Ruiz Dominates, Sox Blank Dash
May 21, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem Red Sox News Release
Winston-Salem, NC - Pete Ruiz dazzled with a dominant six innings and Bryce Brentz made a splash in his Carolina League debut, homering in his third at-bat to lead the Salem Sox to a 4-0 victory over Winston-Salem in front of 6,382 on Saturday night at BB&T Ballpark.
Brentz, called up from Low-A Greenville earlier in the day after hitting his South Atlantic League-leading 11th home run in Savannah yesterday, blasted a shot to deep left-center in the top of the fifth that hit off the top of the wall and bounded over for his first Carolina League round-tripper. After a whirlwind 24 hours of excitement and travel, the 22-year old went 1-for-5 in his High-A debut.
Ruiz was magnificent on the mound, twirling his second consecutive quality start by shutting out the Dash over six innings. Ruiz yielded three singles and one walk, but three of the four runners were erased on the basepaths, including a pick-off, caught stealing, and a 4-6-3 double play. The righthander spun his first scoreless since July 27 of last season, when he notched a seven-inning complete game shutout of the Rome Braves in the South Atlantic League. Ruiz featured excellent fastball command and mixed in his breaking ball and off-speed pitches efficiently in his most dominant outing of the season.
The Sox got on the board early for the second straight game as Shannon Wilkerson led off the second with a double and scored two batters later on an RBI single from Michael Almanzar. Three innings later, Derrick Gibson singled to lead off the frame and advanced to second on an errant pick-off attempt. After moving to third on a groundout, Gibson scored on Kolbrin Vitek's sacrifice fly to right to put Salem up 2-0. Brentz then homered to give the Sox a three-run cushion.
Salem added an insurance run in the ninth inning. With two outs, Gibson tripled down the right field line and scampered home on a double to left-center by Peter Hissey. Gibson led the Sox offense, going 3-for-4, finishing a homer shy of the cycle, and scoring two runs.
Mitch Herold and Kendal Volz combined to shut the Dash offense down in the final three frames, yielding just a two-out walk in the eighth, while combining to strike out five. The Salem pitching staff has blanked the Dash in the last 16 innings, as Winston-Salem has scored in just one inning thus far in the two games of the weekend series.
The quartet of Will Latimer, Anatanaer Batsita, Herold, and Volz out of the Sox bullpen has combined to throw eight innings of one-hit ball in the series thus far, striking out 12 and walking three.
Salem goes for the series sweep of the Dash Sunday afternoon at BB&T Ballpark. Ryan Pressly will take the bump for the Sox against a to be determined opponent for the Dash. First pitch in the Piedmont Triad is scheduled for 2:00 PM.
• Discuss this story on the Carolina League message board...
Carolina League Stories from May 21, 2011
- Bats Stay White Hot, P-Nats 13-8 - Potomac Nationals
- Ruiz Dominates, Sox Blank Dash - Salem Red Sox
- Dash Bats Fall Flat, Sox Win 4-0 - Winston-Salem Dash
- Wilmington Takes Wire-To-Wire Win - Wilmington Blue Rocks
- Scrappy 'Cats Unable to Pull off Comeback - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Kolodny Walk-Off Wins It for Frederick - Frederick Keys
- Wilmington Rolls Over Boscan, Pelicans - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Frederick Ends Kinston's Four Game Win Streak - Kinston Indians
- Buch Promoted to Winston - Winston-Salem Dash
- Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes - Winston-Salem Dash
- Kinston Indians Game Notes - Kinston Indians
- Lynchburg Hillcats Game Notes - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Pelicans Lead The Pack in Carolina League with Most Runs Scored - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
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.
