SYRACUSE 12, PAWSOX 0

Highlights: One hit. One measly hit. That's all the overmatched Pawtucket Red Sox could manage through the first 8 2/3 innings against Syracuse. They didn't walk. They didn't reach on an error. Syracuse Starter Marco Estrada and reliever Jorge Sosa throttled Pawtucket batters for almost nine innings, allowing only an infield hit in the sixth Otherwise Syracuse pitching made Pawtucket look like a Single-A batting order instead of the Triple-A club for the best team in the American League.

"Rough game today. We all wish we played a little better. The guy did a good job. Pumped the strike zone, and we didn't take advantage of that. We didn't hit pitches we should have hit," said shortstop Gil Velazquez, whose sixth-inning hit broke up the perfect game.

With two outs in the ninth, Pawtucket finally managed two infield singles to stage a "rally" of sorts, but that was quickly snuffed out.

"I just think the guy was really good. He changed speeds well, he threw changeup, slider, fastball, he was a guy who had some major league experience ... he looked like he knew what he was doing tonight," PawSox manager Ron Johnson said.

Syracuse, on the other hand, hit and hit and hit. Seventeen hits in all. They walked, too. Nine times, against a Pawtucket pitching staff that couldn't find the plate. At one point, Syracuse let its pitcher, Jorge Sosa, hit with the bases loaded. And he walked, driving in Syracuse's 12th run of the game.

"They just beat us up," Johnson said.

Starter Enrique Gonzalez allowed eight runs in five innings, and relievers Rocky Cherry and Randor Bierd let up four more, three of them earned. Jose Vaquedano came in with runners on in the ninth inning and recorded three outs to stop the bleeding.

When the dust settled, Syracuse had 12 runs to Pawtucket's 0. And the PawSox had an embarrassing loss to stew on until their next game, Thursday.

Monday hangover: Pawtucket played a five-hour, 14-inning game Monday, and it seemed that the effects were still being felt a day later. With the bullpen burned Monday night, Gonzalez worked through five innings despite not having his best stuff.

"We needed five innings out of him, and he knew it. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him for going out, sucking it up, and getting us through five innings," Johnson said.

He was replaced by the only two pitchers not to pitch Monday, Rocky Cherry and Randor Bierd, and then by Jose Vaquedano, who did pitch the day before.

The one hit: Gil Velazquez saved his team from complete ignominy by hitting a hard grounder into the hole between short and third base. Shortstop Pete Orr made a great diving play to corral the ball, but by the time he could get a throw off, Velazquez was already nearly to first base.

"I thought it was getting through, and then the grass just ate it up. I was actually rounding first, and then I saw him get up to throw, and I started running straight again."

Orr's throw was off-target regardless, and Velazquez had no problem reaching safely. Angel Chavez quickly popped out, and Freddy Guzman grounded out, to end Pawtucket's only threat.

Next up: Pawtucket gets a day to lick its wounds and think about hitting, before taking on the first place Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees Thursday and Friday. They're lucky to have ace Clay Buchholz (5-1, 1.90) on the mound against the Yankees' Josh Towers (2-5, 4.89).

dbarbari@projo.com