CarL1 Salem RidgeYaks

Salem Red Sox Game Notes

Published on May 8, 2013 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem RidgeYaks News Release


Winners of three straight, the Salem Sox are ready for a midweek, midday ballgame against the Carolina Mudcats... First pitch at 11 AM...

Extra Success: For just the second time this season, the Salem Sox failed to register any singles in a game. But on Tuesday night, four timely extra-base hits provided all the punch that Salem would require in its 6-4 victory. Carolina outhit Salem 10-4, but the Sox went 2-for-5 with runners in scoring position, while the Mudcats went 1-for-10 in similar situations. With 63 doubles and 15 triples, the Red Sox are first in the league in both categories. It was the second straight Tuesday without a single for the Red Sox, as Salem recorded five hits, all for extra bases, eight days ago against the Blue Rocks in a 10-3 loss.

Emerging Strength: In 2012, Garin Cecchini possessed an impact bat, hitting .305 and finishing fourth in the South Atlantic League with 38 doubles. But everything about his first month of the 2013 season has exceeded his past performance, especially in the power department. Whereas Cecchini hit just four home runs in 455 at-bats last year, he has already matched that total in less than 25% of the opportunities in 2013. His two-run blast on Tuesday came in his 103rd at-bat of the season and brought his batting average to .379. If you exclude his 0-for-7 start over his first two games to the year, Cecchini has hit .406 (39-for-96) in his last 25 games, with 18 extra-base hits, 16 walks, 22 runs scored, and 19 RBI.

Extending Starters: Entering Wednesday, only seven starting pitchers in the Carolina League who've been in the rotation all season have gone at least five innings in every one of their starts. Two of them will be on the mound this morning at LewisGale Field. With 34 innings pitched in six starts, Carolina's Cody Anderson trails Winston-Salem's Chris Bassitt by just three frames for the league lead in innings pitched. Anderson has gone six innings in four starts, working five frames in his two other starts. Meanwhile, Salem's Mike Augliera has pitched between five and seven innings in each of his first five starts. With a 3-0 record, Augliera is looking to join Bassitt as the only pitchers in the league with four wins.

Explaining Struggles: While Carolina enters Wednesday with a league-worst 11-20 record, the Mudcats do own three of the league's top five hitters. Nineteen-year-old shortstop Francisco Lindor is second behind Cecchini with a .362 average, while Jerrud Sabourin is fourth at .327 and Tyler Naquin sits fifth at .308. In fact, Carolina is hitting .272 as a team, tops in the Carolina League after 31 games. Despite this offensive prowess, the Mudcats are an appalling 2-8 in one-run games and 5-13 in games decided by three runs or less. Salem will host Carolina for three this week before heading to Zebulon for a three-game series next week.

Extraordinary Stillness: For the second straight game, the Salem Red Sox were without a stolen base on Tuesday night. The Sox had stolen at least one base in 23 of the first 27 games before failing to do so at all in the last couple. With 51 thefts in 29 games, the Red Sox are still tops in the circuit in the stolen base department. Salem has stolen more than twice as many bags as Carolina, who has just 23 steals in 31 games.

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Carolina League Stories from May 8, 2013


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