The Red Sox announced the following roster moves today:

Catcher David Ross was activated from the seven-day concussion disabled list. To make room for him on the 25-man roster, catcher Ryan Lavarnway was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket after last night’s game.

Right fielder Shane Victorino was placed on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to May 21) with a left hamstring strain. To fill his spot on the roster, right-hander Alfredo Aceves was recalled from Pawtucket. Aceves was schedule to pitch yesterday in Louisville, but was a late scratch.

Third baseman Will Middlebrooks was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a low back strain. To fill his spot on the roster, infielder Jose Iglesias was recalled from Pawtucket. Iglesias made his first career appearance at third on Tuesday.

Executive Vice President/General Manager Ben Cherington made the announcements.

Ross, 36, experienced concussion symptoms after taking a pair of foul balls off his catcher’s mask in the game on May 11 against Toronto. He made a one-game rehab assignment for Double-A Portland yesterday, going 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI as the starting catcher. In 15 games for Boston this season, he is hitting .209 (9-for-43) with four home runs and five RBI.

Lavarnway, 25, has had two stints with the Red Sox this season. In three games (two starts) for Boston, he has hit .250 (2-for-8) with one double and two RBI. Lavarnway will rejoin Pawtucket where he has hit .313 (25-for-80) with seven doubles, two home runs and 15 RBI in 22 contests.

Ryan Lavarnway returns to Pawtucket

Aceves, 31, will rejoin the Red Sox for his second stint with the club in 2013. He worked out of the starting rotation at Pawtucket, going 2-1 with a 3.13 ERA (8 ER/23.0 IP) with 11 walks and 21 strikeouts in four starts. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in three of his four starts. With Boston this season, Aceves was 1-1 with an 8.66 ERA (17 ER/17.2 IP) in five games (three starts).

Alfredo Aceves is back up in Boston

Middlebrooks, 24, left last night’s game against Cleveland in the fifth inning due to low back spasms. In 46 games this year, he has hit .201 (35-for-174) with 12 doubles, eight home runs and 21 RBI. Middlebrooks’ eight home runs are tied with David Ortiz for the club lead and are fourth-most among AL third basemen.

Iglesias, 23, also rejoins the Red Sox for his second stint of the year. In 33 games for Pawtucket this season, he has hit .202 (24-for-119) with two doubles, four home runs and 15 RBI. Iglesias made his first career Opening Day roster with the Red Sox in 2013 and hit .450 (9-for-20) with two doubles and one RBI in six games at the major league level.

Jose Iglesias will make his return to Boston tonight and start at third base

Jeff
@jlevering4
jlevering@pawsox.com

For most of us, we arrived at McCoy Stadium at 4:30am to bus to T.F. Green Airport at 5am to fly from Providence to Philadelphia before eventually arriving in Louisville at about 11:45. Not a bad plan.

However, when we arrived in Philadelphia, we were told our flight to Louisville was cancelled. Yes, not delayed, but cancelled. For a traveling party of 37, this is not a good thing. The reason…congestion. There was an alleged Air Traffic Control strike going on which led to this cancellation, but that is still a mystery.

Our Athletic Trainer (and part time traveling secretary), John Jochim, did a terrific job of trying to defuse the situation and keep everybody relaxed. He was in communication with the PawSox VP and CFO Matt White who coordinates the team travel.

There were three options discussed.

1. Try to fly stand by on another flight to Louisville (only five total seats were available for the two remaining flights that day)
2. Get two buses ASAP to Philadelphia to drive the team to Louisville (a 10 hour ride).
3. Bus back to Providence, rest and do the whole thing all over against tomorrow (Friday).

We waited from the time we landed in Philly (8:30am) until 1:15pm before we actually had a plan of attack.

That plan, and again all the credit goes to John and Matt for making this happen, was to hop on a flight to Charlotte and then fly to Louisville to get the team in by 5:45. Oh, by the way, our game was scheduled for 6:35pm.

We took off for Charlotte at 2:00pm and landed at 3:45. The team got off the plane, found our next gate, walked on the connecting flight (which was being held for us), and took off for Louisville. We landed at 5:45pm, hopped on a bus and booked it to Louisville Slugger Field thanks to a police escort.

The bus parked at 6:15pm at the ballpark. Thankfully the Bats were understanding of the situation and pushed the start time back to 7:40 to allow the team to catch its breath… a little.

