Sox Finish Month Strong with 3-2 Triumph Over Blue Rocks
August 30, 2009 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem Red Sox News Release
Salem, VA (August 30, 2009) - With September near and the postseason within sight, Salem prevailed in its third straight one-run game, knocking off the Blue Rocks 3-2 to take three out of four from Wilmington and surge ahead of Kinston for the final playoff spot in the Southern Division. Thanks to Kinston's 7-5 loss earlier in the day, the Red Sox moved a half game past the Indians with eight games remaining in the regular season.
A see-saw battle that had the feeling of a tense playoff clash, Dave McKae and Danny Duffy each gave their teams masterful efforts and both clubs tallied go-ahead runs thanks to two-out wild pitches in the late innings. In the end, with both the tying and go-ahead runners on base for Wilmington, Salem pitcher Jason Blackey induced a game-ending fielder's choice chopper to short, preserving the dramatic win for the Red Sox. Blackey earned his first win of the year, going two innings in relief.
McKae was dominant in his six innings on the mound, blanking the Blue Rocks on just two hits. McKae struck out seven without walking a batter and faced just one more than the minimum in recording 18 valuable outs for the Red Sox. Duffy was a tad more flashy, but also the owner of a crucial mistake. The Wilmington lefthander struck out six in a row at one point, K-ing the side in both the fourth and fifth innings with a dominant array of power and precision. But with one out in the sixth, Salem's Hawaiian third-baseman Jon Hee said "Aloha" to a middle-in fastball, blasting his third homer of the year out to left. The solo shot bounced off the narrow roof of the wall and kicked over it to break the scoreless game and give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.
The edge would be short-lived, though, as Wilmington brought home a tally against reliever Armando Zerpa in the top of the seventh. Following a one-out walk to Mike Moustakas, Clint Robinson's single moved the tying run to third. Nick Van Stratten proceeded to drill a screaming liner right back to the mound, which deflected towards second base off Zerpa's glove. Salem was fortunate to muster an out as Zach Borowiak flipped to Ryan Dent to nab Robinson at second, but Moustakas came across to even things at one.
Still knotted at one into the eighth, the Blue Rocks struck again with a leadoff double from Paulo Orlando against Blackey. After a strikeout of Ryan Eigsti, Anthony Seratelli singled to move Orlando to third. The next batter, Derrick Robinson, struck out on a nasty curveball, but the pitch skipped past Salem's catcher and allowed the go-ahead run to score on a wild pitch from third.
Trailing 2-1 heading to the bottom of the eighth, Ryan Dent, hitless in his first 13 at-bats in a Salem jersey, connected for a broken bat single to left-center field off reliever Louis Coleman. Moments later, Dent picked up his first Carolina League steal, moving into scoring position with nobody out. Coleman retired Ch-Hsuan Lin and Hee and Dent remained at second with two down, but Anthony Rizzo pounded a hard ground ball past a diving Clint Robinson at first base to bring home the tying run. On the throw to the plate, Rizzo moved to second. With Brad Correll batting, a gutsy Rizzo stole third, just his second steal in 47 games for Salem. A couple pitches later, a two-strike curveball eluded the grasp of Eigsti and allowed Rizzo to scurry home and gave Salem a 3-2 lead.
Although the Blue Rocks threatened in the ninth, Salem hung on to win its seventh in the last ten games to finish August 13-15 after a miserable start to the month. The Sox finished the eight-game, seven-day homestand with six wins, taking three each from Winston and Wilmington.
With a half-game edge Indians and trailing the first-place Dash by one game, the Red Sox begin the final week of the regular season on Tuesday with a doubleheader against the Winston-Salem Dash. Eammon Portice will face Jacob Rasner in game one, while Jose Capellan will start on three days' rest against Levi Maxwell in game two. The first of the two seven-inning tilts is set to begin at 6:05.
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Carolina League Stories from August 30, 2009
- Sox Finish Month Strong with 3-2 Triumph Over Blue Rocks - Salem Red Sox
- Wild Pitches Lead To Wildly Disappointing Loss In Salem - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Big First Inning Lifts Dash Over Hillcats in Finale - Winston-Salem Dash
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- Frederick Comes From Five Runs Down To Up-End Myrtle Beach - Frederick Keys
- P-Nats Game Notes for August 30 - Potomac Nationals
- Hillcats Game Notes for August 30 - Lynchburg Hillcats
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