CarL1 Salem RidgeYaks

Late Rallies Surge Salem Past Frederick 8-5

Published on June 12, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem RidgeYaks News Release


Frederick, MD - Everyone in the lineup finished with at least one hit and the Red Sox found a way to stay within three games of the first-place Dash by scoring five times in the final two innings to prevail 8-5 on Friday night over the Keys at Harry Grove Stadium. Salem took a 2-0 lead, Frederick scored five in a row, and then the Sox plated the final six runs in the game to pick up their 36th victory of the season and keep pace with the Dash, who won 4-3 over Wilmington on Friday in Winston-Salem. With eight games remaining in the half, Winston's magic number is six, but the Red Sox are poised to battle to the end.

Jorge Padron went 2-4 with two RBI and jacked his first Carolina League home run, a solo shot in the fourth that cut a three-run deficit to 5-3. Although Salem's offense remained quiet until the eighth inning, a masterful performance from the Red Sox bullpen kept Salem in position to deliver a late rally. Will Middlebrooks finished 2-4 with three RBI, while Ryan Lavarnway, Oscar Tejeda, and Drew Hedman also each contributed two hits apiece in Salem's 14-hit onslaught.

Righthanded reliever Michael Lee compiled his most impressive outing of the season, dazzling for four and two-thirds scoreless innings out of the bullpen in relief of Miguel Gonzalez. The Keys scored five times in three innings against Gonzalez, highlighted by a three-run homer from Miguel Abreu in the third, but Lee subdued the Keys with four strikeouts and only one hit surrendered through his duration on the mound. Will Latimer earned the victory with an inning and a third out of the pen, entering with two outs in the eighth and retiring all four batters he faced to preserve the Red Sox win.

Trailing 5-3 into the eighth inning, the Sox managed to scratch the usually reliable Frederick bullpen. Salem loaded the bases in the eighth thanks to a single and a pair of walks, and Tejeda drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 5-4. The next batter, Will Middlebrooks, launched a sacrifice fly to right field that plated Hissey to even the score at five. In the ninth, Luis Segovia led off with a double and a pair of sacrifices, a bunt from Dening and a fly from Hissey, brought home the go-ahead run to surge Salem on top 6-5. After a pitching change swapped Jose Duran for Brett Bordes, the Red Sox three-thru-six hitters delivered four consecutive singles, all with two outs, to add a huge insurance policy to the small lead. Lavarnway and Tejeda both scored on RBI singles from Middlebrooks and Padron, giving Salem the 8-5 edge that it would not relinquish.

Bordes got tagged with the loss out of the pen for Frederick, while the quartet of John Mariotti, Sean Gleason, Bordes, and Duran, combined to give up five runs in three innings. Keys' starter Oliver Drake allowed just three runs on eight hits in six frames, settling down after he allowed a pair to score in the first. But the Keys bullpen walked four total and surrendered six hits, permitting the Red Sox to somersault the Keys on the scoreboard.

Frederick's magic number to clinch the Northern Division title dropped to one with Wilmington's loss in Winston-Salem, while the Sox are still chasing the Dash in the Southern Division. Winston's magic number slipped to six with their victory.

The Sox and Keys continue their four-game series at Harry Grove Stadium on Saturday evening at 6:00 PM, as Brock Huntzinger opposes Rick Zagone in the pitching matchup.

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Carolina League Stories from June 12, 2010


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