You may be wondering about the luggage…amazingly, every piece made it successfully and never was on a flight that we physically were not a part of. Simply shocking!

The team struggled during the game as they were routed 10-0. But they did have some impressive at-bats and even Jonathan Diaz pitched a scoreless inning. It was his 1st appearance as a pitcher since high school.

We’ll try and get after it tonight at 6:35pm with Alfredo Aceves on the mound for the Sox!

I also took a tour of the Louisville Slugger Factory…what a great experience. Pictures to follow in the next blog tomorrow!

Jeff
@jlevering4
jlevering@pawsox.com

In a game that was billed as a “Battle of Aces” between the Red Sox #4 prospect Allen Webster and the Pirates #1 prospect Gerrit Cole, Pawtucket blew the game open with a five-run bottom of the 6th to take a 9-1 lead.

Webster looked as dominant as he has all season retiring the first 11 batters he faced, including six straight strikeouts. A couple walks and an RBI single with two outs in the 4th led to the first run of the game scoring for the Indians. But, Webster notched his 7th and final strikeout to end the 4th with only the one run scoring.

Allen Webster earned his 3rd win of the season

Webster with the Sunday cap

Cole, after surrendering a double to Brandon Snyder in the 2nd, retired the next eight batters faced before he plunked Snyder with two-outs in the 4th. Jeremy Hazelbaker followed with a single and Jonathan Diaz tripled into the left-center field alley to give Pawtucket a 2-1 lead. Diaz would score on a balk to make it 3-1.

Brandon Snyder and Jeremy Hazelbaker scoring on Jonathan Diaz’ 2-run triple

Jackie Bradley Jr., fresh off the disabled list on Friday, drew a two-out walk and scored from first on a Justin Henry RBI double to take a 4-1 advantage.

Jackie Bradley Jr. scored three times Sunday, incuding on an RBI double by Justin Henry in the 5th

Webster would end up throwing five full innings and pitched to a batter in the 6th leaving the game with a 4-1 lead. He allowed just the one run and one hit while walking five and striking out seven. His command was brilliant in the first 3.2 innings, but walked five of the last eight batters he faced. He was able to work through the trouble, but the lack of command late was troublesome.

Chris Martin, who had tossed 21 scoreless innings in Portland prior to his promotion last week, fired two spotless frames to extend his run of bagels to 26 straight innings without allowing a run.

Chris Martin has tossed 26 straight scoreless innings to start 2013

The five-runs scored against Cole in the 6th were the most allowed by the prospect in any inning all season. Prior to Sunday, Cole had allowed just 12 runs on the whole season…he allowed eight earned runs yesterday!

Infielder Jonathan Diaz continues to swing a hot bat during May as he has lifted his batting average over .200 for the first time this season (.209). Once April concluded, Diaz was hitting .095 (4-for-42) and since then, he’s batting .306 (15-for-49) with six extra-base hits and seven RBI.

Jonathan Diaz is red hot in May

Bryce Brentz has also hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games (including six multi-hit efforts) raising his average from .243 to .276 and has driven in 10 runs during that span.

Bryce Brentz has hits in 10 of his last 11

Tonight, the Sox send right hander Steven Wright to the mound in search of his 3rd win of the season and a chance to take the advantage in the series with Indianapolis.

Here’s tonight’s lineup for the 7:05pm game:
Jackie Bradley Jr. DH
Justin Henry CF
Drew Sutton 3B
Bryce Brentz RF
Brandon Snyder 1B
Jeremy Hazelbaker LF
Jose Iglesias SS
Brock Holt 2B
Dan Butler C

Tomorrow’s game is scheduled to start at 12:05pm with Rubby De La Rosa on the mound.

Go PawSox!

Jeff
@jlevering4
jlevering@pawsox.com

To this point, the PawSox have still not lost three games in a row in 2013. Thanks Bryce Brentz…that was a very loud homer!

Here are a few shots from photographer Jillian Souza of the celebration at home plate.

Brentz “walking on air” after his walk-off blast

A big dogpile at home plate

Priceless photo of Justin Henry celebrating

This is what it sounded like on the air…

http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.jsp?content_id=27214515&sid=milb

My broadcast partner even got a shaving cream pie at the end of the game during the post game interview!

