Winston-Salem tied a Dash-era record with nine hits in one inning, scoring eight times to take a commanding 9-0 lead in the fourth and cruise to a 9-3 win over Lynchburg at BB&T Ballpark Thursday night. Anthony Santander hit his 16th home run of the season, andFrancisco Mejia extended his hitting streak to 40 games with an RBI infield single in the sixth.
Winston-Salem took a 1-0 lead into the fourth thanks to a two-out RBI by Toby Thomas that drove in Nick Basto in the second stanza. Mason Robbins opened the fourth with an opposite-field solo home run to left. Three batters later, Telvin Nash hit a two-run bomb to left to make it 4-0. Robbins and Nash each picked up another RBI later in the inning when they batted for a second time in the frame. Robbins earned his on a two-out single, while Nash’s came on a bases-loaded walk.
Jared Robinson (0-1) did not make it out of the fourth inning in his first start as a Hillcat. He surrendered eight runs on nine hits in 3 2/3 frames while striking out one. Zach Thompson (2-1) went seven innings for the Dash and earned the win. The northpaw held Lynchburg to two runs on seven hits, fanning five while only walking one.
Lynchburg’s offense started to string together a few hits late in the game. Trailing 9-0 in the sixth, Anthony Santander singled, and Yu-Cheng Chang put the Hillcats on the board with an RBI triple to right-center field. Francisco Mejia followed with an infield single on a dribbler in front of the plate that he ran out to earn a hit in his 40th straight game, the 14th longest hitting streak in Minor League Baseball history.
In the eighth, Santander hit a ball more than 400 feet to right-center field for the final run of the contest. Santander has 16 home runs to rank third in the league, while his 76 RBIs are second to only his teammate Bobby Bradley’s 77. Santander finished the game 4-4 for the fifth four-hit game of his career.
Lynchburg fell to 17-13 in series openers…The Hillcats have hit 98 home runs, which matches the 2015 team’s league-leading total a season ago…Lynchburg is on pace for 133 home runs, which would break the 2002 squad’s record of 131.
Lynchburg looks to even the series Friday at 7 p.m. Matt Esparza, who leads the Indians system in strikeouts with 109, will make his Hillcats debut. Fans can listen to the action on 93.3 FM and 1320 AM as well as www.lynchburg-hillcats.com, beginning with the Hillcats On-Deck Show at 6:45 p.m.
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Chris Graham
