Chiefs fall to Red Sox, 3-1, in pitchers' duel

The Syracuse Chiefs dropped the opener of a three-game series Tuesday night at NBT Bank Stadium to the Pawtucket Red Sox, 3-1. Center fielder Andrew Stevenson, the Nationals' fifth-ranked prospect by Baseball America, singled in his first Triple-A at-bat in the loss. 

Pawtucket (11-12) opened up the scoring in the second inning. Left fielder Steve Selsky led off the inning with a bang when he clobbered his first home run of the season over the left-field fence off of Syracuse (9-13) starter Austin Voth.
The PawSox added to their lead in the fifth. After Matt Dominguez led off the inning with a strikeout, second baseman Jantzen Witte followed with a double to center field. Dan Butler then walked. Voth threw a wild pitch to the next batter, Aneury Tavarez, and allowed Witte to advance to third. Tavarez made Voth pay when he doubled to left field, plating Witte and advancing Butler to third. Pawtucket went up 3-0 in the next at-bat when Deven Marrero singled to right field and brought Butler in to score. 
The Chiefs finally got on the board in the bottom of the eighth inning. After catcher Pedro Severino grounded out to begin the inning, designated hitter Corban Joseph became just the third baserunner of the game after he drew a four-pitch walk from Pawtucket starter Brian Johnson. Second baseman Grant Green followed up the walk with a single to right field, moving Joseph to third. Joseph scored on the next play when shortstop Adrian Sanchez hit a sacrifice fly to center field and cut the Pawtucket lead to 3-1. Johnson recovered by inducing a fly-out from Stevenson to end the inning.
Voth pitched well for the Chiefs despite the loss. The right-hander gave up eight hits and struck out a season-high seven PawSox in seven innings of work. 
On the other side, Johnson dazzled in an even better outing for Pawtucket. The left-hander tossed eight innings of one-hit baseball, giving up just two hits and striking out six Chiefs. 
The Chiefs and PawSox square off in game two of a three-game set Wednesday afternoon at 1:05. Right-hander Taylor Hill is set to pitch for Syracuse opposite southpaw Henry Owens for Pawtucket.