CarL1 Salem RidgeYaks

Resilient Red Sox Prevail 7-4 in 10 Innings

Published on May 4, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem RidgeYaks News Release


Wilmington, DE (May 4, 2010) - The Salem Red Sox never led in the first nine innings on Tuesday night, but they overcome multiple deficits to send the contest into extra innings and prevailed 7-4 thanks to some mega-clutch hitting in the tenth. Salem scored three extra-inning runs, all with two outs, to win its fourth straight game and sixth of the last seven to improve to 18-7 on the season. Five different Red Sox finished with multiple hits, led by Anthony Rizzo's pair of solo homers, his third and fourth dingers of the season.

In the top of the tenth, Wilmington reliever James Thompson recorded the first two outs in a hurry and quickly put Will Middlebrooks into a two-strike count, but Middlebrooks battled and earned a two-out walk. With Tim Federowicz batting, Middlebrooks stole second base on a very close play. Then, Federowicz, also down to his final strike, laced a rocket RBI-double into left-center field to plate Middlebrooks and give Salem its first lead of the game, 5-4. On the very next pitch, Ryan Dent lined a single into left to score Federowicz and make it a two-run margin. Next came Alex Hassan, who tripled down the right field line to give the Sox a 7-4 edge they would not relinquish.

The win would not have been possible if starter Alex Wilson had not minimized the damage in the early innings. Though the Blue Rocks scored three in the bottom of the first to jump to the early lead, Wilson cleanly escaped a bases loaded, one out predicament in the second to keep the deficit at just three. He proceeded to find his groove, retiring eight straight Blue Rocks at one point and left after five innings, allowing four runs on eight hits.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox offense was silent in the early innings as Alex Caldera retired the first 11 batters he faced over three and two-thirds innings. But with two outs in the fourth, Rizzo broke the seal, drilling a laser line-drive homer down the left field line to make it 3-1.

The offensive surge continued in the fifth inning as Federowicz and Dent doubled back-to-back to make it 3-2. After Hassan singled to move Dent to third, Mitch Dening contributed an RBI fielder's choice grounder to tie the game at three.

Wilmington manufactured a run in the last of the fifth to retake the lead at 4-3, but Rizzo led off the top of the sixth with his second round-tripper of the game to knot the score again. Tuesday was the second multi-homer game of the season for Rizzo, as he also belted a pair of homers on April 11 at Potomac.

The score remained all square at four through the final three innings of regulation, in large part due to some sparkling defense from Salem. In the last of the seventh, the Blue Rocks had the table set thanks to a leadoff double by Salvador Perez, who moved to third on Adrian Ortiz' sac bunt. He remained at third with two outs and Salem chose to intentionally walk Eric Hosmer, the league's leading hitter. With two away and runners at the corners, Jamie Romak hit a hard grounder down the third base line. At the hot corner, Middlebrooks made a full-extension diving stop, rose up, and fired a fastball to first to nab Romak, end the threat, and preserve the tie. Romak immediately disputed the ‘out' call at first and was ejected by umpire Jacob Danielson after he slammed his helmet on the ground.

The defense continued throughout the remainder of the game, Salem's second straight without an error. Second-baseman Oscar Tejeda offered another highlight, making a lunging, sliding catch in shallow right field in the last of the tenth to rob Hosmer of a leadoff bloop single.

Jeremy Kehrt tossed four scoreless innings out of the Salem bullpen to earn the win, bringing his record to 2-0, while Kyle Fernandes picked up his second save with a 1-2-3 tenth.

At 18-7, Salem rose into sole possession of first place in the Carolina League Southern Division, taking a one game edge over Winston-Salem, who lost its second straight one-run game to Frederick on Tuesday night.

The Red Sox and Blue Rocks continue their four-game set at Frawley Stadium on Wednesday evening, with Stolmy Pimentel and Jairo Cuevas matching up for their respective teams. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35.

Check out the Salem RidgeYaks Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Carolina League Stories from May 4, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central