CarL1 Salem Red Sox

Odorizzi Dominates as Rocks Top Sox 3-1

May 10, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem Red Sox News Release


Wilmington, DE (May 10, 2011) - Wilmington starter Jake Odorizzi struck out the first five batters of the game to set the tone en route to a 3-1 Blue Rocks victory on Tuesday night at Frawley Stadium. The dominant righthander K'd a career-high 13 and took a no-hitter into the sixth, finishing with six scoreless innings with just one hit allowed. Reynaldo Rodriguez homered in the top of the ninth to break up the shutout, but the Sox offense managed just three hits and dropped back-to-back games for the first time all season. Salem remains in first place in the Southern Division, two and a half games ahead of Myrtle Beach, who got rained out on Tuesday evening.

Salem starter Pete Ruiz matched the Wilmington hurler by blanking the Blue Rocks in the first two innings, but John Whittleman crushed a two-run triple in the third to put the Rocks on the board. Ruiz responded with a perfect fourth inning, but yielded an RBI single to Carlo Testa in the fifth that gave Wilmington a 3-0 lead. Ruiz got tagged with the loss, his second of the season, having surrendered three runs on six hits in five frames.

Odorizzi walked three and allowed a single to Jeremy Hazelbaker in the sixth, but consistently overpowered the Red Sox to earn his third win of the year. Brendan Lafferty tossed two scoreless out of the Blue Rocks bullpen, while Kevin Chapman earned his sixth save of the year by closing the door in the ninth. Chapman did give up a leadoff homer to Rodriguez, but set down the next three Red Sox in order to preserve the victory.

Whittleman led the Blue Rocks with a 3-4 night, finishing a homer shy of the cycle. Whit Merrifield added two hits and scored a pair for Wilmington at the top of the lineup.

Salem hitters struck out a season-high 17 times against the trio of Blue Rock pitchers, with each of the top five batters striking out multiple times. Peter Hissey, Kolbrin Vitek, and Dan Butler each went down by way of the K on three separate occasions.

A bright spot for Salem was its bullpen, as Jeremiah Bayer lowered his ERA to 0.82 with two scoreless innings, and Cesar Cabral dropped his ERA to 1.94 by throwing a scoreless eighth.

The Red Sox (20-9) and Blue Rocks (17-13) reunite on Wednesday for the middle game of the three-game set, a 6:35 first pitch at Frawley Stadium. Ryan Pressly searches for his fourth win of the season against Wilmington lefty Noel Arguelles.

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