CarL1 Salem RidgeYaks

Salem Red Sox Game Notes

Published on July 1, 2014 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Salem RidgeYaks News Release


The Salem Sox begin July by kicking off a six-game road trip with the first of three in Frederick... First pitch at 7 PM...

Making a Dent: With his third game-winning walk-off hit in June, Salem's Ryan Dent helped the Sox finish the month in style with a towering two-run homer in the last of the 10th on Monday night. Aside from clinching a victory and culminating a series sweep over the Blue Rocks, the blast also capped a 5-1 homestand that evened Salem's second-half record at 6-6. After falling as many as three games out of first in the Southern Division following the 1-5 start, the Sox are now just one game behind the Winston-Salem Dash in pursuit of the final playoff berth in the Southern Division. Dent also delivered walk-off hits on June 15 and June 26, cracking a game-winning single against the Hillcats in the former and a wall-ball double against the Mudcats in the latter

Ready for the Road?: After two months of serious struggles away from LewisGale Field, the headline is a question rather than a statement. Alas, the Sox carry a three-game winning streak into Harry Grove Stadium on Tuesday night. Salem was a road killer early in the season, opening with nine wins it the first 12 road games through May 1. But in the last two months, the Salem Sox have dropped 21 of their last 27 on the road. Valley. Salem is 23-17 at home and 15-24 on the road. Contrastingly, the Sox were 2-5 at home at one point in April, but they've gone 22-12 at LewisGale in the last 34 home games. The extremes were illustrated clearly in June, as the Sox went 10-3 at home in June and just 2-11 on the road. Beginning tonight, Salem will commence a key stretch with 10 of the next 14 games on the road.

Beating the Best: On paper, it was as difficult a stretch of opposing starting pitchers as the Carolina League has to offer. On the field though, it turned out fairly well for the Salem Sox. The Sox emerged from a stretch against four of the leagues best starting pitchers (Morimando, Merritt, Dziedzic, and Binford) with three wins in four games. The four hurlers came into last week a combined 24-11 with a 2.40 ERA, with each holding a sub-two June ERA. And while the Sox may not have pounced on the quartet, they did enough to chase Shawn Morimando with a no-decision Thursday, and beat Jonathan Dziedzic and Christian Binford over the weekend. Ryan Merritt was the lone starter to get a win against Salem this weekend, allowing just a lone earned run in seven and a third Friday night.

Strength in Arms: Salem pitching staff helped carry the squad in the recent homestand, compiling a minuscule 1.63 (10 ER/55 IP) during the six-game stretch. The six starters allowed just eight earned runs in six games, posting a 2.16 ERA of their own in the same time span (8 ER/33.1 IP). This marked an incredible turnaround from the first half-dozen games in the half. Painfully, Salem starters surrendered 34 runs in the six games in the road trip to begin the second half, amassing a 11.62 ERA (34 ER/26.1 IP). Highlighting the recent success has been Joe Gunkel, who takes the ball on Tuesday night to kick off the road trip. Gunkel earned the only Red Sox victory on the previous road trip, pitching five and a third innings to beat Winston-Salem in his Carolina League debut. Five days ago, Gunkel dealt six scoreless frames to beat Carolina at LewisGale Field.

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Carolina League Stories from July 1, 2014


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