Jones' Blast Sends Red Sox to Carolina League Finals
September 11, 2009 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem Red Sox News Release
Salem, VA (September 11, 2009) - With one swing, Mike Jones sent a packed Lewis-Gale Field into raucous celebration, belting a walk-off two-run homer deep over the right field wall off Hector Santiago to finish the three-game sweep over the Dash and send the Red Sox on their way to the finals. Jones circled the bases and crossed the plate into a swarm of euphoric teammates, rejoicing over their 2009 Southern Division Championship. With the dramatic 6-4 triumph, the Sox now await the winner of the Northern Division Championship Series, which Wilmington leads 2-1 after their 12th inning 1-0 walkoff win tonight at Frawley Stadium.
After stealing both games in Winston-Salem the past two nights, the Red Sox returned home eager to seal the deal. Though the Dash took Salem into extras for the second straight night, the Sox rallied from a 4-1 deficit before storming the field in glee on Jones' game-ending jack, a no-doubter that everyone knew was the exclamation point as soon as it left the bat. Salem hit five homers in the three-game series to end Winston's season.
Jon Hee had three more hits in the ballgame to finish the series a sterling 7-13 at the plate, and his RBI single in the last of the seventh capped Salem's three-run answer to Winston's three-spot from the top of the inning. Hee was hit by a pitch with two-outs in the ninth of a 4-4 game, but Anthony Rizzo's deep drive to left center was hauled in by Tyler Kuhn to send it to extras.
Winston-Salem scored first on a Seth Loman solo homer off Seth Garrison to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, but Garrison shined through the rest of his six inning quality start. He yielded just five hits and a walk while striking out five, keep the Red Sox close as Salem struggled to muster much offense off Winston starter Jacob Rasner.
Salem's only tally in the first six innings off Rasner came on a unique throwing error by the Dash catcher Adam Ricks. With Hee at second and Rizzo at first, Brad Correll took a called strike three as Hee attempted to steal third. Ricks fired a dart towards the third base bag, but Dash infielder Brent Morel forgot to cover the base and the throw sailed down the left-field line, easily allowing the Sox to even the score at one in the last of the third. After that, however, Rasner retired 12 straight before Chih-Hsien Chiang's single in the seventh knocked him out of the game.
Winston scored three times in the top half of the seventh as Red Sox reliever Jason Rice struggled with his command, walking a pair and surrendering one hit in just a third of an inning on the bump. Josh Papelbon entered to limit the damage, keeping the deficit at three. In the bottom half of the inning, Salem knotted things at four thanks to RBIs from Ryan Dent, Che-Hsuan Lin, and Hee.
Though the Dash threatened in the bottom of the eighth, Jason Blacked escaped a two-on, two-out jam unscathed to keep the score tied at four. Blackey tossed two and a third innings before Derrick Loop came along with one out in the tenth. Loop, who appeared in all three games of the series, earned the win with two-thirds of an inning of scoreless baseball that included a strikeout.
Following Brad Correll's leadoff single in the bottom of the tenth, Jones' launched the towering missile to complete the series, as the Red Sox took three straight from Winston, 7-2 on Wednesday, 6-4 in 11 innings on Thursday, and 6-4 in 10 innings on Friday.
The Salem Sox will travel to either Lynchburg or Wilmington for game one of the 2009 Mills Cup Finals, scheduled for Monday evening at the site of the Northern Division Champion.
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Carolina League Stories from September 11, 2009
- Hosmer's Home Run Heroics Win It - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Jones' Blast Sends Red Sox to Carolina League Finals - Salem Red Sox
- Jones Walk-Off Blast Helps Sox Sweep Dash Out of Playoffs - Winston-Salem Dash
- Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes - Lynchburg Hillcats
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