Aaron Wilkerson wears out Wilmington: Red Sox win, 7-0

Aaron Wilkerson retired the first 12 batters he faced on Wednesday night at Frawley Stadium, setting the tone for the Salem Red Sox in a 7-0 victory over the Wilmington Blue Rocks. Wilkerson combined with Mike Adams and Austin Maddox for Salem’s league-leading 10^th shutout of the year.

Wilkerson (3-0) started on a roll for Salem, not allowing a baserunner until a leadoff walk to Cody Stubbs in the fifth. The righthander beared down, retiring the next five he faced before yielding his first hit of the day in the sixth. Carlos Garcia did the honor with a bloop single to right, ending Wilkerson’s attempt at a no-hitter. Another single and a pop out ended Wilkerson’s day after six innings in which he allowed two hits while striking out seven against just one walk.

Adams worked around a pair of baserunners in each of his two innings of relief while Maddox completed the shutout with a perfect ninth inning. The shutout was Salem’s third in the last five days against the Blue Rocks.

Salem’s offense provided plenty of support for the trio, scoring in five separate frames. With two outs in the third, Yoilan Cerse singled to left to get Sam Travis to the dish. Wilmington starter Cody Reed fell behind Travis 3-0 and the Sox All-Star belted the offering out to left for his team-leading fifth home run and 36^th and 37^th RBI.

Two innings later, Mario Martinez smashed a two-run single through a drawn-in infield to up the advantage to 4-0. That was the end of the day for Reed (5-5), who gave up four runs on nine hits in 4.2 innings.

In the sixth, Jordan Weems blasted the first pitch he saw from Robinson Yambati for a solo shot to right field to make it 5-0. For Weems, it was his first home run of the season and first since June 25, 2014 with Salem.

Salem kept the runs coming in the seventh inning, loading the bases with one out on three walks. After a fielder’s choice, Jose Vincio served a single to left-center that plated Kevin Heller and Jordan Betts and pushed the lead to 7-0.

Despite the shutout, Salem’s elimination number dropped to two thanks to Myrtle Beach’s win over Winston-Salem. However, Salem improved to five games over .500 for the first time all season at 35-30. Wilmington fell to 35-31.

Salem continues its road trip on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. against the Winston-Salem Dash at BB&T Ballpark. Ty Buttrey (4-0, 2.06) will toe the rubber for Salem while Winston-Salem is scheduled to counter with Jordan Guerrero (0-0, 5.63). Fans can listen to the game on 1240 AM ESPN Roanoke, online atsalemsox.com or via the TuneIn Radio app.