Mark Tracy blasted a pair of home runs as the Winston-Salem Dash crushed the Salem Red Sox 10-1 in Friday’s series opener at BB&T Ballpark. With three big innings, Winston-Salem registered the rout, sending Salem to its fourth consecutive loss. Dash starter Chris Bassitt stymied the Sox during his sensational 90-pitch, seven-inning performance, while the visitors took one on the chin after arriving to town around 7 AM that morning following Thursday’s overnight bus ride from Wilmington.
Salem starter William Cuevas actually dominated the Dash in the first two innings, pitching perfectly through two with the lone exception of one baserunner reaching on an error. But in the last of the third, a scoreless game quickly untied itself when Tracy blasted a two-run missile into the outfield bar beyond the left-field wall. Two more singles, a walk, and a wild pitch gave the Dash a 3-0 lead after three.
Winston poured it on in the fourth, with the first four batters of the inning delivering hits to knock Cuevas out of the game. The final blow was Tracy’s second dinger of the night, a three-run shot into the outfield bar again. With the score 7-0, Heri Quevedo replaced Cuevas and retired three in a row to send the game to the fifth.
Brandon Jacobs launched the first pitch of the fifth inning into the outfield bar for Salem’s only tally, but the Dash added three more in the bottom of the fifth against Quevedo. Rangel Ravelo, making his Carolina League debut, and Tracy each went 3-for-3 in Winston’s three big innings, delivering big things from the bottom two spots in Winston’s batting order.
Bassitt improved to 4-0 and lowered his ERA to 1.95, while Cuevas dipped to 1-3 and watched his ERA rise to 7.84.
Garin Cecchini brought his hitting streak to 10 games and his on base streak to 13, going 1-for-3 with a single and a walk for the Sox. Matty Johnson was the only member of the Red Sox who offered a multi-hit night, going 2-for-4 from the top of the order.
Salem and Winston will square off in a Saturday night rematch, with a great prospective pitcher’s duel featuring Henry Owens and Chris Beck. First pitch is set for 7 PM.
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