IL1 Pawtucket Red Sox

Couch Forces Knights to Take a Seat in 2-0 Win

Published on July 15, 2016 under International League (IL1)
Pawtucket Red Sox News Release


Pawtucket, RI - Pawtucket Red Sox starter Keith Couch tossed seven scoreless innings and teamed up with Joe Kelly to shut out the Charlotte Knights, 2-0, on Friday night in front of 9,069 fans at McCoy Stadium. Couch (1-2), who was promoted from Double-A Portland earlier in the day for his third stint of the season with the PawSox (48-45), surrendered only five hits. He struck out five and walked none to earn his first Triple-A win since July 11, 2015. "He just kept hitters off balance and he didn't fear contact," said manager Kevin Boles. "He was able to settle in and attack the bottom of the strike zone and I thought he did a terrific job." Couch allowed only one hit over his final five innings of work, retiring 12 straight Knights (43-51) at one point. "I was just mixing it up and establishing my fastball," said Couch. "I've just been trusting my stuff and trying not to do too much." He continued his dominant stretch from Double-A, where he delivered a pair of nine-inning complete games to begin the month for the SeaDogs. Kelly completed the shutout with a pair of scoreless frames in his first relief appearance for Pawtucket. "Slider felt good, arm felt good and I located the fastball for the most part," said Kelly. "I feel solid." Kelly struck out the side in the ninth inning, getting swinging strike-threes against all three batters he faced. "Overall, his fastball was overpowering tonight," Boles said. "He had his power stuff and it really showed up tonight." He allowed only one hit in his outing, a pop fly that fell in shallow right field with two outs in the eighth inning. After being held off the scoreboard for the first 13 frames following the All-Star Break, the PawSox offense finally broke through with a pair of unearned runs in the fifth inning against Charlotte starter Kameron Loe (0-1). The two-out rally began with Christian Vazquez's single into left field. The next batter, Jantzen Witte, hit a groundball to shortstop Marcus Lemon, who booted the ball and then threw it away. Lemon tried for the force out at second, but instead his throw ended up against the retaining wall down the right field line. Vazquez scored all the way from first base on the pair of errors and Witte advanced to second. Rusney Castillo followed with an RBI single into left field to extend Pawtucket's lead to 2-0. Loe suffered the defeat despite not allowing an earned run in his 6.1 innings pitched. Ryan LaMarre, playing in his second game with the PawSox since he was called up to Boston on June 18, singled in the fourth inning to extend his on-base streak to 22 games, setting the mark for the longest such streak by a Pawtucket player in the last two seasons. The PawSox continue their four-game series with the Knights tomorrow at 6:05 p.m. Pawtucket lefthander Henry Owens (5-5, 4.12) is set to face off against Charlotte right Chris Volstad (6-7, 4.69). Radio coverage on WHJJ (920 AM) and throughout the PawSox radio network begins with PawSox Insider at 4:35 p.m. Good seats for both weekend games 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 15, 2016


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