A night after clinching the First Half South Division crown, the Salem Red Sox fell to the Potomac Nationals Tuesday night at LewisGale Field, 11-4.
The Red Sox (41-24) jumped out to an early lead against Potomac starter Matthew Crownover, plating a pair of runs in the first inning. With runners on the corners and one out, Nick Longhi singled to score Mauricio Dubon, then Jordan Betts lifted a sacrifice fly to plate Mike Meyers to hand Salem a 2-0 advantage.
Red Sox starter Travis Lakins cruised through the first four frames of the game, but ran into some turbulence in the fifth. Jose Marmolejos barely kept a bases-loaded double fair down the left field line – clearing the bases and shifting the tallies to 3-2 Nationals.
Lakins lasted 4.1 innings, allowing the three runs (two earned) on five hits, issuing four walks and recording four strikeouts.
Yankory Pimentel rolled a double play to finish the top of the fifth, and the Salem offense responded in kind with two runs in the bottom of the inning against Wirkin Estevez (1-4).
Bryan Hudson walked to lead off the inning, and back-to-back-to-back hits for Joseph Monge, Dubon, and Meyers scored Hudson and loaded the bags with no outs. Another Betts sacrifice fly scored Monge to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead.
After missing the last two games, Meyers had a great day at the plate, going 4-for-5, with a triple and a run scored. The four hits for Meyers tied a career high.
Pimentel (5-2) tossed a 1-2-3 sixth, but faltered in the seventh – allowing four runs on five hits before being removed in favor of Mario Alcantara with one out. Alcantara allowed one inherited runner to score, but the damage was already done and Potomac (31-32) took a 7-4 lead.
Alcantara struggled in the eighth, walking the first two batters and eventually allowing the Nationals to score two more runs and extend a 9-4 advantage. German Taveras allowed a two-run home run in the ninth to push the hole to 11-4.
The Red Sox complete the series with the Potomac Nationals at LewisGale Field Wednesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm. Salem will hand the ball to Daniel McGrath (1-2, 4.88) while Potomac counters with Boone Whiting (6-2, 3.26). For tickets and more information call (540) 389-3333 or slide to www.salemsox.com/tickets.
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