The Salem Red Sox used more late-inning heroics to defeat the Winston-Salem Dash Friday night at LewisGale Field, 6-4.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Red Sox catcher Ben Moore blooped a single down the right field line to score Deiner Lopez and Danny Mars to put Salem ahead, 5-4. They would tack on an additional run before reliever Colin Kleven escaped the jam.
Salem (29-12) jumped out in front in the bottom of the third against Dash starter Spencer Adams. Yoan Moncada laced a double to left field then scored on a Mauricio Dubon double. With Jordan Procyshen at the plate, Dubon attempted a delayed steal of third base and Adams threw the ball away, allowing Dubon to trot home and giving the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.
Winston-Salem (15-27) got even in the top of the fourth against Jalen Beeks when Gerson Montilla clouted a two-run home run. The Dash grabbed the lead in the fifth when Cleuluis Rondon singled to score Brett Austin. They expanded the lead to 4-2 in the sixth on a Toby Thomas sacrifice fly.
Beeks did not allow a hit the first time through the Dash order, but subsequent trips through the lineup were not as kind. The southpaw was removed from the game after surrendering four runs on five hits in 5.2 innings, walking four and striking out four.
For the Dash, Adams settled down after the blip in the fourth to hold the Red Sox to just the two runs in his 7.0 innings of work.
Mario Alcantara came out of the bullpen for Salem and was terrific, allowing only one hit in 3.1 innings, striking out two. Alcantara (3-0) retired the final nine Dash batters of the game and worked out of a bases loaded jam in the sixth to keep the deficit at 4-2.
With Adams finally out of the game in the eighth, Euclides Leyer promptly walked Dubon and Procyshen to start the frame. Jordan Betts sacrifice bunted the runners forward, and two batters later. Mars walked to load the bases.
Leyer (0-2) walked Mike Meyers to force in a run, and then was removed from the game in favor of Kleven who gave up the fateful hit to Moore. Leyer was charged with all four runs in the frame, though only three were earned.
The win was Salem’s seventh of the season when trailing or tied after the seventh inning, and the ninth time that they have won in their final at bat.
The Red Sox are back in action Saturday night against the Winston-Salem Dash on Superhero Night presented by Member One Federal Credit Union. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 pm. Salem will send Dedgar Jimenez (2-1, 5.81) to the mound, countered by Brandon Brennan (0-3, 11.17) of Winston-Salem. For tickets and more information, call (540) 389-3333 or slide towww.salemsox.com/tickets.