Merrill, FredNats shut out Red Sox for series win

The Fredericksburg Nationals secured a series victory with a 4-0 shutout win over the Salem Red Sox on Sunday night.

Matt Merrill pitched the first five innings of a five-hit shutout for the FredNats, who are now 7-6 in the month of August after taking four of six games from the first-place Red Sox.

Merrill and Red Sox starter Jeremy Wu-Yelland traded zeroes through five innings, but the FredNats bullpen outperformed Salem in the final four frames. Kevin Strohschein’s two-out RBI single in the sixth inning against Miguel Suero (L, 0-2) broke the scoreless tie and proved to be the difference in the ballgame.

The FredNats added two more runs in the seventh when singles from Braian Fernández and Jake Boone were followed by a Suero wild pitch that caromed towards the third base dugout and allowed both runners to score. They scored their final run in the eighth on an Onix Vega RBI double.

Carlos Romero (W, 3-3) earned the win in his first relief appearance of the season, taking over for Merrill in the sixth and turning in two scoreless innings. Tomás Alastre (S, 1) earned his first professional save by getting the final six outs of the game.

After an off day on Monday, the FredNats hit the road for a six-game series in Salisbury, Maryland against the Delmara Shorebirds on Tuesday. First pitch from Perdue Stadium is scheduled for 7:05, with FredNats On Deck beginning at 6:50 on the FredNats Baseball Network.