The Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, lost 6-1 to the Pawtucket Red Sox in an 11-inning game Wednesday night at Alliance Bank Stadium. It was the Chiefs' first extra-inning game of 2012.
Pawtucket (9-5) broke open a 1-1 pitchers' duel in the top of the eleventh against Syracuse (3-10) reliever Hassan Pena. After the first three batters of the frame reached base, Pena forced Tony Thomas to ground out and keep the bases full, but Jonathan Hee drew a walk to plate Josh Kroeger. Chiefs reliever Josh Wilkie then came on in relief and struck out Daniel Nava. However, Che-Hsuan Lin delivered the biggest hit of the game with two outs when he cranked a double into the left field corner to drive in three runs.
Lin also made the defensive play of the night in the bottom of the tenth when the center fielder scooped up a Josh Johnson single and threw out Jarrett Hoffpauir, attempting to score from second, at the plate to end the inning.
In the bottom of the third, Chiefs designated hitter Jason Michaels led off and smacked his first extra-base hit of the season into right field for a double. The next batter, Carlos Maldonado, moved Michaels to third with a hit that found a home in shallow right field. Josh Johnson then followed with a ground ball to the right side that scored Michaels for the game's first run.
That third-inning score would be the only offense the Chiefs could muster against Red Sox starter Aaron Cook. The former Colorado Rockies pitcher gave up just two hits and one run in eight innings of work. Cook accomplished that despite walking four and recording no strikeouts.
Clayton Mortensen earned the win for Pawtucket after tossing two scoreless frames.
For Syracuse, starter John Lannan had his best outing yet in 2012. The Long Beach, N.Y. native allowed only two hits over six innings. To Lannan's chagrin, however, one of those two hits came with two outs in the top of the sixth on a Will Middlebrooks solo home run that hit off the batter's eye beyond the centerfield wall.
The Chiefs and Red Sox conclude their four-game series at Alliance Bank Stadium on Thursday afternoon at 12:00 PM. Lefty Zach Duke is set to take the ball for Syracuse against Pawtucket righty Alex Wilson.
**Courtesy Syracuse Chiefs**
