Lynchburg Hillcats walk off Salem Red Sox

The Salem Red Sox fell in walk-off fashion to the Lynchburg Hillcats, 5-3 in 10 innings at Calvin Falwell Field Monday afternoon. Anthony Santander’s two-run shot with two outs in the 10^th won the game for the Hillcats.

Salem (33-18) starter Jalen Beeks’ afternoon began with a rude greeting in the form of a leadoff home run by Lynchburg’s Greg Allen. The Hillcats would add a run on a Yu-Cheng Chang triple later in the first to jump out to a 2-0 lead.

Lynchburg (33-18) tacked on an insurance tally in the bottom of the fourth when David Armendariz stroked a solo homer to right field to expand the lead to 3-0.

Outside of the two homers allowed, Beeks was stellar on the bump for the Red Sox, surrendering the three runs on only four hits while walking two and striking out a season-high seven in five innings.

The Red Sox offense would pick up their southpaw hurler with a run in the fifth courtesy of a Franklin Guzman RBI single, scoring Mike Meyers to cut the Hillcats lead to 3-1.

Hillcats starter Luis Lugo faltered in the seventh, when Rafael Devers led off with a single, and then the next batter, Meyers, laced a two-run home run to tie the game at three. Following a Jordan Betts infield single and a walk to Guzman, Lugo’s day was done. Reliever David Speer was able to escape the inning without any further damage.

Mario Alcantara came in from the bullpen to replace Beeks and was fantastic, tossing a season-high 4.0 innings of one-hit baseball, while striking out a season-high seven.

The game remained tied into the bottom of the 10^th inning, when Santander launched a two-run walk-off home run off Jamie Callahan (2-2) to win it for the Hillcats, 5-3.

The Red Sox enjoy an off day Tuesday before returning home to take on the Myrtle Beach Pelicans in a four-game series beginningWednesday at LewisGale Field. First pitch is scheduled for 11:05 am. Salem has not announced a starter yet, while Myrtle Beach rolls with Erick Leal (6-2, 3.71). For tickets and more information slide to www.salemsox.com/tickets or call (540) 389-3333.