Red Sox Outlast Mudcats with 6-5, Twelve Inning Victory
April 20, 2016 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Carolina Mudcats News Release
ZEBULON, NC - Carolina's Evan Phillips hit Yoan Moncada with a pitch to force in the go-ahead run as the Red Sox defeated the Mudcats 6-5 in 12 innings Tuesday night at Five County Stadium in Zebulon. Moncada scored twice, and was 1-for-3 with two RBI and three walks for Salem in the victory.
The Mudcats (6-7) were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position in the loss and left nine men on base. Carolina's loss was their fourth straight and dropped them three games back of first behind Salem (9-4) in the first half Southern Division standings.
Philips (0-1, 0.00) originally entered the game in the 11th inning and was able to strand two runners while keeping the game tied at 5-5 into the 12th. He faced four batters and retired one before hitting Moncada with a 0-2 fastball and to force the go-ahead run in. Phillips allowed one unearned run and walked two in the loss.
Danny Mars started the 12th by reaching on a fielding error at third by Jordan Edgerton and was joined on the bags when Bryan Hudson walked. David Sopilka dropped a sacrifice bunt to move the runners up a bag; leaving first open for ninth place hitter Mitchell Gunsolus. The Mudcats then opted to intentionally walk Gunsolus to load the bags for Moncada. Phillips managed to get in front of Moncada 0-2, but then missed up and in; hitting Moncada with the bases loaded to drive in the eventual game winning run.
Phillips was pulled from the game after the hit by pitch, and (the then) first baseman Ryan Gebhardt was brought into pitch. Gebhardt managed to get the next batter to line into an inning-ending double to hold the deficit at 6-5.
Yankory Pimentel (S, 2) worked the ninth and retired the Mudcats in order to earn his second save of the season. Reliever German Taveras (BS, 1-0, 3.00) pitched four full innings before Pimentel took over and earned his first win of the season.
The Mudcats originally trailed 2-0 in the game before getting a solo home run from Joseph Odom in the fourth inning. The home run was Carolina's second of the season, their first at home and was Odom's first in 2016. Odom finished the game 2-for-5 with a run, a home run and a RBI.
Odom's home run cut the lead Red Sox lead to 2-1 in the fourth and it stayed that way until Salem rallied for three runs in the seventh. Andrew Benintendi hit a two-run triple in the seventh and scored moments later on a single from Nick Longhi to extend the Salem lead to 5-1.
Benintendi's triple came off reliever Wes Parsons and ended up knocking Parsons out of the game. Parsons pitched through three innings on Tuesday night and allowed four runs and four hits. He originally entered the game in the fourth after starter Matt Withrow retired one batter in the inning.
Parsons allowed a run, gave up two hits and walked two in the fourth before eventually settling down and finishing the inning with a groundout from Mauricio Dubon. Parsons then went on to retire eight straight batters before walking Moncada, allowing a single to Dubon and then giving up Benintendi's triple.
Sean McLaughlin finished the top of the seventh after entering the game in place of Parsons. McLaughlin worked through the remainder of the seventh and went on to blank the Red Sox while pitching into the 10th inning. In all, McLaughlin gave up three hits, walked one and struck out one over three and 1/3 scoreless frames.
Carolina managed to answer the Salem three run seventh inning rally with a three spot of their own in the same frame. Joey Meneses started the inning by reaching on a pop up double to right and was joined on the bases moments later when Joseph Daris reached on a walk. Omar Obregon then brought in both runners with a two-run triple (stretching his hitting streak to 10 straight games) to get the Mudcats back in the game. Obregon managed to score later in the inning on a wild pitch and the Mudcats got within one at 5-4. Obregon was 4-for-6 with a run and two RBI in the loss.
McLaughlin kept the Red Sox scoreless through the remainder of his appearance and helped set things up for the Mudcats to tie the game in the ninth. Keith Curcio had a RBI sacrifice fly in the ninth to tie it and force extras.
Bryton Trepagnier entered the game in place of McLaughlin in the 10th inning and ended up keeping Salem scoreless over one full inning. He allowed a hit and walked two in his Carolina League debut. Trepagnier was activated off the disabled list by the Atlanta Braves before the game.
Phillips eventually followed Trepagnier and worked into the 12th before allowing the winning run to score on Moncada's hit by pitch.
The Red Sox clinched a series win with Tuesday's victory. The series concludes on Wednesday morning with the first pitched scheduled for 11:00 a.m. at Five County Stadium in Zebulon.
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