Teddy Stankiewicz spun eight shutout innings, allowing only two hits and the Salem Red Sox won 4-0 on Monday afternoon at LewisGale Field, blanking the Winston-Salem Dash for the second straight game.
Stankiewicz (1-5) was dominant, facing just two over the minimum through his eight innings. He struck out four batters and walked only one, earning his first win of 2015 in an outing that lowered his ERA to 3.52. Stankiewicz became the first Salem pitcher to make it into the eighth inning. The staff has now combined to throw 26.1 consecutive scoreless innings, with no runs scoring since the first inning on Saturday.
The Sox spotted Stankiewicz a run in the fifth inning, loading the bases with one out on singles from Carlos Coste and Cole Sturgeon paired with a Kevin Heller walk. With two outs and the bases loaded, Wendell Rijo bounced a swinging bunt down the third base line. Jace Fry came off the mound to field the ball with no time to make a throw. Sturgeon scored from third and the Sox took the lead 1-0.
Fry (1-7) was the hard-luck loser with six one-run innings. He scattered nine hits and struck out seven while forcing Salem to leave eight runners on the basepaths.
Insurance runs came in the Red Sox half of the seventh. Tzu-Wei Lin and Sam Travis worked back-to-back one out walks bringing up Heller, who cranked a triple off the left-field wall. Rijo then drove in Heller one batter later with a double, extending the Sox lead to 4-0.
German Taveras entered in the ninth and allowed only a one-out walk. He struck out two to shut the door for the Sox third consecutive win. Salem took the series over the Dash 3-1 and improved the season-long mark against Winston-Salem to 7-3. The Red Sox climbed back above .500 with a 23-22 mark, Winston-Salem’s league-worst record fell to 18-27.
The Sox take the day off on Tuesday before beginning a two-city, seven-game road trip with a three-game set in Frederick against the Keys on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Denny Bautista will start the first game for the Red Sox, his first appearance with Salem. Jhonathan Ramos (0-0, 2.18) will start for Frederick. Fans can listen to the game on 1240 AM ESPN Roanoke, online on salemsox.com or via the TuneIn Radio App.
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Chris Graham
