Red Wings 5, PawSox 3: Rehabbers look good in Pawtucket loss

PAWTUCKET -- Four rehabbing Red Sox players saw action on Sunday afternoon at McCoy Stadium, but the Pawtucket Red Sox dropped their fifth-consecutive game, falling to the Rochester Red Wings, 5-3.

Left-hander Brian Johnson got the start and went the first four innings. He surrendered only one earned run while walking a pair and striking out six.

Steven Wright made his first appearance of the season as he begins a rehab assignment while he continues to serve an 80-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball's performance-enhancing-drug policy. The knuckleballer went 1 2/3 innings, retiring the first five batters he faced before surrendering a home run to Jake Cave.

Tzu-Wei Lin made his second-straight start as he continued his rehab assignment. Lin played shortstop once again, and he went 2-for-3 with a single and a double.

Rehabbing from a right hip impingement, right-hander Tyler Thornburg tossed a scoreless, one-two-three seventh inning. Thornburg threw 18 pitches, nine for strikes. He featured all three of his pitches, with his fastball touching 95 mph.

All three runs that Pawtucket scored came via the long ball. Gorkys Hernández deposited a solo shot into the Rochester's bullpen in right field in the first inning to put Pawtucket in front 1-0.

Rochester tied the game in the third inning on Willians Astundillo's RBI single.

After Cave's home run put the Red Wings in front in the seventh, Cole Sturgeon's second home run of the year tied the game at 2 in the bottom half of the inning.

But Astundillo struck again in the top of the eighth, blasting a two-run, 410-foot home run to put his team back in front, 4-2. Over the last two games, Astundillo went 6-for-10 with a home run, a walk and two RBI.

Pawtucket's third home run of the game came in the last half of the eighth. Bryce Brentz blasted his ninth home run of the season to bring the PawSox within a run.

But Rochester got an insurance run in the ninth thanks to an RBI double from LaMonte Wade Jr.

The PawSox are off on Monday before beginning a series in Louisville with the Bats on Tuesday night at 7. Pawtucket right-hander Teddy Stankiewicz (3-4, 4.46 ERA) is scheduled to oppose Bats righty Keury Mella (4-5, 4.83 ERA).

___

(c)2019 The Providence Journal (Providence, R.I.)

Visit The Providence Journal (Providence, R.I.) at www.projo.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.