From staff and wire reports:
SYRACUSE (AAA International League): The Chiefs topped the Pawtucket Red Sox, 3-2, in walk-off fashion on Friday night. The win gave the Chiefs their fifth in the last six games. With the victory and a Lehigh Valley loss, the Chiefs returned to first place in the International League North division.
Syracuse (11-9) was held scoreless through the first five innings of play, mustering only three hits. The Chiefs finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth inning, scoring its first run of the night. Scott Sizemore led off with a line-drive single to left field. with two outs, Jason Martinson followed with a two-out single. With runners on first and second and two outs, Brian Goodwin singled to right field, plating Sizemore, cutting the Red Sox’ lead to 2-1.
The Chiefs finally came through in the bottom of the ninth. Turner led off, reaching first on an error from first baseman Sam Travis. Turner stole second on the next pitch. Sizemore followed with a pop out to second base. Keyes then struck out, but the ball was dropped by catcher Blake Swihart. Keyes took first when Swihart’s errant throw pulled Travis off the bag. Jose Lozada pinch-ran for Keyes and Skole followed with a walk. With the bases loaded and one out, Martinson hit a ground ball fielded in the hole at shortstop. Turner scored on the infield single and Lozada scored when Deven Marrero’s throw to second hit the runner, Skole. The two-run ninth handed Syracuse a 3-2 victory.
The Chiefs are back in play Saturday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. Austin Voth is slated to take the ball for Syracuse opposite Roenis Elias of Pawtucket.
HARRISBURG (AA Eastern League): The Senators were held to only two hits as they dropped the opening game of their weekend series with the Bowie Baysox, 4-3. Harrisburg squandered an early three run lead in front of 2,658 fans at FNB Field.
The Senators (7-12) got on the board in the first inning without the courtesy of a base hit. Leadoff batter Rafael Bautista walked on four pitches and came around to score on a Bowie error and RBI ground out by Neftali Soto.
Harrisburg pushed their advantage to three runs in the next frame as Zach Collier tripled home Brenden Webb from first base. Another Bowie error, this time an errant throw from catcher Chance Sisco, scored Collier from third base to give the Senators a 3-0 lead.
But Bowie responded off Nationals’ top prospect Lucas Giolito for two runs of their own in the top of the third inning. A leadoff walk and two Harrisburg errors helped the Baysox chip away at the lead.
The Baysox drew to even in the next frame as they strung together three straight singles off Giolito. The 21-year-old right-hander allowed six hits and walked two over four innings of work while striking out four in the cool, misty night. Giolito threw 13 of 19 first pitch strikes, but struggled to keep the count advantage against the veteran Bowie lineup.
Gilberto Mendez relieved and ran into trouble in his second inning of work as the Baysox used a walk and two singles to score the go ahead run. Nick Lee and Bryan Harper combined to work a clean 3.1 innings to finish the game.
Other than Collier’s triple, which pushed his hitting streak to a team-leading seven games, the Senators’ only base hit was a bunt single by Stephen Perez in the fifth inning. Bautista walked three times and scored a run in the loss.
Harrisburg looks to get back in the win column at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday night with Austen Williams toeing the rubber for the Senators against Bowie’s Chris Lee.
POTOMAC (HIGH-A Carolina League): When the P-Nationals score the first run of the game, things work out well. For the 12th time in 12 games in which the P-Nats have scored the game’s first run, Potomac came out with the win. Friday night, the P-Nats took the lead on an RBI single by David Masters in the second inning and never looked back. Luis Reyes (W, 2-2) struck out a career high eight over 5 2/3 innings, as he had his best start of the season in Potomac’s 5-1 win over the Wilmington Blue Rocks.
Wilmington starter Colin Rodgers (L, 1-2) allowed just two runs over 5 2/3 innings, but saw his offense fail behind him. The Blue Rocks tallied eight hits but went just 1 for 11 with RISP and left 13 men on base. Rodgers gave up a one-out double to Dale Carey in the second, which preceded Masters’ RBI single. In the third, Osvaldo Abreu reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second and third base, and scored on Raudy Read’s RBI single. Read has an RBI hit in five straight games and has at least one hit in a team best 15 games.
Reyes danced in and out of trouble through much of the night, as the Blue Rocks left at least one man on in five of the six innings that he pitched in. The righty departed in the sixth inning after he gave up an RBI double to Roman Collins with two outs in the frame. Mario Sanchez came in from the pen and got Corey Toups to pop up to second base to end the inning.
The P-Nats (13-8) broke the game open against Derek Gordon in the seventh inning. Andrew Stevenson followed a walk drawn by Narciso Mesa with a single, and Abreu plated both with two-run base hit. The P-Nats led 4-1 after seven innings.
Bryan Mejia tripled off of Evan Beal in the eighth and scored on a wild pitch, the final run of the game. RC Orlan (SV, 2) pitched two scoreless innings out of the pen to close out Potomac’s seventh win in the past eight games. With a loss by the Lynchburg Hillcats on Friday night, the P-Nats sit 2 1/2 games out of the Northern Division lead with a series against Lynchburg upcoming.
With an opportunity for the series win Saturday night, Potomac will send Phillips Valdez (3-1, 5.40) to the hill to match up with Zach Lovvorn (0-4, 4.50) in a rematch of an Opening Day matchup in Wilmington. First pitch at Pfitzner Stadium is set for 6:35 p.m.
HAGERSTOWN (LOW-A South Atlantic League): Andrew Lee, Jorge Pantoja and Tommy Peterson combined on a six-hitter to help the Suns top the Rome Braves 3-1 at Municipal Stadium.
Lee gave up one run on three hits and and no walks, striking out one, in five innings. Pantoja alllowed no runs on three hits with a K and was the pitcher of record (W, 2-0), while Peterson earned his second save with a perfect ninth inning.
As it's been all season long, the offense was spurred by the top three hitters in the lineup. Victor Robles, Max Schrock and Kelvin Gutierrez had two hits apiece. Schrock and Gutierrez both had doubles and RBIs, while Matthew Page also drove in a run, going 1 for 3. All of Hagerstown's scoring came in the seventh and eighth innings.
The Suns (15-6) are at Rome again on Saturday at 6:05 p.m.