The sixth inning caused problems for Teddy Stankiewicz for the third consecutive start on Friday night at Five County Stadium, as the Salem Red Sox were dropped by the Carolina Mudcats, 4-1.
Salem jumped out to a lead in the top of the first, initiated by a Manuel Margot leadoff double. He scored three batters later on a two-out single from Jake Romanski, giving the Sox a 1-0 lead. Margot has now recorded a leadoff base hit and then scored a run in four of the last five games. He extended his season-opening streak to 56 consecutive plate appearances without a strikeout.
Stankiewicz (0-3) was stellar through five innings, facing the minimum to that point with just one hit against. As was the case in his first two starts, though, Stankiewicz struggled when he reached the sixth. A pair of singles from Jose Briceno and Johan Camargo were followed by a one-out walk to Connor Oliver to load the bases. Stankiewicz then walked in the tying run with a free pass to Eric Garcia and gave up the lead when Dustin Peterson lifted a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Camargo.
Stankiewicz ended up with a quality start for the third straight outing despite, allowing two runs on three hits in six innings with two strikeouts and two walks.
Carolina added to their lead in the eighth against Taylor Grover out of the Red Sox pen thanks to a two-run home from Peterson to left-center field, extending the lead to 4-1.
Salem out-hit the Mudcats 8-4 but failed to capitalize with runners in scoring position. The Red Sox stranded 13 on the basepaths, including two in the ninth. Margot and Forrestt Allday reached to lead off the inning, bringing the tying run to the plate with no outs. The Red Sox would fail to drive them in as Sam Travis and Romanski each struck out before Cole Sturgeon grounded out to first to end the game.
Blair Walters (1-0) earned the win for the Mudcats with two scoreless one-hit innings in relief of Carolina starter Steve Janas, who yielded just one run in five innings of work. Tyler Jones worked a scoreless ninth for his third save of the year.
The Red Sox fell to 6-8 with the loss while the Mudcats improved to 7-7. Game three of the four-game series takes place on Saturday night with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. The Red Sox send Kevin McAvoy (0-1, 1.80) out to duel with Tyler Brosius (1-0, 5.23). 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
