By BRENDAN MCGAIR

Sports writer

PAWTUCKET – It has taken three-plus months, spanning 88 games, but Pawtucket’s pitching staff finally fell in line with the ball club’s anemic offense on a misty Friday night at McCoy Stadium.
In what has to rank as one of the worst pitching performances of the season, five PawSox hurlers joined forces to issue 12 walks and plunk half-a-dozen Indianapolis Indians. The offense offered little in terms of bailing out its counterparts, translating to a 7-3 defeat administered by Indianapolis, witnessed before 6,142.
The defeat, which was Pawtucket’s seventh consecutive and 10th in the last 11, continues to punctuate the notion that it might be a long seven-plus weeks to close out the regular season. On July 2, Pawtucket stood just 2 ½ games off the pace set by first-place Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. In the two weeks that have passed the PawSox have sunk to fourth place in the North Division.
Charlie Zink got the night off to a bizarre start, the knuckleballer walking five and plunking three over the first three innings. The Indians, however, couldn’t capitalize any of the freebies offered up by Zink, who held the visitors without a hit over that stretch.
Zink’s wildness eventually caught up with him in the fourth. Two straight walks paved the way for Lastings Milledge’s two-run single, one that snapped a scoreless deadlock.
After getting examined by PawSox trainer Greg Barajas and manager Ron Johnson prior to throwing a pitch in the fifth, Zink (3-10) continued to walk on the wild side. It wasn’t until two outs in the frame that Zink’s night mercifully came to an end.
The final numbers on Zink: seven walks, four runs, four runs and four hit batsman in 4 2/3 innings, which featured 44 of his 98 pitches sailing outside the strike zone. He dropped his sixth consecutive decision en route to tying Kris Johnson for the most defeats on the club.
The bullpen didn’t offer much relief. All-Star Jose Vaquedano allowed two runs on two hits while notching only two outs. Rocky Cherry, normally reliable, walked three in 1 2/3 innings.
Once again the offense managed little through the first eight innings, a Travis Denker solo home run the lone bright spot. Then came the ninth, which saw the locals rap out four hits that produced two runs. Aaron Bates, who earlier in the day was returned by Boston, stroked a sacrifice fly. Pinch-hitter Carlos Maldonado moved the PawSox to within four when he deposited a RBI single. 
 The series continues tonight (6 o’clock first pitch) with Enrique Gonzalez (7-8, 5.57 ERA) opposing Brad Lincoln (1-1, 4.70 ERA). 
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Indianapolis    000 222 100 – 7-9-0
Pawtucket    000 100 002 – 3-9-0
Tom Gorzelanny (W, 2-0), Jason Davis (7), Steven Jackson (9) and Robinzon Diaz. Charlie Zink (L, 4-10), Jose Vaquedano (5), Bill Traber (6), Rocky Cherry (7), Javier Lopez (8) and Mark Wagner. 2B: Brian Myrow, Larry Broadway. HR: Travis Denker.