Frederick rallies for five in ninth to stun Salem

Frederick scored five times in the ninth inning to transform a 5-3 deficit into an 8-5 win, giving the Keys their second victory in as many days over the Red Sox. All-Star closer Mike Olmsted surrendered four hits and made two errors, costing Salem dearly in a game that the Sox could not put away. Aaron Baker led the Keys with three hits and four RBI, while the Sox suffered their first loss of the season when leading after eight innings.

Salem led 3-1 after seven, but nine runs came across in the final two frames. Both squads scored twice in the eighth, as Frederick tied it at three before Salem retaliated with a two-spot to surge back in front 5-3. Heading to the ninth, the Sox were 43-0 when leading after eight innings. But Joe Oliveira’s leadoff walk commenced a five-run rally to send the Keys in front.

Oliveira’s walk preceded the first Olmsted error, with Garabez Rosa chopping a potential double-play ball to the mound. But the ball bounced in and out of Olmsted’s glove, and his fire to first sailed past Travis Shaw and into foul ground, sending the runners to second and third. Johnny Ruettiger’s single scored Oliveira to make it 5-4 with men at first and third and nobody out. Olmsted then followed his previous physical mistake with a mental error, gunning a pickoff throw to first when Shaw was not covering the bag. Rosa scored to tie the game at five, while Ruettiger scurried to third. Later in the frame, RBI doubles from Aaron Baker and Steve Bumbry helped the Keys take an 8-5 lead, an advantage that they would not relinquish.

Earlier in the game, Salem scored its first tally on Brandon Jacobs’ RBI double in the third, with Sean Coyle’s RBI single surging the Sox to a 2-1 lead a few batters later in the last of the third.

Three frames later, James Kang tripled with two outs in the sixth, scoring when Baker’s could not field Shannon Wilkerson’s grounder. But up 3-1, the bullpen faltered.

Baker smashed a two-run, game-tying double in the eighth, but Salem countered with a pair of two-out runs in the bottom of the frame, with Adalberto Ibarra delivering his third hit of the day to put the Sox back on top. Ibarra finished 3-for-5, while Jacobs and Kang also contributed multi-hit performances.

Trent Mummey and Bumbry each had two hits to complement Baker’s three-hit performance, combining to catapult the Keys past the Sox in the ninth.

Salem wasted a spectacular Carolina League debut for Yeiper Castillo, who allowed just one run on four hits in six innings. Oscar Melendez earned the win in relief for Frederick, while David Walters struck out two in a perfect ninth to close it out.

The Sox will look to salvage the final game of the three-game set on Monday evening, with Brandon Workman taking the mound opposite Trent Howard. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05.