In the first installment of the 460 Series, the Lynchburg Hillcats shined. Michael Peoples earned his third win of the year, Bradley Zimmer added another home run to his total, and the Hillcats took the first game of the series with the Salem Red Sox, 6-1.
Bradley Zimmer put the Hillcats on the board first with his league-leading seventh home run of the year over the right field wall. Zimmer’s shot gave Lynchburg a 1-0 lead in the fourth.
The ‘Cats extended their lead in the fifth thanks, in part, to a Salem error. With two outs, Tzu Wei Lin booted a ball at short hit by Ivan Castillo and gave the Hillcats new life. Luigi Rodriguez took advantage by driving a double to the left-center field gap that brought Castillo all the way around from first. Clint Frazier followed with a double of his own that scored Rodriguez and the Hillcats led 3-0 after five.
Michael Peoples was magnificent in his third win of the season. He went six shutout innings, allowed three hits and struck out a season-high eight hitters. It’s the second time Peoples has gone five or more innings without allowing a run in seven starts.
Lynchburg wasn’t done scoring, as they put one more on the board in the seventh and two more in the eighth to make it 6-0. Nellie Rodriguez drove in Mike Papi with a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Zimmer singled to lead off the eighth and was able to make it all the way to third on an error in center by Cole Sturgeon. Nellie Rodriguez followed by producing his second sacrifice fly of the evening to score Zimmer. One batter later, Eric Haase hit one over the centerfield wall to for his second homer of the season and it was a six-run lead for the Hillcats.
Salem was able to score one in the eighth, but the Hillcats cruised to a 6-1 victory in the first of a three game set.
Wednesday night’s game is another 7:05 p.m. start in Salem. Fans can tune into ESPN Radio Virginia 93.3 FM and 1320 AM beginning at 6:40 p.m. for the Hillcats On-Deck Show.
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Chris Graham
