The Salem Red Sox were felled by a six-run sixth inning and dropped a 10-4 decision to the Lynchburg Hillcats on Thursday night at LewisGale Field.
Salem led briefly with a run in the bottom of the third inning. In his first at-bat in the Red Sox organization, Yoilan Cerse singled to lead off the inning. He then stole second base and continued the aggressive approach on the basepaths when Wendell Rijo bounced a two-out single to first base. Nellie Rodriguez knocked the ball down but lost sight of it after that. Cerse sprinted around third and beat the eventual throw home for the first run of the game.
The lead was short-lived as Lynchburg earned a pair of runs when four straight reached in the fourth. Paul Hendrix singled and was quickly knocked in by Rodriguez. Two batters later, Mike Papi smacked a single to right field that allowed Hendrix to score for a 2-1 Lynchburg lead.
The real trouble came in the top of the sixth inning when the Hillcats struck for six runs. Kevin McAvoy allowed hits to the first two runners of the inning, a double to Hendrix and a mammoth home run to Rodriguez. McAvoy threw the first pitch behind the next batter, Alex Monsalve, and was immediately ejected by home plate umpire Mike Provine.
McAvoy (4-5) was tagged with the loss with four runs allowed on seven hits through five-plus innings. He struck out five and did not walk a batter for only the second time this season.
Chandler Shepherd entered and was unable to stop the bleeding. He gave up five more hits in the inning, featuring two RBI doubles and two RBI singles. Eric Haase and Ivan Castillo each drove in a run with a two-bagger and Luigi Rodriguez and Clint Frazier both poked across RBI singles. In total, Lynchburg tallied seven hits and extended its lead to 8-1.
The Hillcats scored two more runs, one in the eighth and one in the ninth. Salem helped the final line with a run in the eighth and two in the ninth but left the bases loaded to end the game.
Cerse was 1-for-2 with a walk, a stolen base and two runs scored in his Red Sox debut. Dace Kime (2-2) allowed only one run on three hits while striking out four in the winning effort for Lynchburg.
Salem dropped to 30-29 in the losing effort while Lynchburg improved to 29-31. The Red Sox will now welcome the Wilmington Blue Rocks for a three-game series beginning on Friday. In the first meeting of the season, Salem will trot out Denny Bautista (2-0, 5.82) to face Wilmigton’s Cody Reed (5-3, 1.29). It’s Pirate and Princess Night at LewisGale Field and there will be fireworks shot off after the game. Fans unable to attend can listen to the game on 1240 AM ESPN Roanoke, online at salemsox.com or via the TuneIn Radio app.
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