By Josh Maurer & Will Flemming

It was only six days ago when Daniel Bard put together an efficient 1–2–3 inning against Charlotte using 10 pitches (seven strikes) to retire the Knights in order.

However, his next two outings were anything but a model of efficiency. A combined 12 batters faced in 1 1/3 innings with five walks, a hit batter, a blown save, one wild pitch, and a total of 47 pitches (18 strikes).

In a 1–1 tie last night against Rochester, Bard’s number was called in the seventh to do something he had yet done with the PawSox: pitch in back-to-back nights. Needless to say, the Bard we saw last night was nearly a carbon copy of the one six days ago.

Bard has now made 11 appearances with the PawSox and is now 1–0 with a 6.75 ERA. (Kelly O’Connor)

The right-hander needed just 10 pitches (eight strikes) to induce three ground ball outs to the right side of the infield. Following a sacrifice fly from Che-Hsuan Lin in the bottom of the seventh, Bard was awarded his first win of the year with Pawtucket.

Joe McDonald (@ESPNJoeyMac) of ESPNBoston.com covered last night’s game and wrote a nice piece about Bard’s results:

“He turned it loose,” PawSox manager Arnie Beyeler said. “It was like, ‘Hey, I quit caring and I’m just going to throw it.’ His arm action tonight looked a little bit like we’ve seen in the past where he got away from the mechanical, robotic look and just reared back and threw the ball.”

Brendan McGair (@BWMcGair03)of the Pawtucket Times does a terrific job covering the PawSox and writes about not only last night’s outing, but a conversation between Bard and teammate Andrew Miller.

In other Red Sox news, Carl Crawford is scheduled to play tonight for Double-A Portland as he recovers from left wrist surgery. Sea Dogs’ broadcaster Mike Antonellis did a video interview with Crawford yesterday you can watch here.

-AG

@aaronmgoldsmith

agoldsmith@pawsox.com