Drew Robinson’s fly ball to the left field corner bounced off Brandon Jacobs’ glove, sending Jake Skole scurrying across home plate to ignite a raucous celebration for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans on Saturday night at TicketReturn.Com Field. Jacobs had a chance to catch the slicing fly, but his backhanded stab did not deliver, giving the Pelicans a 9-8 triumph over the Salem Red Sox to cap a crazy night at the park.
All told, there were six home runs, three for each side, including one inside-the-parker. The teams combined for nine runs in the first inning, with both pitchers struggling mightily at the outset before settling down. Down 8-5 after four innings, the Red Sox gradually chipped away scoring single runs in the fifth, sixth, and eighth, only to see Myrtle Beach capitalize on back-to-back walks to begin the last of the ninth. Robinson’s knock-out punch served Salem its fifth walk-off loss of the season.
Jacobs belted two home runs for the Red Sox, both solo shots, his third and fourth round trippers of the year. Henry Ramos also went deep, crushing his first Carolina League round tripper, a solo blast in the sixth. But both Jacobs and Ramos failed to make defensive plays in the outfield that cost the Sox. While Jacobs could not squeeze the final fly of the game on the run racing into the corner, Ramos completely lost track of a Royce Bolinger fly to deep center in the third. The towering shot landed on the edge of the warning track, perhaps 25 feet behind Ramos, and resulted in a two-out, inside-the-park, two-run homer for Bolinger.
Rougned Odor and Kellin Deglan also went yard for the Pelicans, both bashing two-run shots against Henry Owens in the bottom of the first. Owens could not protect Salem’s early 4-0 lead, as the first five Myrtle Beach batters all reached against the Sox lefthander. He proceeded to retire the next six batters he faced and did not allow another hit in his three and a third innings on the mound, except for the inside-the-park homer that probably should have been caught by Ramos. Overall, Owens allowed eight runs (six earned) on five hits, striking out five and walking two.
Salem’s comeback was made possible by the brilliant relief pitching from Noe Ramirez. The righthander allowed an inherited runner to score when he entered for Owens in the fourth, but he proceeded to throw three and two-thirds innings and did not allow a run, while striking out six and walking none.
The Sox received a Saturday scare when Garin Cecchini, the league’s leading hitter, was drilled by a high and tight Will Lamb fastball in the top of the sixth. He lay stationary on the ground for a few moments, before pushing himself up and walking off under his own power. After the game, Cecchini said he felt fine and hoped to play on Sunday. He finished Saturday’s game 1-for-3 with two RBI.
The Red Sox will look to end their current four-game slide on Sunday afternoon in Myrtle Beach. Kyle Stroup returns to the rotation for Salem, while the home team counters with Alec Asher in the Mother’s Day matinee, scheduled to begin at 3:05.
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