The Fredericksburg Nationals dropped their third game in a row on Thursday, falling 3-2 to the Salem Red Sox.
The game time of two hours and 17 minutes marked the fastest nine-inning game of the season for the FredNats.
Ricardo Méndez went 1-for-4, singling in the third inning to extend his hitting streak to 19 games. The streak is the longest in the Low-A East, and is tied for the fourth-longest in the minors this season.
Salem made Rodney Theophile (L, 1-7) work early, scoring single runs in each of the first three innings. Stephen Scott and Nicholas Northcut hit sacrifice flies to bring home a pair of runs, and a fielding error from Viandel Peña allowed the third Red Sox run to score. Theophile issued a career-high six walks, but was helped by four Red Sox outs made on the basepaths.
The FredNats scored a run in the second on Kevin Strohschein’s team-leading seventh homer of the season, and drew to within a run at 3-2 in the fourth on an RBI double from Geraldi Diaz. That would be all they could manage against Bradley Blalock (W, 1-5), however, as the Salem righty earned his first win of the season.
Each bullpen pitched scoreless baseball, with Tomás Alastre and Bryan Peña combining for 3.0 clean Fredericksburg innings. Jordan DiValerio took over for Blalock in the sixth, and handed the ball to Casey Cobb (S, 2) for a clean ninth.
The FredNats continue their series against the Red Sox on Friday. First pitch from Haley Toyota Field is scheduled for 7:05, with FredNats On Deck beginning at 6:50 on the FredNats Baseball Network.
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Chris Graham
