The Salem Red Sox mustered just six hits and fell 4-0 to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans in the opener of a three-game series on Sunday night at TicketReturn.com Field at Pelicans Ballpark.
Salem had a chance to take the lead early in the contest with Yolian Cerse standing at second and two outs in the second inning. Jose Vinicio slapped a single into center field where Trey Martin fielded the ball on a bounce and fired a perfect throw to home, nailing Cerse at the dish to keep the game scoreless.
In the fifth inning, Salem had runners at the corners and two down against reliever Michael Heesch. The southpaw threw over to first to check on Forrestt Allday while Vinicio sprinted down the third base line attempting to steal home. The throw from first baseman Jacob Rogers was in plenty of time to nab Vinicio, who caromed into the catcher Victor Caratini and eventually left the game due to the collision.
Myrtle Beach pushed across the first run of the contest in the last of the fifth thanks to a triple from Kevin Brown and an RBI single from Pin-Chieh Chen. The Pelicans loaded the bases with nobody out in the frame, but Aaron Wilkerson prevented further damage by striking out Mark Zagunis and Chesny Young before getting Jeimer Candelario to ground out.
Wilkerson (7-2) left after the fifth inning and was saddled with the loss. He yielded a run on four hits in five frames, striking out four and walking two.
The Pelicans extended their lead in the seventh against German Taveras. After two walks, Young singled home a run before scoring two batters later on a two-run single from Rogers that put Myrtle Beach ahead 4-0.
Heesch (7-0) held the Sox at bay in relief to earn the win. Entering in the fifth, Heesch gave up just one hit and two walks in 3.1 innings while striking out three. Paul Blackburn started for the Pelicans, tossing 4.2 shutout innings before being lifted due to a pitch limit.
Despite being shutout for just the second time all year, Mario Martinez extended his team-best hitting streak to 14 games with two base knocks. Martinez now owns the third-longest streak in the Carolina League this season.
Salem will look to bounce back in the middle game of the three-game series on Monday night at 7:05 p.m. Teddy Stankiewicz (3-9, 3.82) will toe the rubber for the Red Sox against the Pelicans’ Jen-Ho Tseng (3-6, 3.67). Fans can tune into the game on 1240 AM ESPN Roanoke, online at salemsox.com or via the TuneIn Radio app.
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