Tonight, the PawSox welcome Indianapolis to McCoy Stadium for the first game of a four-game set. The Indians hold the best record in International League at 30-13, but are just 10-8 away from Victory Field in downtown Indy.

Here is tonight’s starting lineup:

Justin Henry DH
Drew Sutton 1B
Bryce Brentz RF
Brandon Snyder 3B
Jeremy Hazelbaker LF
Ronald Bermudez CF
Jose Iglesias SS
Dan Butler C
Brock Holt 2B
and lefty Franklin Morales makes his second major league rehab start with Pawtucket.

Red Sox closer Andrew Bailey is scheduled to pitch an inning for the PawSox tonight as well.

Happy walk-off!

Jeff
@jlevering4
jlevering@pawsox.com

Pawtucket dropped their second straight game last night by a score of 6-4 to Gwinnett. Omar Poveda pitched a great game for the Braves mixing and matching his changeup with an average fastball to keep the PawSox hitters off-balance.

The Sox did mount a comeback in the 9th scoring three times on a two-run double by Ronald Bermudez and an RBI single by Brock Holt, but the rally still came up a couple shy.

Rubby De La Rosa started Thursday and matched a season high with four innings while allowing an unearned run. He threw 71 pitches, 36 were strikes and has now thrown 18 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run over his last five starts.

Rubby De La Rosa has tossed 18 straight innings with an unearned run

The lineup for tonight’s game with Alfredo Aceves on the mound.

Justin Henry DH
Jose Iglesias SS
Drew Sutton 1B
Bryce Brentz LF
Brandon Snyder 3B
Jeremy Hazelbaker RF
Ronald Bermudez CF
Dan Butler C
Jonathan Diaz 2B

Notes: Reigning IL Hitter of the Week Mark Hamilton was placed on the DL with a small fracture in his right wrist. He says he’ll miss a few weeks. Reliever Chris Carpenter was also placed on the DL with a right triceps strain. Rumors have been swirling that outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. is close to return from the DL (right biceps strain) and Red Sox closer Andrew Bailey may begin a rehab assignment with the PawSox as soon as Saturday.

Now, a little self-promotion on a Friday.

I received two deliveries at McCoy Stadium today.

The first was from a good friend (and converting PawSox fan) from Springfield, Missouri.

The batch of cookies! Thanks “Auntie MB”

The second package was a little smaller, but the contents were very special.

From 2010 through 2012 seasons, I had the pleasure of broadcasting and being the Manager of Public Relations for the Springfield Cardinals (Double-A, St. Louis Cardinals). In my final season with the Cardinals, the team won the Texas League Championship. It was the first in their franchise history and the title rings did not disappoint. Mine arrived today…

The box the ring arrived in

The 1st title in Springfield Cardinals franchise history

That would be my name

The 1st minor league ring to have the series results and team logos inscribed inside

The bling of the Texas League Championship Ring

Thanks for the trip down memory lane…it was an honor to be a part of something so special!

Hope to make it two-in-a-row with the PawSox!!

Jeff
@jlevering4
jlevering@pawsox.com

Starter Allen Webster battled with his fastball command for much of the night, but utilized his changeup to notch five strikeouts in five innings of work to earn his 2nd victory of the season. Pedro Beato was good out of the bullpen firing three innings allowing a couple runs, only one earned, on just two hits while striking out three.

Allen Webster earned his 2nd win with Pawtucket Tuesday night

Bryce Brentz is on a 6-game hitting streak

Anthony Carter was sensational wrapping up his 5th save of the season allowing a broken bat single before inducing a double play groundout and striking out the final batter to secure the 5-3 victory. In fact, Carter has been one of the PawSox best out of the bullpen lately. In his last nine appearances (9.1 innings pitched) he has not allowed a single run on just six singles while striking out 15. AND he hasn’t walked a batter. The small mechanical adjustment made by Pitching Coach Rich Sauveur has paid off in a big way for the Georgia native.

As for tonight, the PawSox will look for their 11th straight win over Gwinnett (the last loss to the Braves was June 11, 2012 at McCoy). Knuckleballer Steven Wright gets to start for Pawtucket in search of his 3rd win of the season.

