By BRENDAN MCGAIR

Sports writer

PAWTUCKET – Kei Igawa was signed to a five-year/$20 million pact in the winter of 2006-07. Little did the New York Yankees realize they acquired a pitcher whose forte has been to stymie the bats of the Pawtucket Red Sox.
The left-handed Igawa improved his lifetime mark to 5-0 (including playoffs) after Scranton/Wilkes-Barre put yet another hurting on the Pawtucket pitching staff, this one of the 10-4 variety Sunday night. Throwing 102 pitches, Igawa held the PawSox (23-19) to three runs on six hits over six innings, striking out five with two walks.
The Junior Yankees took three of four from their Triple-A rivals, outscoring the PawSox by a rather convincing 34-9 margin. Scranton (29-14) belted eight home runs in the four games, half the damage inflicted by league leader Shelley Duncan. Duncan added to his total with blast No. 15 off Pawtucket starter Enrique Gonzalez, a three-run shot in the top of the third.
The top of the third saw Scranton take an eraser to Pawtucket’s three-run cushion. The Baby Yanks ended up scoring five times, a misplay by centerfielder Jonathan Van Every one of the reasons why the tide turned in Scranton’s favor.
Gonzalez fell to 5-3 after allowing eight runs (six earned) in five innings. The Venezuelan native threw 99 pitches, striking out six while walking two.
Igawa’s worst inning was the second, when he issued a bases loaded walk and hit Paul McAnulty. Chris Carter and John Otness each had RBI singles.
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EXTRA BASES: Mark Kotsay (calf strain) was given Sunday off but will continue his rehab this afternoon in Louisville. Johnson said the plan is for Kotsay to play first base and get three at-bats over the course of the next two days before taking Wednesday’s 11:05 in the morning contest off. … Kudos to Matt McKinnon and the McCoy grounds crew, which hustled to get the tarp off and field ready after a steady rain descended upon the area for much of the afternoon. The game was delayed for 13 minutes, though the postgame fireworks show without any problems. … Javier Lopez rebounded from Thursday’s five-walk disaster to toss a scoreless ninth inning. … Jonathan Albaladejo nailed down the final two outs for Scranton. He was the pitcher who was shipped back to the minors when Chien-Ming Wang was reinstated to New York on Friday. … Scranton now leads Pawtucket by 4.5 games in the North Division.
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Scranton/WB 005 030 200 – 10-15-0
Pawtucket 030 000 100 – 4-7-1
Kei Igawa, Edwar Ramirez (7), Jonathan Albaladejo (9) and Chris Stewart. Enrique Gonzalez, Jose Vaquedano (6), Javier Lopez (9) and John Otness. 2B: Austin Jackson, Juan Miranda, Justin Leone. HR: Shelley Duncan, John Rodriguez, Justin Leone.