Scott Atchison thinks about the upcoming season at media day.
The Pawtucket Red Sox opened up their season at McCoy Stadium, splitting the short two game series with the Rochester Red Wings. The PawSox won the first game, 2-1, thanks to a combined dominating pitching performance from Scott Atchison, Rich Hill, Hideki Okajima and Michael Bowden. PawSox third baseman Juan Carlos Linares provided all the offense the team would need by tripling in two. Hill would go on to get the win, while Yorman Bazardo would get tagged with the loss for the Red Wings.
In the second game of the series, the Red Wings jumped all over PawSox starter Kyle Weiland and reliever Tony Pena Jr. for a combined six runs. On the opposing side Eric Hacker pitched a solid five innings racking up five strikeouts on his way to Rochester’s first win of the young season. Trevor Plouffe led the way offensively for Rochester going 3-for-5 including hitting a three-run shot on route to a 7-2 final.
After splitting the season opener, the PawSox will go on the road to endure four of seven games against Buffalo before heading off to Syracuse for three games. Buffalo opened their season on Thursday with an 8-5 loss to Syracuse, but bounced back on Friday night to win in dramatic fashion, walking off with a 3-2 victory.
Matt Fox will go for the PawSox in the opener on Saturday at 4:05 p.m. against lefty Pat Misch, who posted the third lowest ERA in the International League last season. As for the rest of the series with Buffalo, it is probable that Pawtucket will see a few former PawSox in lefty Casey Fossum and right-hander Boof Bonser. The PawSox will also most-likely see Bison ace Dillon Gee, who lost on Opening Day by allowing 7 runs (5 earned), in the finale on Tuesday at 6 p.m. However, the PawSox will miss out on facing New York Mets top pitching prospect Jennry Mejia, who didn’t allow a run over six innings of work in his first start of the season against Syracuse.
Andrew Miller has pitched at the major league level in every season since being drafted. When I spoke to him last week he told me he hoped he'd be able to earn his way into doing the same here with the Red Sox but that most importantly he wanted to win.
The PawSox will start with Fox in the opener and most-likely follow with former Florida Marlin Andrew Miller and veteran starter Brandon Duckworth according to CBS Boston.com. As for the fourth and final game, the PawSox may have to turn to Scott Atchison—who worked 4.2 innings in the Opener, striking out eight—now that Alfredo Aceves got the call to work out of the big club’s bullpen earlier this week.
Pawtucket’s pitching staff will have to be extra careful to Mets’ number-two prospect according to Baseball Prospectus, Fernando Martinez, as he finished the Syracuse series going 4-for-9 with a double and a run scored. The PawSox will also have to watch out for Bison shortstop Ruben Tejada (ranked the 10th top prospect in the Mets’ organization by BP) as he has gone 3-for-8 with a run, a triple and three RBIs over his first two games. Other players to watch for in this four-game match up will be outfielders Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Jason Pridie as both players look to have bright futures within the organization.
On the opposing side, the PawSox have quite a few players to watch starting with slick fielding and solid hitting shortstop Jose Iglesias, who is 3-for-7 in two games, and Sox top prospect Ryan Kalish who is 2-for-8 with 2 RBIs on the young season so far. Throw in Daniel Nava, Josh Reddick, Yamaico Navarro and Lars Anderson and the 1-through-nine for the PawSox will make for a tough time for the Bison’s pitching staff.
I think the difference in this series will be the offense and bullpen for the PawSox. Pawtucket’s team is loaded with major league ready talent and most of these players are used to seeing big league type pitching so I don’t think Fossum or Bonser will pose as much of a threat. I don’t think the PawSox will have any problem with the Bison’s starting staff, especially if they are able to escape without facing Mejia. Also, the bullpen for the PawSox has been pretty solid in the first two games with Hill, Okajima, Jason Rice, Clevelan Santeliz and Bowden. I expect that to carry over throughout the season and help solidify their position as a contender in the International League as the year continues.
