Fredericksburg, the Low-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, jumped on Salem starter Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz in the bottom of the first inning. Armando Cruz drew a walk with one man gone, before Daylen Lile doubled to put runners on second and third. Branden Boissiere lifted a pitch into center field for a sacrifice fly to bring Cruz home with the first run of the game.
Blake Klassen followed with his first FredNat RBI, a double to plate Lile and push the Freddies ahead 2-0.
Then in the home half of the third, Boss picked up his second RBI of the game with a bloop single down the left-field line to once again bring Lile across.
Three runs was plenty of cushion for Jose Atencio, who was making a spot-start after Bryan Caceres was promoted to Wilmington earlier in the day. Atencio spun five scoreless innings with just two hits against him, and punched out a pair of batters as well.
Roismar Quintana added a run for the Nats in the bottom of the seventh, on a long solo home run to left field.
The Red Sox, the Low-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, finally solved FredNat pitching in the top of the eighth, against Pedro Gonzalez. Ahbram Liendo got hit by a pitch to open the inning, then moved to second on a fielder’s choice ground ball to the pitcher. Yorberto Mejicano singled back up the middle to push Liendo across to cut the deficit to 4-1. An E6 and infield single then loaded the bases with just one out against Gonzalez.
The righty got Luis Ravelo to lift a sacrifice fly to left field which brought the score to 4-2, and finally punched out Jhostynxon Garcia to escape the threat with just two runs against him.
Fredericksburg went back to Gonzalez for the top of the ninth, and he carved through the Red Sox in order to lock down a 4-2 win.
Gonzalez got his second save of the year, Atencio improved to 3-4 with the win, and Rodriguez-Cruz suffered just his second loss of the season.
In tomorrow’s tilt, Brad Lord takes on Jose Ramirez in a 6:05 start from VACU Stadium.
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Chris Graham
