Salem Red Sox Put a Wrap on 2025 Season with 3-2 Victory over Fayetteville
CarL Salem Red Sox

Salem Red Sox Put a Wrap on 2025 Season with 3-2 Victory over Fayetteville

Published on September 7, 2025 under Carolina League (CarL)
Salem Red Sox News Release


SALEM, Va. - The Salem Red Sox (56-74, 30-36), playing in their final game under the Red Sox identity, claimed both a series win and Sunday afternoon win 3-2 over the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (69-63, 33-33) from Carilion Clinic Field at Salem Memorial Ballpark.

In 2009, the Colorado Rockies turned the Salem Avalanche over to the Boston Red Sox organization. And for the last 16 seasons, the baseball team in Salem has been known as the Salem Red Sox. Sunday was the 2,182nd and final game in the Red Sox era in the 540.

Trying to go out with a bang, the Sox also looked to clinch a series win in their final six-game set of the 2025 campaign.

It would be the Woodpeckers who struck first in the season finale. In the top of the third off starter Jose Bello, Zach Daudet reached on a fielding error by shortstop Starlyn Nunez. A missed grounder allowed Andrews Sosa to score and give Fayetteville a 1-0 advantage.

Two innings later in the bottom of the fifth, the Sox had an answer. Frederik Jimenez, one of just eight players that has been with Salem since opening day, turned around a 3-1 fastball from starter Luis Aguilar, depositing it beyond the right field fence for a game-tying home run. It also marked Jimenez's sixth bomb of the season for the first baseman.

Entering the sixth, Bello departed the ballgame in his final start of the season. The right-hander, acquired in the Rafael Devers trade, went five innings allowing three hits, one run (unearned), two walks with four strikeouts.

With Griffin Kilander taking over in the sixth, the Sox gave the bullpen some run support. Facing the starter Aguilar, Skylar King drew a walk, stole second and advanced to third on a wild throw into centerfield. Starlyn Nunez then swooped in for his 100th hit of the season and it scored King for an RBI single to center field, giving the Sox a 2-1 lead.

Nunez was one of just seven hitters in the Carolina League in 2025 to record 100 or more hits this year. He was another one of those opening day titans to last the full six months on Salem.

Kilander worked out of jams in innings six, seven and eight, part of a Salem staff that stranded 12 Fayetteville runners, holding the Woodpeckers to a 1-for-14 line with runners in scoring position.

Although the cherry on top came in the seventh inning. Jimenez, back at the dish, got another fastball, this time from bullpen arm Javier Perez, and the 20-year-old cranked a solo homer over the right field fence for home run number seven on the season and his second on the afternoon.

This home run from Jimenez marked just the third time this year a Salem Sox player had recorded multiple home runs in a game, joining the exclusive list of Kelvin Diaz (5/18 @ Charleston) and Andruw Musett (5/4 vs Fredericksburg).

Fayetteville tried one last push in the ninth thanks to a Sosa leadoff double, Justin Thomas RBI groundout, Daudet walk and Caden Powell single.

The score was 3-2 Red Sox when Kilander exited searching for the 27th out. Ozzie Chavez made the call to the bullpen for Eybersson Polanco to sit down Chase Call and strand the tying run 90 feet away.

With the game on the line, tying run on third, go-ahead run on first, Polanco settled in and struck out Call on six pitches to clinch the final victory of the season!

Kilander earned the win in the finale, going 3.2 innings allowing three hits, one run, four walks and five strikeouts. It was also his sixth win of the season, giving the right-hander the sole lead for the 2025 Red Sox win department on the hill.

The loss went to the starter Aguilar, who tossed six innings allowing two runs, six hits, and four strikeouts.

Polanco also notched his fifth save of the season, and second of the week.

With the win, Salem won just their sixth series of the season (third in a six-game series), and ended the year on a two-game winning streak.

The marathon of a season that started all the way back in early April has finally come to an end in early September. 130 games have come and gone, the Sox finishing with a record of 56-74, and 30-36 in the second half. The Sox failed to qualify for the postseason, finishing in fifth place in both the first and second halves of the season.

The Salem Red Sox era is officially over in the 540. The team will undergo a rebrand this offseason and launch the new identity on Saturday, November 8th with a launch event at Carilion Clinic Field open to the public.

Boston's Single-A affiliate will remain in the Roanoke Valley next season and are slated to host the Delmarva Shorebirds on Thursday, April 2nd, 2026 to open the new campaign.

But now the offseason hits and baseball is put on pause from Salem, Virginia.

Check out the Salem Red Sox Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from September 7, 2025


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