CarL1 Salem RidgeYaks

Hernandez Dazzles as Sox Top Rocks 5-4

Published on May 12, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem RidgeYaks News Release


Wilmington, DE (May 12, 2011) - Chris Hernandez did not allow an earned run in five and two-thirds innings, Michael Almanzar drilled two doubles, and the Salem Sox hung on for a 5-4 victory on getaway day in Wilmington, snapping a three-game losing streak in the process. Salem jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but was forced to withstand a Blue Rocks rally that inched the home team within a run in the last of the eighth. Red Sox reliever Cesar Cabral struck out a pair in a 1-2-3 ninth to record his league-leading eighth save, preserving the victory.

Hernandez faced the minimum through four innings and did not allow a run until the last of the sixth, when Almanzar's fielding error helped the Blue Rocks get on the board. By that time, though, the Sox already led 4-0 thanks to some early offense from the bottom of the lineup.

Almanzar and Derrik Gibson led off the third inning with consecutive doubles to break the scoreless draw, and the Red Sox added two more in the fourth to take a 3-0 lead. Wilmington starter Elisaul Pimentel issued walks to Kolbrin Vitek and Reynaldo Rodriguez to start the fourth, and both free passes led to runs, with Almanzar's second double of the game driving in Rodriguez after Vitek came home on David Mailman's RBI ground-out.

Salem added a couple more with single runs in the sixth and seventh off reliever Bryan Paukovitz. Mailman doubled and scored on a two-out throwing error by Blue Rocks shortstop Alex McClure in the sixth, while Rodriguez singled home Jeremy Hazelbaker with two outs in the seventh, propelling Salem to a 5-1 lead.

Each run proved meaningful as the Blue Rocks scored three times in the last of the eighth against Sox reliever Tom Ebert to make the score 5-4. Carlo Testa drove in two with an RBI double and Nick Francis plated another on a two-out hit to left-center, but Francis was thrown out trying to stretch his single into a double. In the ninth, Cabral overwhelmed the Blue Rocks and retired the side in order, lowering his ERA to 1.72.

Coincidentally, Hernandez's ERA also sits at 1.72 after five and two thirds innings on the mound, in which he allowed an unearned run on five hits. Ebert surrendered three runs on four hits in two and a third, while Cabral tossed a perfect ninth to slam the door shut.

Offensively, Almanzar and Hazelbaker led the Red Sox with two hits apiece, while four different Sox contributed an RBI in the slim win. The Red Sox improved to 9-2 in one-run games in 2011.

With a 21-10 record that positions Salem in first place in the Southern Division, one game ahead of Myrtle Beach, the Red Sox return home for a seven-game homestand, beginning on Friday night against Winston-Salem. It will be the first meeting of the season between the last two champions of the Southern Division. The series begins with a pair of lefty starters, as Drake Britton pitches opposite Hector Santiago, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:05.

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Carolina League Stories from May 12, 2011


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