The SyracuseChiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, won their thirdstraight game with a 6-3 win over the Pawtucket Red Sox on Thursdayafternoon. The Chiefs scored five runsin the third inning for the second straight day and swept the brief two-gameseries at Pawtucket.
Afterright-hander Billy Buckner retired six straight batters to start the game, Syracuse(58-61) unleashed its offense in the third inning. Jarrett Hoffpauir doubled to begin theinning, and two batters later, Brett Carroll reached on a fielding error by thirdbaseman Danny Valencia. Eury Perez wasthen hit by Buckner's next pitch, loading the bases with one out. The next batter, designated hitter Jim Negrych,followed with a single to center field, scoring the game's first run. After Corey Brown grounded into a fielder'schoice to shortstop, scoring Carroll for a 2-0 lead. Third baseman CarlosRivero laced the game's biggest hit. Hesmashed a two-run double into the left-field corner, plating Negrych and Brownfor a 4-0 lead. Mark Teahen followedwith an RBI single and the Chiefs had a 5-0 advantage at the half-inning's end.
Pawtucket(65-54) got one of its runs back in the bottom of the inning against Chiefsstarter Jeff Mandel. With one out,second baseman Nate Spears lined a 1-1 pitch into the right-center fieldbleachers for his ninth home run. Thatcut the lead to 5-1.
Mandel,however, continued to cruise. He allowedjust that hit through the game's first five innings, until Pawtucket rallied inthe sixth for another run. Spearsstarted the frame with a bunt single, and with one out, Jose Iglesias walked toput two runners on. After a J.C. Linaresfly out, first baseman Mauro Gomez grounded a single to center field, scoringSpears and cutting the lead to 5-2. ButMandel recovered, retiring Danny Valencia on a fielder's choice groundout toshortstop.
The Chiefsadded a seventh-inning insurance run against Pawtucket reliever Daniel Bard. Perez and Negrych walked to lead off theinning before advancing to second and third base on a double steal. Brown then blooped a single to center field,scoring Perez for a 6-2 lead.
That runsupport was more than enough for Mandel, who picked up his third win with theChiefs. He allowed just four hits andtwo runs in seven innings, walking two and striking out four.
The Red Soxwould score one more run, on an eighth-inning sacrifice fly against MitchAtkins, but the right-hander escaped the inning without any further damagebefore working a scoreless ninth.
Syracusenext heads to Lehigh Valley to begin a two-game series with the IronPigs onFriday night at 7:05. Syracuseright-hander Tanner Roark and Lehigh Valley right-hander Jonathan Pettibone arethe scheduled starters.
