11-4 Win Gives Salem 11-4 Record
April 24, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem Red Sox News Release
Salem, VA (April 24, 2011) - The Red Sox pounded eight extra-base hits and scored 11 unanswered runs to demolish the Nationals 11-4 on Sunday, splitting the four-game series at LewisGale Field. Salem trailed 4-0 before recording a single hit, but awakened when Reynaldo Rodriguez led off the last of the second with the first of three Sox home runs in the ballgame. Rodriguez led the Salem offense with a homer and two doubles, sending the Sox back into first place with their 11th win on the season.
The Sox bullpen stymied the Nationals over six and third scoreless innings, providing the foundation to Salem's largest comeback of the season. Though Ryan Pressly struggled with command and survived for only two and two thirds, the duo of Anatanaer Batista and Will Latimer shut down the P-Nats, yielding just two hits combined. Batista was perfect in three and a third, retiring all ten batters he faced, and earned his second win of the season.
The Nationals plated all four of their runs in the top of the second off Pressly, utilizing two walks, three singles, and an error to take the largest lead for either team in the competitive four-game series. Potomac would manage just two more hits after the third inning, and all six Nationals knocks were singles.
On the contrary, the Red Sox lineup provided consistent punch, with five more doubles and three home runs highlighting the victory. Vladimir Frias followed up Rodriguez' second-inning dinger with a two-run blast of his own, inching the Sox to within a run of the lead at 4-3. The Sox tied it up an inning later when Peter Hissey drove in Jeremy Hazelbaker from second, and Salem led for the first time when Hissey scurried home on a wild pitch.
Up 5-4 heading into the sixth, Salem broke it open with another two-out rally. With Michael Almanzar at first after a leadoff hit-by-pitch, Hazelbaker walked with two away. Hissey then doubled them both home to make it 7-4, one batter before Kolbrin Vitek laced an RBI single and gave the Sox a four-run lead. Not to be outdone, Rodriguez hammered his second double of the game and league-leading tenth of the season to give the Sox a 9-4 cushion.
In the last of the seventh, Almanzar crushed a two-run homer down the left-field line, capping the scoring outburst. Only the number-nine hitter, Zach Gentile, didn't score a run for the Sox on Sunday afternoon. Hissey finished with three RBI and Hazelbaker reached base five times, with two hits and three walks.
At 11-4, the Sox moved a half-game ahead of Myrtle Beach (11-5) as they hit the road for a four-game series against Kinston. The action begins on Monday at Grainger Stadium, with two talented pitchers poised to make the starts. Salem sends Chris Hernandez, who is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in his first two starts, while Kinston counters with Drew Pomeranz, the fifth overall pick in the 2010 draft and possessor of a 1.80 ERA. First pitch is set for 6:30 from eastern North Carolina.
Notes: Potomac manager Matt LeCroy was ejected in the bottom of the sixth inning for arguing with home plate umpire Aaron Roberts after Almanzar was hit by a pitch on his hands. LeCroy appeared to contend that the ball hit the handle of the bat as opposed to the batter himself...Sunday's win was the 2,900th Carolina League victory for Salem professional baseball.
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Carolina League Stories from April 24, 2011
- Rocks Smash Dash In 11-10 Slugfest - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Rocks Sneak Past Dash In Slugfest - Winston-Salem Dash
- 11-4 Win Gives Salem 11-4 Record - Salem Red Sox
- Sox Storm Back For Series Split - Potomac Nationals
- Hillcats Fail To Complete Sweep - Lynchburg Hillcats
- RHP Bobby Bundy Tosses Six Shutout Innings in 2-1 Victory Over Hillcats - Frederick Keys
- Indians Hold off Pelicans Late for Split - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Kinston Beats Myrtle Beach 3-2 to Split Series with First Place Pelicans - Kinston Indians
- Easter Sunday Dash Game Notes - Winston-Salem Dash
- Pelicans Game Notes - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes - Lynchburg Hillcats
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