Despite Two Late Home Runs, Sox Fall to Lynchburg 8-5 on Friday Night

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CarL Salem Red Sox

Despite Two Late Home Runs, Sox Fall to Lynchburg 8-5 on Friday Night

June 6, 2025 - Carolina League (CarL)
Salem Red Sox News Release


SALEM, Va. - The Salem Red Sox (22-31) dropped game four of the series to the Lynchburg Hillcats (33-22), 8-5, on Friday night at Carilion Clinic Field at Salem Memorial Ballpark.

Coming off Enddy Azocar's walk-off heroics the night before, the Sox looked to carry that momentum into a packed house on Pickleball Night at the park.

Southpaw Devin Futrell made the start for Salem. The former Vandy Boy is making his return after missing all of May due to injury and worked just two innings by design. He was sharp, tossing 26 pitches with three strikeouts over two scoreless frames in a no-decision.

Lynchburg opened the scoring for the fourth straight game, this time thanks to a bases-clearing single by Robert Lopez in the third inning off Joey Gartrell, giving the Hillcats a 3-0 lead.

Salem's offense was quiet early, going nine up and nine down to start the game against Lynchburg starter Melkis Hernandez. The lefty earned the win with six innings of four-hit, four-run ball and six strikeouts.

The Sox finally broke through in the fourth. Yoeilin Cespedes roped a one-out triple and came home on an Andruw Musett RBI infield single to make it 3-1 after four.

The Hillcats answered in the fifth, surging ahead with a two-RBI double by Yaikel Mijares off reliever Shea Sprague to score Jeffrey Mercedes and Logan Clark, extending the lead to 5-1.

Lynchburg tacked on another in the sixth to go up 6-1 before the Sox showed signs of life again. Yohander Linarez recorded his first career Single-A hit to lead off the bottom of the sixth, and Fraymi De Leon followed with a single to set the table for Cespedes. On the first pitch he saw, Cespedes crushed a fastball over the left field wall for his fourth homer of the year, cutting the deficit to 6-4.

The Hillcats weren't done yet. Facing Sprague again in the seventh, they added two more runs to stretch the lead to 8-4 heading into the stretch.

Yosander Asencio gave the home crowd one last jolt in the eighth, blasting a solo home run into right field off Logan McGuire-his fourth of the season-to bring Salem within three at 8-5.

Joey Gartrell, making his Salem debut, took the loss after allowing three earned runs in the third inning. Hernandez earned the win for Lynchburg, while McGuire recorded the final nine outs to secure his fourth save of the season.

With the loss, the series is now even at two games apiece heading into the weekend. Game five is set for Saturday night at 6:35 p.m. at Carilion Clinic Field. Blake Aita will get the start for Salem, while Sean Matson takes the ball for Lynchburg on Star Wars and Men's Health Awareness Night.

Check out the Salem Red Sox Statistics



Carolina League Stories from June 6, 2025


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