Salem Soars Past Lynchburg 11-2
July 23, 2010 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem Red Sox News Release
Lynchburg, VA - After scoring just nine runs in their previous four games, the Salem Red Sox busted out in a big way, blowing out the Lynchburg Hillcats 11-2 on Friday night at Calvin Falwell Field. Jason Place blasted two late-inning home runs and Alex Hassan hit a two-run blast of his own and drove in four runs for the second straight day.
Up 6-2 in the eighth, Place hammered an opposite field solo home run over the auxiliary scoreboard in right-center for his first dinger in a Salem uniform in 2010. Hassan came up with two outs in the ninth and backed up his grand slam last night with a two-run bomb over the left field wall to put the Sox up 9-2. Two batters later, Place sent a laser to dead center field that cleared the batter's eye and gave Salem an 11-2 lead.
Salem jumped out to an early lead off of Lance Janke, tallying four runs in the second inning with the aid of five base hits, an error, a sac fly, and a balk. After Will Middlebrooks singled to lead off the frame, he advanced to second on an errant pickoff attempt and moved to third on a balk before the next pitch. Hassan then scorched a line drive to left that ended up as a sac fly and gave Salem a 1-0 advantage. Drew Hedman doubled home Dan Butler later in the inning and came home along with Place on a two-run single by Mitch Dening to put Salem up 4-0.
The Sox extended their advantage in the third inning, as Oscar Tejeda singled and Will Middlebrooks doubled to put runners on second and third with no one out in the third. Hassan came through with an RBI groundout to score Tejeda, and Butler followed Hassan with an RBI double down the right field line to put Salem up 6-0 after just two-and-a-half.
Kyle Day put Lynchburg on the board in the fourth with a two-out single off Salem starter Miguel Gonzalez to decrease the deficit to 6-1. Day later homered in the seventh off of Will Latimer for the only other Hillcat run.
The Red Sox finished with 17 hits on the night, two short of their season high. Eight of the nine batters in the Salem lineup recorded a hit, with six Sox recording multi-hit games. Place broke out of his 0-for-7 start with a 3-for-5 showing, including the two homers and three RBI. Hassan tallied two hits and drove in four runs for the second straight night. Middlebrooks and Butler each added three hits and two runs, while Butler drove in his third run for Salem since being called up from low-A Greenville.
Lost in the offensive outburst was the solid performance of Gonzalez, who improved to 4-2. The former Rule 5 pick went five innings, allowing just one run on five hits, lowering his ERA to 4.95 in the process.
Salem looks for their third consecutive win in Lynchburg at 6:05 PM Saturday. Brock Huntzinger takes the mound for the Sox opposite the Hillcats' Curtis Partch.
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