CarL1 Salem RidgeYaks

Salem Red Sox Game Notes

Published on May 3, 2013 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem RidgeYaks News Release


The Salem Red Sox kick off a three-game weekend series in North Carolina against the Winston-Salem Dash.

First pitch at 7:00.

Streaky Sox: Salem arrives in Winston-Salem riding a frustrating three-game losing streak. The Sox won the opener of their road trip in Wilmington 5-4, but lost the next three, falling by seven on Tuesday and by one in a walk-off on both Wednesday and Thursday. Salem began the 2013 season slowly, losing its first three games and slipping to 4-8 on April 17. Undeterred, the Sox ripped off eight wins in ten games to improve to 12-10 following Monday night's victory in Delaware. But three frustrating setbacks, including back-to-back walk-offs to begin May, have sent the Sox back below the .500 mark. Despite sitting at 12-13, the Sox are just two back in the loss column and three games overall behind first-place Myrtle Beach.

Salem's Sizzling Slugger: It says a lot about Red Sox third-baseman Garin Cecchini's ridiculous season that Thursday night's ballgame, in which he reached base three times, qualified as a relatively quiet night. Cecchini singled once and walked twice, snapping his streak of seven straight multi-hit games (in which he hit .577, 15-for-26). However, the Louisiana native still owns a nine-game hit streak and a 12-game reaching base streak. Since April 18, Cecchini has reached base an outrageous 34 times in 12 games. That includes 21 hits, 12 for extra bases, and 13 walks (with just six strikeouts). Since April 18, he's hitting .477 with a .596 OBP. In his last 21 games, Cecchini has gone 34-for-80 (.425), and when you include his 0-for-7 start to the season, his .391 season clip is still far and away the best in the league!

Surging Stick: While David Renfroe entered Thursday night with a sub-.200 average, Salem's first-baseman offered great impact with four hits and a walk, scoring half of the Sox' six runs, becoming the first Red Sock to score three times in one game this year. Renfroe also became the first member of the Salem Sox with multiple four-hit games on the year. He also registered four hits on April 10 in Potomac, a game that included his only homer of the season. Cecchini had Salem's only other four-hit game, going 4-for-4 on April 8.

Swihart Superior: Catcher Blake Swihart bounced back from back-to-back hitless games on Tuesday and Wednesday with his first three-hit night of the season on Thursday, going 3-for-5 and lacking just in a home run in his pursuit of the cycle. Swihart's big night included his fourth triple of the year, tying him with Cecchini for the league lead in three-baggers. Defensively, the backstop has thrown out seven of 19 attempted base-stealers, a rate of 37%, third-best in the league.

Situational Struggles: Salem stranded a season-high 14 runners on base on Thursday night, three more than any other game all season. The Sox went 3-for-18 with runners in scoring position, leaving a man at second base in the top of the ninth and the top of the 11th, while stranding the bases loaded in the 10th. Over the last five games, the Red Sox have gone 10-for-59 with runners in scoring position (.169). For the year, the Sox are hitting .247 with men in scoring position, nine points better than the team's full-season overall clip of .238.

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