Velazquez spoils strong start by Hansack

Pawtucket Red Sox manager Ron Johnson would rather walk in his bare feet on a bed of hot coals rather than publicly criticize one of his players.

Johnson didn’t deviate Thursday night after the Columbus Clippers edged the PawSox, 4-3, due in large part to Gil Velazquez’s inability to execute in two key situations.

Pawtucket led 1-0 entering the seventh (thanks to Jeff Bailey’s third-inning homer) when Yurendell deCaster led with a single off reliever Lincoln Holdzkom (5-2).

Then, in an obvious sacrifice bunt situation, Ray Olmedo dropped a bunt down third. At the least, Velazquez should have gotten one out (given Olmedo’s speed, his best bet was a force at second). But Velazquez inexplicably ate the ball and the Clippers wound up scoring four runs in the inning.

“He’s made so many good plays for us this year that we’ll kind of get into it later,” said Johnson. “I couldn’t tell (what Velazquez was thinking). I have enough confidence in his judgment that when he tells me what he was thinking, I’m in.

“That was just one of those things. It didn’t lose us the game.”

Oh?

Even though Jorge Padilla tied the game with a single, Javi Herrera followed with a grounder to short for what would have been the second out - but which wound up as a run-scoring, fielder’s choice.

Velazquez’s second gaffe came in the ninth which began with Columbus leading 4-1.

George Kottaras and Bryan Pritz ripped Steven Shell for singles, which brought up Velazquez in another obvious bunt situation.

Velazquez popped up to Shell on the first pitch, and then smashed his bat into two pieces.

Jonathan Van Every walked to load the bases.

Jim Ed Warden replaced Shell and promptly uncorked a wild pitch which scored Kottaras and induced manager Tim Foli to issue an intentional walk to Bailey to load the bases.

Warden then got Joe Thurston and Jed Lowrie on popouts to short to earn his second save. But if Velazquez had executed the sacrifice bunt, who knows what might have happened?

“Of course he was frustrated,” said Johnson. “But that’s probably more because of the situation. It’s one of those things where I’m not going to get into talking to the media talking about players - especially a guy like that.

“This guy’s been too good for us all year.”

One PawSox who was “good” this night was starter Devern Hansack who was 0-4 in his last five starts with a 6.59 ERA.

Hansack pitched his best game since May 18 (a 7-1 win over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre). Not only did he blank Columbus on four hits over six innings but he walked only two, struck out seven and threw 56 of 91 pitches for strikes.

“I thought his fastball command was real good,” said Johnson. “Most of his stuff was downhill. His changeup was a valuable commodity throughout the game. He started to get some good tilt to his slider at times. And he had some swing-and-miss pitches tonight.

“I think he’s got to be pleased with that.”

EXTRA BASES: Right-hander Miguel Asencio was transferred from Portland to Pawtucket … He takes the roster spot of PawSox closer Chris Smith who was called up to Boston on Tuesday … In 18 relief appearances with the Sea Dogs, Ascencio was 1-3 with a 6.44 ERA encompassing 29 1/3 innings … Asencio pitched two scoreless innings, allowing two hits … Kottaras stepped on the McCoy Stadium turf with a paltry .157 average (14-89) over his last 25 games was 2-for-4 — a pair of line-drive singles … Thurston, who was a home run shy of the cycle, has hit safely in 11 of his last 13 games at a .441 clip (26-59) with 15 RBI … Van Every’s eight-game hitting streak was snapped after he went 0-3 (all strikeouts).