CarL1 Salem RidgeYaks

Hillcats Shut Out Red Sox, 4-0

Published on June 1, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem RidgeYaks News Release


Lynchburg, VA (June 1, 2010) - The Lynchburg Hillcats scored three runs in the fourth inning and James Avery picked up his first Carolina League victory with five and a third shutout innings, as the Hillcats shut out the Salem Red Sox 4-0 on Tuesday night at City Stadium. The loss was the third straight for Salem after a four-game winning streak that saw the Sox creep to within three games of first-place Winston-Salem.

Avery, making just his third start since returning from Tommy John surgery, faced just two batters over the minimum in his five and a third innings of work on the mound. The righthander worked around a leadoff double by Peter Hissey in the first by getting Tim Federowicz, Will Middlebrooks and Ryan Lavarnway out in order. Avery (1-1) retired 14 of the next 15 batters he faced after the Hissey double before allowing a leadoff single to Ryan Dent in the sixth.

Avery left the game with runners on second and third and one out in the sixth, but reliever Nick Christiani got Federowicz to strike out and forced Middlebrooks to pop out to end the threat.

Red Sox starter Stolmy Pimentel also worked out of a first inning jam by getting Kyle Day to strike out with the bases loaded to get out of the frame unscathed. Pimentel retired the next six batters he faced before running into trouble in the fourth. Four of the first five Hillcats recorded hits in the fourth, including three extra-base knocks. Day recorded an RBI groundout in the inning, and was followed by a Jose Gualdron RBI double and a RBI triple from Miguel Rojas to put Lynchburg up 3-0 after four frames.

Alex Buchholz added a solo home run off reliever Miguel Gonzalez in the bottom of the eighth to give the ‘Cats a final insurance run.

Pimentel (4-3) was pretty good outside of the fourth inning, as the right-hander went five innings, allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out three. Following the bumpy fourth, Pimentel pitched a perfect fifth in his final frame of the day. Gonzalez made his Carolina League debut in relief, going three innings, allowing just the one run on three hits to go along with one strikeout.

The Lynchburg bullpen was strong in relief, as Christiani, Donnie Joseph and Justin Freeman combined to go the final 3.2 innings, yielding just three hits while striking out four and walking one.

Hissey was the lone Red Sox player with an extra-base hit as the Salem center fielder finished 2-for-3 with two doubles and a walk. Mitch Dening added two hits of his own in four plate appearances to continue his recent streak of hot hitting. Dening led the Sox with a .351 average in May, hitting in 11 of the final 12 games in the month.

Before the Red Sox return to Lewis-Gale Field for a week-long homestand that begins on Thursday, Salem will look to avoid the three-game sweep in Lynchburg on Wednesday at 7:05. Brock Huntzinger looks to improve upon his fantastic May, in which he went 5-0 with a 1.59 ERA, against Lynchburg's Jordan Hotchkiss.

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Carolina League Stories from June 1, 2010


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