Cole Sturgeon drove in a career-high five runs, but the Salem Red Sox stranded 11 runners on the basepaths and lost to the Carolina Mudcats 13-6 on Wednesday night at Five County Stadium.
Carolina wasted no time as it scored twice in the first inning. Keith Curcio led off with a walk and stole second base. After Dustin Peterson singled him to third, Curcio and Peterson executed a double steal with Peterson taking second and Curcio stealing home on the throw to second base. Joe Odom later drove in Peterson with an infield single and the Mudcats took a 2-0 lead.
The Sox managed a run in the second beginning with a Jordan Betts walk. Deiner Lopez eventually doubled down the left field line, scoring Betts from second to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Mudcats took control of the game in the bottom of the second inning. Johan Camargo, Reed Harper and Curcio each singled in the inning, loading the bases. Connor Lien then singled in Camargo, bringing Peterson up with the bases still loaded. Peterson took Ty Buttrey deep off of the video board in left-center field for a grand slam, pushing the Mudcats lead to 7-1.
Carolina extended with two more in the fourth, both scoring on a Camargo two-run single against Brandon Show, who was on in relief. Buttrey (7-8) was lifted after the walking the first two batters in the fourth inning. In three-plus frames, he surrendered nine runs on nine hits with five walks and four strikeouts.
Salem began to chip away at the lead in the fifth inning. Wendell Rijo singled and Sturgeon followed with a two run blast to right, his third of the year. The Sox then loaded the bases with two outs for Sturgeon in the sixth. He lined a single to center, scoring Lopez and Yoilan Cerse to cut the lead to 9-5.
Carolina got comfortable again in the seventh, plating four more runs. Jose Briceno drove in a pair with a single and an error on Sturgeon allowed a third to score on the play. Briceno later came around on a Carlos Franco single, making the score 13-5.
The Sox managed one more run in the eighth inning when Sturgeon knocked in Cerse on an RBI groundout. Sturgeon was 2-for-4 and recorded a career-high five RBI in the loss, tying Jordan Betts’ total from June 9 for the most RBI by a member of the Red Sox in 2015. Betts was 2-for-3 on Wednesday with a walk and a run scored, Zach Kapstein went 2-for-4 and Lopez finished 2-for-4 win an RBI and a run scored.
Yean Carlos Gil (2-9) earned the win for Carolina with five runs allowed on nine hits and four walks with two strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched.
Salem and Carolina will play the final game of their season series on Thursday at 7 p.m. Trey Ball (8-11, 4.32) is scheduled to oppose Matt Bywater (0-1, 0.00). 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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