Clippers Triumph, 5-2, to Sweep PawSox
July 24, 2016 - International League (IL1)
Pawtucket Red Sox News Release
Columbus, OH - The Columbus Clippers took an early lead and sailed to a 5-2 victory, completing a four-game sweep of the Pawtucket Red Sox on a steamy late Sunday afternoon at Huntington Park. The PawSox (51-51) have dropped five games in a row for the first time since they suffered an 11-game losing skid from August 3-13, 2015. Pawtucket's record has fallen back to .500 after a 1-6 road trip in Ohio. The Clippers (57-46) have swept the PawSox in each of the last two seasons in Columbus, claiming all seven contests at Huntington Park. Brian Johnson (2-4) rejoined Pawtucket's roster today and made his first Triple-A start since May 14. After being placed on the temporarily inactive list on May 21, the lefthander later spent time on the disabled list recovering in Florida before he made four rehabilitation starts. In his return to the PawSox, Johnson surrendered four runs on six hits in three innings. He walked four and struck out one on 78 pitches. The first three batters Johnson faced all reach base (via two walks and a single). But Johnson induced a 6-4-3 double play grounder from Jesus Aguilar and another groundout from Adam Moore to limit the damage to one run in the opening frame. Johnson pitched around a leadoff single in the second inning. He froze Collin Cowgill on a curveball for his only strikeout of the day. The Clippers used two singles and a walk to load the bases with one out in the third. Adam Moore ripped a two-run double into right field to extend Columbus' advantage to 3-0. Two batters later, Cowgill lined an RBI single into center field. On the play, Rusney Castillo gunned down Moore at the plate to hold the deficit to 4-0. Pawtucket finally got on the scoreboard against Clippers starter Ryan Merritt (6-7) in the fifth inning. After Henry Ramos singled and Mike Miller reached on a throwing error to start the frame, Dan Butler lined a two-run double down the left field line to cut Columbus' lead in half. Butler is hitting .364 since the start of June. Michael Choice smacked his ninth home run of the season in the bottom of the fifth to add the final run of the game. Keith Couch made his second Triple-A relief appearance of the season, allowing just the one run on Choice's blast in 3.1 innings. Casey Janssen set down all five batters he faced in relief. The PawSox return home for a seven-game homestand beginning with tomorrow's contest against the Rochester Red Wings at 7:05 p.m. Radio coverage on WHJJ (920 AM) and throughout the PawSox radio network begins at 6:35 p.m. Good seats for each game on the homestand, including Friday's PawSox Hall of Fame Induction and Saturday's Xander Bogaerts Bobblehead Giveaway, are still available at the McCoy Stadium box office; call (401) 724-7300 or visit pawsox.com to get your tickets today.
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International League Stories from July 24, 2016
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