The Myrtle Beach Pelicans scored five times in the fourth inning and cruised to a 9-3 victory over the Salem Red Sox Thursday night at LewisGale Field, taking the rubber game and winning the series 2-1.
Daniel McGrath had held the Pelicans hitless through three but Chesny Young led off the fourth with a single. After Jason Vosler walked, Cael Brockmeyer smoked a double to left-center, scoring both men to put the Pelicans on the board. Victor Caratini later knocked in Brockmeyer with a two-out double and then scored on a double from Pin-Cheih Chen. With Chen at second, Trey Martin legged out an infield single, as Chen rounded third aggressively and began to scamper back. Jordan Betts attempted to catch him off the bag but sailed his throw wide, allowing Chen to score for a 5-0 Pelicans advantage.
The score remained 5-0 until the seventh when the Red Sox poked two runs across to break up the shutout. Forrestt Allday led off the inning with a single and Yoilan Cerse followed by shooting a grounder down the third base line. The ball bounced to the left field corner and Allday scored from first on what became a double for Cerse. Later in the inning, Deiner Lopez smacked a single to left, scoring Cerse and cutting the deficit to 5-2.
Daniel McGrath (1-5) lasted 5.2 innings and gave up five runs, four earned, on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts. Daury Torrez (9-6) took the win with two runs allowed on seven hits paired with five strikeouts in six innings.
Myrtle extended its lead in the eighth when Jason Vosler cranked a solo home run off of Brandon Show, pushing the score to 6-2. The Pelicans added three more in the ninth after they loaded the bases with a single from Ben Carhart, a walk for Caratini and an error allowing Chen to reach. Chesny Young slapped a two-out single to right and Carhart and Caratini motored around to score. Cole Sturgeon then threw wild from right, allowing Chen to score as well and the Pelicans led 9-2.
Salem managed a run in the ninth when Betts tripled and was knocked in by a Lopez sacrifice fly. The Sox would go on to load the bases with two outs but left them that way to end the game.
Allday was 3-for-5 with a run scored, Lopez went 1-for-3 with two RBI and Cerse finished 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI.
The Red Sox will begin a three-game home series with the Winston-Salem Dash Friday at 7:05, as Ty Buttrey (7-6, 3.49) will start against the Dash’s Jordan Guerrero (4-3, 4.11). It’s Star Wars night at LewisGale Field and there will be a postgame fireworks show. Fans unable to attend can listen to the game on 1240 AM ESPN Roanoke, online at salemsox.com or via the TuneIn Radio app.
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Chris Graham