Tonight’s starting lineup is as follows:
Justin Henry CF
Jonathan Diaz SS
Drew Sutton DH
Bryce Brentz RF (and on a 6-game hitting streak)
Brandon Snyder 1B
Dan Butler C
Jeremy Hazelbaker LF
Ryan Dent 3B
Brock Holt 2B

There are a few GREAT events coming up in and around McCoy over the next few days.

Saturday – The first of four Free Youth Clinics at McCoy Stadium will take place from 2:00-3:15 pm. Sponsored by Citizens Bank in association with ABC 6, the clinic is open to youngsters of all ages free of charge. PawSox manager Gary DiSarcina, pitching coach Rich Sauveur, hitting coach Dave Joppie, and several players will be on the field at McCoy to offer youngsters instructions and tips on the game of baseball. That’s the first Free Youth Clinic of the season on Saturday from 2:00–3:15 pm followed by a 6:05 pm game against the Indianapolis Indians.

Sunday – Join the PawSox at Uno’s in Attleboro for PawSox Day and Dough Raiser! Come see Paws and a few “Celebrity” bartenders from 6-8. A few PawSox players will be on hand signing autographs and we hope to see you there.

Tuesday – The Pawtucket Red Sox are very excited to announce we will host a bowling event to raise money for the TOMORROW FUND…the PAWSOX STRIKE FOR CANCER event will occur on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 from 7:00pm – 10:00pm at the EAST PROVIDENCE LANES on 80 Newport Avenue, East Providence, RI 02916. For more information, follow this link…http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130501&content_id=46333696&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_t533&sid=t533

That’s all for now, Go PawSox!

Jeff
@jlevering4
jlevering@pawsox.com

They’ve rattled off the six straight victories in large part because of excellent pitching. The PawSox staff has allowed a grand total of 15 runs in the last six games, and nine of those came in a 14-9 win over Gwinnett on Thursday. In no other game has an opponent scored more than three (and even that was only once). Well done Sox!

Rubby De La Rosa extended his scoreless streak to 14 innings posting four shutout Saturday while notching a season high seven strikeouts.

Mark Hamilton has been particularly hot on the road going 9-for-22 (.409) with four HR and 10 RBI including a 2 homer game Saturday against Charlotte (his first since June 15, 2012 against New Orleans when he was playing for Memphis).

This afternoon, Alfredo Aceves takes to the hill in search of his 3rd straight win and the PawSox 7th in a row. The last time Pawtucket had a 7-game winning streak or longer was in April of 2012 when the Sox rattled off 9 straight from the 16th to the 25th.

Today’s starting lineup:
Justin Henry CF
Jose Iglesias SS
Brandon Snyder 1B
Mark Hamilton DH
Dan Butler C
Brock Holt 3B
Jonathan Diaz 2B
Ryan Dent LF
Jeremy Hazelbaker RF

In other player news, catcher Ryan Lavarnway was recalled to Boston today and the PawSox received C Alberto Rosario from Portland…INF Drew Sutton was activated from the disabled list yesterday (mild side strain) and OF Matty Johnson was returned to High-A Salem. INF/OF Justin Henry was activated from the temporarily inactive list.

Since it is Mother’s Day, I’d be remiss if I didn’t give my mom, Cathy, a quick shout-out to say how much I appreciate and love her. She has sacrificed a lot to make sure my sister and I had the best childhood possible. She has always been our biggest cheerleader, our biggest fan and, more than anything, has never wavered in her unconditional love for the both of us. All the games she went to when I played, all the games she has listened to (and gave critiques on), and everything in between, she’s always been there and supportive!

The Levering Family, minus one

My mom with my wife and I at our wedding. Proud Mama!

An honor to walk my mom down the aisle at my wedding

Again, I cannot say enough how appreciative I am of my mother’s support and can say, unequivocally, that I would not be who I am today without her. You’re the best and I am so lucky that you’re my mother! AND, also a big Happy Mother’s Day to my new “Mom”, Mother-in-Law, Anne!

Thanks for reading and Happy Mother’s Day!

Jeff
@jlevering4
jlevering@pawsox.com

Pawtucket got a terrific offensive effort in the 14-9 win in the finale as seven of the nine starters had at least two hits (Ronald Bermudez had three hits for the second straight game). They also delivered in the clutch going 9-for-15 with runners in scoring position. Mark Hamilton (4), Brandon Snyder (7) and Bryce Brentz (6) each launched homers and starter Steven Wright earned his second win of the season.

