Winston Vaults Past Salem 7-4
July 15, 2009 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem Red Sox News Release
Salem, VA (July 15, 2009) - Brent Morel went 2-4 with 3 RBI, driving in runs in each of the two pivotal innings that allowed Winston-Salem to steal the second game of the three-game set at Lewis-Gale Field. With Salem leading 2-1 in the top of the sixth, Morel launched a screaming liner over the wall down the left-field line for a two-run homer. The dinger was fair by no more than a few feet, but still put the Dash on top 3-2. Two innings later, Morel kicked off a rally of three distinct RBI doubles as the Dash jumped to a 7-2 lead. Though the Red Sox battled for a pair in the last of the eighth, Daniel Nava lined into Salem's fourth double play of the game to quell the threat, and the Red Sox would go quietly in the ninth.
Anthony Carter picked up the win for the Dash, going six and a third innings and only allowing two runs on five hits. Three of the five hits he surrendered were to Salem catcher Luis Exposito, who went 3-4 including a monster drive to straight-away center field for his sixth homer of the year. Not only did Exposito's long ball break a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fifth, it also became the first round tripper belted out to the cavernous straight-away center field wall at Lewis-Gale Field this season. With Salem leading 2-1, it appeared Price may be in line for a win.
But that line of thinking was ahead of itself when, despite retiring the first two batters in order to begin the sixth, Price walked Jim Gallagher and then yielded the go-ahead homer to Morel. Although he was one strike away from getting through the sixth inning with only one run allowed, Price suffered the loss, giving up three runs on just three hits over five and two-thirds. Price fell to 1-5 despite striking out seven Dash batters.
The two-run sixth inning became a three-run frame when Seth Loman took Kyle Fernandes deep immediately after the Red Sox southpaw entered the game in relief of Price. Against two different pitchers, Morel and Loman had gone back-to-back to transform the 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead. In the eighth, with the score the same, Morel, Salvador Sanchez, and Tyler Kuhn each jacked RBI doubles off Fernandes to go up 7-2.
Although Salem threatened in the eighth, Nava's liner that resulted in a double play halted the momentum. Previously, Che-Hsuan Lin had driven in a pair with a single up the middle, scoring Zach Borowiak and Kris Negron with nobody out. With two outs and the bases empty, Mike Jones walked, but Yamaico Navarro grounded out to end the threat.
The game began in a strange fashion that saw each team have the first three batters reach safely in the first inning. Symmetrically, each team was held to just one run as both starters settled down. Price struck out the side after the giving up a single, a walk, and a double in the first, beginning a stretch in which he would retire 16 of 17 batters he would face. But his final pitch, which ended up beyond the left field wall off the bat of Morel, would be his downfall as the Dash improved to 9-9 in the second half, 47-39 for the year. The Red Sox dropped to 11-8 since the break, 43-45 through 88 games on the full season.
Stephen Fife will make his Advanced-A debut on Thursday for Salem in the rubber game against the Dash. Fife struck out 35 batters with only four walks in 36.2 innings over eight starts in the South Atlantic League. He will be opposed by Winston's Justin Edwards in a 7:05 start.
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Carolina League Stories from July 15, 2009
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