A 2-2 tie ballgame heading to the tenth inning quickly spiraled out of control on Wednesday night, as the Fredericksburg Nationals lost 9-4 to the Salem Red Sox.
Salem scored seven runs on only two hits in the top of the tenth, benefitting from six Fredericksburg walks to even the series at one game apiece.
After the second pregame rain delay in as many nights, the FredNats and Red Sox locked horns in a game that was scoreless until the fifth. Karlo Seijas allowed only two hits over 5.0 scoreless innings, and Chih-Jung Liu struck out a career-high 10 batters over his five-inning start. Liu allowed only one hit, but it was a solo homer to Kevin Strohschein that gave Fredericksburg a 1-0 lead.
Salem didn’t trail for long, as Angel Maita led off the sixth by reaching on a Strohschein error and scored on another error from catcher Geraldi Diaz. Nick Yorke blasted a solo homer off Leif Strom to put the Red Sox ahead 2-1.
In the bottom of the eighth, Jordy Barley’s two-out RBI double to deep center field scored Jeremy De La Rosa from first to tie the game. Devon Roedahl (W, 3-2) got the final out of the inning, stranding Barley to preserve the tie.
In his FredNats debut, Christian Vann (L, 0-1) pitched a quick ninth but ran into trouble in the tenth. The lefty walked five batters, including three in a row with the bases loaded. Edward Ureña entered and allowed a two-run single to Nicholas Northcut followed by an Alex Erro RBI double.
Diaz hit an RBI double against Roedahl in the bottom of the tenth and Jake Boone added an RBI single, but the seven-run deficit was too much to overcome as the Red Sox evened the series at one game apiece.
The FredNats continue their series against the Salem Red Sox on Thursday. First pitch from FredNats Ballpark is scheduled for 7:05, with FredNats On Deck beginning at 6:50 on the FredNats Baseball Network.
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Chris Graham