Wednesday, New England native Terry Doyle, working on three day’s rest, tossed six scoreless innings to earn his 3rd win of the season in a 4-1 victory. With the sweep, the G-Braves have now lost 12 straight games.

Here are some of the sights from around Coolray Field and the one memorable dining spot that the team frequented.

Ted’s, and yes, Bison were present

Ted’s had a great menu featuring Bison Burgers!

The Entrance to Coolray Field

Atlanta Legend Hank Aaron

Winningest Manager in Atlanta Braves History, Bobby Cox

Chipper Jones, maybe the second most famous Atlanta Brave ever

The view from the booth of Coolray Field

The Atlanta Crackers started pro baseball in Atlanta

After the Crackers, the Ricmond Braves were a staple for 42 years

The Gwinnett Braves, est. 2009

My cousin Kate Levering, star of the Lifetime show Drop Dead Diva stopped by and joined me on the radio, the highlight of the trip!

Now we’re in Charlotte for the first time since the Governors’ Cup Finals where the PawSox swept the Knights in the three games to win their first International League Title since 1984. Graham Godfrey will make a spot start before Allen Webster rejoins to rotation.

And, I’d be remiss if I didn’t congratulate reliever Jose De La Torre on his promotion to Boston. He was stellar for the PawSox during the early part of the season going 1-0 with a 1.56 ERA in 10 games and allowed no runs and just ONE hit over his last 11.2 innings of work. Job well done, Jose! Good luck.

Thanks for reading.

Jeff
@jlevering4
jlevering@pawsox.com

Boston Strong Night in Gwinnett

Boston Strong

More Boston Strong

Nice Shirt!

Media Frenzy

Rollin with Rick trying to photo-bomb Varitek

Jason Veritek tosses out the first pitch

All players changed their normal walk up music to songs from Boston area bands. They even tried to form a “one” while the anthem was playing.

The Braves formed a “1″ during the anthem

Painted ribbons for OneFundBoston.org

A few auction items

Signed Boston Braves cap

In all, it was a terrific event and most importantly raised a lot of money for the families affected by the tragedy.

Oh, and the PawSox won big, 7-3, to take the first two games of the series.

Alfredo Aceves was excellent after allowing a 2-run homer in the 1st. He would go on to scatter seven hits over the next six innings of work while striking out six.

Allen Webster, tomorrow’s scheduled starter, was recalled to Boston for the 2nd time this season and will start at Fenway against the Twins, rather than in Gwinnett against the Braves! So, Terry Doyle will move up a day to start in his stead.

Thanks for reading…Boston Strong!

Jeff
@jlevering4
jlevering@pawsox.com

This afternoon, the PawSox have an opportunity to do something they haven’t done since April 11-14 and that’s win a four-game series outright. Since taking two of the first three series of the season, Pawtucket has split two series and lost two (at Buffalo). But they’ll have to do it during the day, a time of day the Sox have struggled with in the early going. They are just 6-8 in day games this year as opposed to 11-4 under the lights.

Bryce Brentz made a sensational sliding catch Saturday

Brandon Snyder hit a solo homer Saturday, his 6th of the year

The PawSox will send this lineup against the #5 prospect in the Rays system.

Justin Henry CF
Jonathan Diaz SS
Ryan Lavarnway C
Mark Hamilton 1B
Bryce Brentz LF
Brandon Snyder 3B
Jeremy Hazelbaker RF
Dan Butler DH
Brock Holt 4
And Steven Wright on the mound with his 1-0 record and 1.93 ERA.

Notes: Jeremy Hazelbaker had his team high 10-game hitting streak snapped yesterday going 0-for-3 with a walk. During the streak he batted .294 (13-for-33). INF Drew Sutton was placed on the disabled list Friday after straining his side while taking swings during soft toss (INF Ryan Dent was promoted from Portland to take his place on the roster). And, Jackie Bradley Jr. is nursing a sore right shoulder (throwing arm) and has been held out of the lineup the last two games. When asked, Jackie said, “I’m good, getting better every day.” Hope to see him in the lineup again once we get on the road Monday in Gwinnett.

Thanks for reading!

Jeff
@jlevering4
jlevering@pawsox.com