The Salem Red Sox mounted a late charge, but it came up short in a 7-2 loss at the hands of the Potomac Nationals Monday night at LewisGale Field.
Two batters into the game the Nationals (49-42, 15-8) grabbed the lead against Michael Kopech and the Red Sox (55-38, 12-12). The righty hit Victor Robles leading off the game and then Alec Keller doubled to bring home pinch-runner Dale Carey. Kopech settled down to strike out the next three batters in the frame.
After the first inning, Kopech (0-1) settled down, yielding just one more unearned run in the fourth inning. The righthander struck out a career-high nine over five innings, picking up at least one strikeout in each of his five frames. Kopech struck out the side in the first and third innings with a fastball reaching as high as 100 mph.
Through three starts with Salem, Kopech has now struck out 23 batters in 14 innings. He has yielded just one earned run for and ERA of 0.64. On Monday, Kopech scattered three hits and three walks in his outing.
After Kopech left, the Nationals scored three runs in the top of the sixth and another in the top of the seventh to take a 6-0 lead. All four runs came at the hand of reliever Bobby Poyner.
Potomac starting pitcher Matthew Spann (2-1) shut the Red Sox out in his 6.0 innings of work, allowing just three hits after being called on in a spot start owing to a roster move made earlier in the day by the Nationals.
German Taveras worked around a pair of walks in the eighth, but in the ninth allowed the Nationals to plate another insurance run after a leadoff single came around to score to make it 7-0.
Wirkin Estevez continued the trend of strong Potomac pitching with 2.0 scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
Justin Thomas entered for the ninth and surrendered a leadoff home run to Reed Gragnani. Nick Longhi doubled to right field and scored on a Mike Meyers single to cut the deficit to 7-2. The lefty settled down and retired the side to record his fourth save of the season.
Rafael Devers and Danny Mars each tallied multi-hit games for Salem, with Mars extending his hitting streak to six games. During the stretch, Mars is 13-for-24 (.542) at the bat, with a double and two triples.
The Red Sox complete the series with the Potomac Nationals at LewisGale Field Tuesday evening. First pitch is scheduled for7:05 pm. Salem will send Matt Kent (8-4, 3.51) to the mound, while the Nationals counter with Erick Fedde (5-3, 3.76). For tickets and more information, call (540) 389-3333, or slide to www.salemsox.com/tickets.
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