Curtis' timely slam proves to be plenty to lead Yanks, Towers to victory
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share thisUntil Colin Curtis strolled to the plate in the top of the eighth inning, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees hadn't exactly knocked the fences down offensively.
Even their best chance for a big inning was built on a foundation laid by two walks and a hit batsman.
It's what Curtis did after that, though, that made the Yankees' offensive struggles a memory - at least for one night.
Curtis deposited reliever Hunter Jones' 3-2 pitch over the right field wall for his first Triple-A grand slam, helping Yankees starter Josh Towers' seven strong innings stand up for a 6-1 win over Pawtucket at McCoy Stadium on Friday night.
The Yankees had just two runs on six hits until Curtis' blast, but Towers' work still enabled the Yankees to hold the lead going into that key eighth inning.
Towers worked seven innings for the first time since May 22, allowing just four hits - one of which was Travis Denker's second-inning home run. Towers didn't walk a batter, struck out four and got just enough run support from the Yankees to walk off the mound with the lead when his night was done after the seventh.
The Yankees tied it in the third, when Shelley Duncan drove Ramiro Pena home from second with a sharp single to left off Pawtucket lefty Kris Johnson. By the middle of the fifth, they had the lead.
After Eric Duncan led off with a double, he went to third on a single by Kevin Russo and would sprint home two batters later when Austin Jackson flied out to center.
In the meantime, Towers was dealing. He retired the last 13 batters he faced, which gave the Yankees plenty of time to stage their deciding rally in the eighth.
After Red Sox reliever Randor Bierd got Jackson to fly out to start the inning, things seemed in control for Pawtucket. But Shelley Duncan worked a walk, then Bierd passed Juan Miranda on five pitches. Bierd got ahead of Chris Stewart 0-2, then plunked him with a 2-2 pitch to load the bases.
That's when Curtis stepped into the batter's box, and sent the Yankees back to PNC Field, where they'll face Pawtucket again at 7:05 p.m, winners of three of their last four games.
Contact the writer: sports@timesshamrock.com
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