CarL1 Salem RidgeYaks

Red Sox Game Notes for July 26

Published on July 26, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem RidgeYaks News Release


Sox Scoring First in the Second Half: After scoring first only 22 times in 69 games in the first half, the Sox are 14-for-28 in the second half in getting on the board first. Salem is now 26 -10 when they score first this season. Despite the recent suc- cess, the Sox have trailed at some point in 77 of their 97 games on the year and have been behind early in 5 in a row. three straight, their good fortune ended in a 5-1 loss to Potomac on Saturday evening at Lewis-Gale Field. Three defensive errors and some key missed opportunities caused tempers to boil over as three ejections highlighted the final few innings. Red Sox manager Chad Epperson was tossed with one out in the top of the seventh. Two innings later, Daniel Nava was sent off after taking a called strike three. Moments after that, acting manager and hitting coach Carlos Febles also was ejected by home plate umpire Will Little. Will Atwood had given up 15 runs in two previ- ous starts against Salem, both back in the first half. On Saturday, Atwood utilized all of his pitches to befuddle Red Sox hitters through seven and two-thirds masterful innings. The Sox only had two hits over the first five innings, and because of two double plays, Atwood saw just the minimum 15 batters over the first five. Salem broke through when Kris Negron drilled an RBI double in the sixth to score Jon Hee from first, but Atwood would settle down and hold the Sox scoreless the rest of the way. Nationals' first round pick Drew Storen, tenth overall in the 2009 draft, tossed the final inning and a third for Potomac. Kyle Weiland walked Michael Martinez to start the ballgame, an ominous start for the Salem righthander who had compiled a 1.07 ERA over his last nine starts. Martinez moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced over to third on Danny Espinosa's single that put runners at the corners. With Espinosa running, a ground ball from Jesus Valdez scored Martinez to make it 1-0. Later in the inning, Espinosa scurried home on another wild pitch to make it 2-0. Salem's sloppiness emerged in the top of the third after Martinez opened the frame with a base hit. He stole second and scored on a sacrifice bunt by Espinosa that was fielded by Tim Federowicz and launched down the right field line. Espinosa moved to second on the error on the Red Sox catcher, then to third on Valdez' grounder to first, and the Nationals made it 4-0 when Che-Hsuan Lin dropped a shallow line drive off the bat of Michael Burgess. It was Lin's eighth error of the season and Sa- lem's second of the inning. Though the Red Sox scored once in the last of the sixth, Potomac plated another unearned tally in the top of the seventh to make it 5-1. Martinez scored for the third time on another throwing error by Federowicz. In the bottom of the seventh, Salem loaded the bases with no- body out against Atwood, but the Nationals lefthander induced a pop-up before striking out consecutive hitters to escape unscathed. Atwood scattered seven hits over his outing, striking out seven with walking anyone. Storen struck out a pair in his appearance to close the door.

Weiland survived just four innings, yielding four runs (two earned) on six hits, striking out three and walk- ing two. Dave McKae tossed three innings for Salem, allowing just the one unearned run and striking out five. Fife a Control Freak: Salem righthander Stephen Fife picked up his first Carolina League victory and his first win in 2009 in Salem's 4-2 Thursday triumph over Frederick. Using a fan- tastic arsenal of multiple pitches all thrown for strikes, Fife has set the standard for his superb control. In 48 innings pitched this season, Fife has compiled 47 strikeouts while only walking four batters, an unbelievable 11.75:1 ratio. Keep it Rolling: Despite Saturday's 5-1 setback, the Salem Red Sox will seek their fourth straight series win in tonight's finale against Potomac. The Sox have taken two out of three from Winston-Salem, Wilmington, and Frederick in their last three series'. In order to win the full-season series against Potomac, the Red Sox need to win the final four meetings with the nationals. Salem currently trails 9-6.

Red Hot Rizzo: Salem's 19-year-old first-baseman has en- joyed his first ever series against Potomac. With six hits in two games, Anthony Rizzo has raised his Carolina League average from .255 to .292 in just two nights. The Parkland, Florida-native has eight multi-hit games since the All-Star Break. In the first half, Rizzo had 19 multi-hit efforts in 64 games plays with the Greenville Drive. Rizzo hit .298 with nine homers and 42 RBI and was selected to the South Atlan- tic League All-Star team.

Pivotal Thievery: When the Red Sox swipe a bag, they win. While not necessarily that simple, the trend has been set that year and success has been correlated with baserunning. On the season, Salem is a fantastic 35-15 when they steal a base, but just 14-33 when they are unable to muster a steal. The Red Sox are sixth in the Carolina League with 78 stolen bases on the season, but they are third in success-rate (72.2%) as they've only been caught 30 times.

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