Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

Not many hits for some of the Red Sox teams Tuesday night. Both Boston and Portland totaled three hits apiece, and lost.

Pawtucket won 5-3 and totaled nine hits. Winning pitcher Allen Webster (2-0, 2.52) came back from his rough start for Boston and pitched five innings (3 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 1 HBP, 5 K) ... Bryce Brentz (.275) is getting his average to climb. He went 2-for-4. His OPS is .827.

Drake Britton (3-3, 4.35) did not have his command with Portland and was hit hard at times, especially by right-handed batters (who are hitting .301 against him this year). He grinded through 5 innings: 6 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 5 K. 95 pitches/53 strikes.

Salem recorded only six hits, but won 2-1 behind the pitching of Mike Augliera (4-0, 3.12). Augliera, a fifth-round draft pick last year out of America East member Binghamton, pitched six innings: 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K.

Comebacks; rebounds; Masterson; Dogs

Tuesday May 14, 2013 | 06:39 AM

"Son, why don't you let your sister have the remote, and go to bed," I told Aidan after the Boston Bruins trailed 4-1 in the third period Monday night. He stayed. I went to bed.

Woke up this morning to a note: "Glad I watched the whole game!"

So the Bruins won. It brought me back to 2004 when the Red Sox trailed the Yankees 3 games to zero in the American League Championship Series.

Got to love comeback stories.

Reeling; Rizzo; Ranaudo

Monday May 13, 2013 | 06:13 AM

The Red Sox are 2-8 in the last 10 games. In those 10 games, they have scored 33 runs (19 of them in three games).

The pitching and fielding have not been great, but scoring 2-3 runs a game ...

Boston could use a slugger like Anthony Rizzo, the first baseman they traded to San Diego after the 2010 season (a season he finished with the Portland Sea Dogs).

Easy to say now that the Red Sox should not have let Rizzo go. But the Padres also dealt him, sending him to the Cubs for a reliever (Andrew Cashner).

The A-word; still looking at the Youkilis trade; Balcom-Miller

Friday May 10, 2013 | 06:30 AM

I go away for three days on the Appalachian Trail and come back to a slumping Boston Red Sox team that has lost three straight (at home, to the Twins), and now six of seven. On top of that, Boston has lost one closer, Joel Hanrahan, to the 60-day DL, while the other, Andrew Bailey, is still on the DL with a sore biceps muscle.

Now we will see how this clubhouse full of good guys handles the dreaded A-word (adversity).

Tonight's game looks like one of those lopsided match-ups in Boston's favor (which often times turns into trouble). Jon Lester (4-0, 3.30) goes against ageless Ramon Ortiz, who turns 40 in two weeks. Ortiz, recently called up from Buffalo, is making his second appearance and first start for the Jays, in place of ailing Brandon Morrow (back spasms).

The Red Sox have called up reliever Jose De La Torre, which coincides with the day that minor league pitcher Kyle Kaminska retired.

PawSox no-hit; Workman, Martin & Owens get their K's

Monday May 06, 2013 | 06:02 AM

The Pawtucket Red Sox were no-hit in a 2-1 loss to the Durham Bulls Sunday. Jake Odorizzi, who was obtained by the Rays in the James Shields trade with Kansas City, pitched seven innings. His bullpen finished it off.

Pawtucket got its one run in the ninth on two walks, a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly ... Steven Wright (1-1, 1.69) gave up a run in each of the first two innings for the loss.

The Sea Dogs also lost 5-4. Chris Martin, the second Portland reliever, allowed two inherited runs to score in the eighth. It was the first time that has happened to Martin, who still has a 0.00 ERA and still had four strikeouts in two innings. See the game story.

Portland starter Brandon Workman (still 4-0, with a 2.80 ERA) pitched 5 2/3 innings: 6 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K. Workman, who leads the staff with 42 strikeouts, is one of four prime pitching pitching prospects in the Portland rotation. See Sunday's column.