INDIANS 9, PAWSOX 5

The Highlights: Despite a three-day break for the Triple-A All-Star Game, it was more of the same for the Pawtucket Red Sox Thursday night.

The Sox’ anemic offense was kept in check and limited to just seven hits as the visiting Indianapolis Indians rolled to a 9-5 win. The Sox managed just two singles in the opening eight innings before breaking through for four runs on five hits in the ninth.

Pawtucket has now lost six straight games and 9 of its last 10 overall. The Sox are hitting a woeful .196 during that span.

Indianapolis’ first two pitchers were both outstanding. Starter Ian Snell gave up just the two scratch singles in his 6 1/3 innings. He struck out seven PawSox, several with a fastball that approached 95 mph. Reliever Mike Koplove pitched 1 2/3 innings of perfect baseball. The PawSox finally regrouped and scored four runs in the ninth inning off two pitchers.

The PawSox scored an unearned run in the fourth inning off Snell as Paul McAnulty reached on a walk and Brown singled. Bubba Bell then grounded to second but the ball went right through Shelby Ford’s legs for an error and McAnulty breezed home.

The Sox fell behind, 9-1, as starter Kris Johnson (3-10) and three relievers were knocked around for 18 hits. Johnson gave up single runs in four of his five innings. The lefty allowed 11 hits and many were squared up and hit very hard. Johnson escaped big trouble in the second inning and again in the third when the Sox turned an inning-ending double play. Ford (3-for-5, 3 runs) hit a solo home run in the fourth inning for the Indians and Johnson left the game after striking out two to wrap up the fifth inning.

T.J. Large made his Pawtucket debut and pitched a scoreless sixth inning. The same couldn’t be said for Hunter Jones. The lefty pitched the seventh inning with little trouble but gave up three runs on four hits in the eighth. Marcus McBeth came on in the ninth and was greeted by a homer by Tagg Bozied and another run on a double and a single that pushed the lead to 9-1.

The PawSox did not go down without a fight. The Indians sent reliever Chris Bootcheck to the mound, and he was greeted by four straight hits. The biggest was a two-run double by Travis Denker. Denny Bautista came in and gave up a single to Angel Chavez and a sacrifice fly by Jed Lowrie (0-for-4), but he settled down and got out of the jam.

Pickin' it: Two early infield plays stood out for the PawSox. With runners on second and third in the second inning, Angel Chavez made his usual sharp stab of a hot grounder at third base and threw out Lastings Milledge to end the inning. In the fourth inning, Jed Lowrie roamed far to his right to catch up to a grounder and made the long throw across to diamond to nip Brian Bixler.

Next up: The four-game series continues Friday night at McCoy, with knuckleballing Charlie Zink (4-9) opposing lefty Tom Gorzelanny.

kmcnamar@projo.com