The Salem Red Sox hung four runs in the top of the first inning on Thursday night at Five County Stadium and never looked back, beating the Carolina Mudcats 6-4 in the first game of a four-game series.
Salem sent eight batters to the plate in the first and scored all four of their runs with two outs in the inning. Manuel Margot, Sam Travis, Jake Romanski and Wendell Rijo all scored in the inning. Romanski drove in Margot and Travis with a single and later scored along with Rijo when Tzu-Wei Lin roped a single of his own. Romanski and Lin both finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.
The Red Sox tacked on single runs in the next two innings, both coming with two outs in the respective frames. Cole Sturgeon smacked a solo home run in the second to make it 5-0 and Jordan Betts sent Lin in with an RBI double in the third.
Trey Ball worked with a lead throughout his start. Ball faced the Mudcats for the third time in 2015 and was strong through four innings, having surrendered only one hit, a solo home run from Eric Garcia in the second. Ball, however, met trouble in the fifth. With two outs in the inning, Dustin Peterson clobbered a three-run shot over the left-center field wall to draw the Mudcats to within 6-4. Ball’s night would end there, one out short of qualifying for the win.
Salem summoned Joe Gunkel to replace Ball and was dazzling. Gunkel (1-0) retired all 13 batters he faced, striking out five. He needed only 43 pitches in 4.1 innings to finish the ballgame.
Andrew Thurman (1-2) took the loss for Carolina, surrendering all six runs and eight of the nine hits against him in the first three innings.
Salem improved to 6-7 with the win while Carolina fell to the same record. Game two of the four game series will begin Friday night at 7 p.m. Teddy Stankiewicz (0-2, 2.38) will start for the Sox, opposed by Steve Janas (2-0, 0.69). Fans 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
