Jordan Betts belted a solo home run with two strikes and two outs in the top of the ninth inning, sending the Salem Red Sox to a 4-3 win over the Wilmington Blue Rocks on Tuesday night at Frawley Stadium.
Betts started the at-bat with Forrestt Allday at first and one out, but Allday was caught stealing on the third pitch of the at-bat. After fouling off a pair of two-strike pitches, Betts clobbered a 2-2 offering from Matt Alvarez (1-2) over the Salem bullpen in left field for his third homer of the season, all of which have come in the month of June.
Taylor Grover gave up a leadoff walk in the last of the ninth inning, but retired the next three batters in order to secure the win. Grover (2-1) inherited a 3-2 lead in the seventh, but gave up his first run in 15.1 innings of relief on a Mauricio Ramos two-out RBI single in the last of the seventh. The righthander gave up just the one run on two hits in three innings with four strikeouts.
Neither starter factored in the decision, but both pitched well enough to win. Wilmington’s Jake Junis battled command early and gave up two runs to the Sox in the third, both unearned. With runners on first and third thanks to an error, a sac bunt and a hit batter, Tzu-Wei Lin punched a double to the right-center gap, scoring Betts to make it 1-0. Manuel Margot was thrown out trying to score on the play, but Sam Travis made sure Salem got another run, plating Lin with an RBI infield single.
Those were the only two runs Junis gave up in five innings, yielding three hits while striking out four and walking one.
Kevin McAvoy was just as good for Salem. The righthander did not allow a hit until the fourth inning, before giving up four hits and two runs in the frame. Wilmington loaded the bases with nobody out and tied the game thanks to RBI singles from Jack Lopez and Dex Kjerstad. McAvoy worked out of trouble thanks to a double play and ended up lasting six innings, allowing two runs on five hits with three walks and no strikeouts.
With the game tied 2-2 in the seventh, Manuel Margot gave the Sox the lead back with a two-out solo shot to left. For Margot, it was part of a perfect day in which he reached all four times via two hits, a walk and a hit by pitch.
With the win, Salem improved to 34-30 while Wilmington fell to 35-30. The squads will square off in the rubber match of the series on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. Aaron Wilkerson (2-0, 1.82) will take the ball for the Sox opposite the Blue Rocks’ Cody Reed (5-4, 1.72). Fans can listen to the game on 1240 AM ESPN Roanoke, online at salemsox.com or via the TuneIn Radio app.
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Chris Graham
