on his first steal attempt of his rehab assignment.
- Huntsville 3, Birmingham 2 (16 innings)
- Gio Gonzalez pitched six solid innings -- four hits (one homer), two runs, two walks, six strikeouts.
- Thomas Collaro hit his 14th homer of the year; on the flipside, Jeremy Frost went 0-for-7 with four strikeouts.
- Oneli Perez, Edwardo Sierra and Carlos Perez threw seven scoreless innings in relief of Gonzalez. Tim Bittner gave up the winning run in his third inning of work.
- Wilmington 6, Winston-Salem 1
- The Warthogs, missing a key offensive piece, were shut down by Rowdy Hardy, who needs to make it to the big leagues so we can say his name more. Tyler Reves had two of Winston-Salem's six hits.
- Matt Zaleski pitched five so-so innings, but Gary Bakker followed by allowing three runs in less than an inning's work. Clayton Richard appeared in relief for the first time this season.
- Kannapolis 19, Greensboro 4
- Chris Carter had a monstrous game -- 4-for-5 with two homers, four RBI and five runs scored. He also drew a walk.
- Carter wasn't alone, as Brandon Allen went 5-for-6 with four runs, a double, two RBI and a stolen base. Maurice Gartrell and Anderson Gomes each went 3-for-4 with four RBI, and Gartrell went deep for the second straight game.
- Jacob Rasner benefited from the run support, picking up the win even with allowing three runs and eight hits over five innings. Ricky Brooks pitched three innings of relief, allowing one run.