The Salem Red Sox swept a doubleheader against the rival Carolina Mudcats Tuesday night at LewisGale Field – winning the first game 15-3, and taking the second 7-6.
The opening game of the twin bill was close in the early going, with the Mudcats (11-14) scoring a run in the first against Red Sox starter Jalen Beeks. The Red Sox (17-8) answered back against Carolina twirler Max Povse with a pair of tallies to take a 2-1 lead.
Salem scored again in the second inning, but a two-run, opposite-field home run by Joey Meneses of the Mudcats tied the game at three in the third.
The Red Sox then ripped off a dozen unanswered runs, including one in the third and one in the fourth before chasing Povse (2-2) from the game. Salem plated an additional tally in the fourth against reliever Zach Bird, and put up a six-spot in the fifth inning, capped off by a grand slam from Yoan Moncada.
Nick Longhi had a two-run double in the inning, and finished 2-for-3 with two walks, the double, a triple, and three RBIs. Bryan Hudson went 2-for-2 with a stolen base, two walks and four runs scored.
Salem tacked on three more runs in the sixth inning, as Mauricio Dubon’s third hit of the game drove home Hudson, then a two-base error allowed two more runs to come home with position player Ryan Gebhardt pitching.
Beeks (3-1) settled down to retire the final eight batters he faced after the Meneses home run, and Taylor Grover slammed the door shut over the last 2.0 innings as the Red Sox took game one 15-3.
Game two was a wacky back-and-forth contest, kicked off when the Red Sox scored in the first. Andrew Benintendi doubled on a ball lost in the lights and came home on a Jordan Betts single to make it 1-0 Salem.
Benintendi had hits in both games of the doubleheader, extending his hitting streak to 21 games – the longest hitting streak in the Salem Red Sox era.
Carolina tied the game with a run in the third against German Taveras, but the Red Sox were there to respond in the bottom of the third with two unearned runs against Wes Parsons to take a 3-1 lead.
The Mudcats took the lead in the fourth by scoring four runs (two earned) against Taveras with the aid of a catcher’s interference and an error by Dubon.
Salem tied the game at five in the fifth, when they plated two unearned runs against reliever Carlos Salazar. Danny Mars brought in the first run on a sacrifice fly before Salazar walked Mike Meyers with the bases loaded to force in the tying run.
Carolina regained the lead in the sixth against Yankory Pimentel (1-0), when Reed Harper scored on a wild pitch to run the score to 6-5.
But Salem was not done, scoring two runs in the bottom of the sixth against Sean McLaughlin (0-1). Deiner Lopez led off with a triple. Then, Yoan Moncada doubled him home and reached third on a throwing error. Dubon delivered Moncada to the plate with a sacrifice fly to make it 7-6.
Austin Maddox worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam thanks to a double play in the seventh inning to seal the win and his fourth save of the season.
The Red Sox go for the series sweep Wednesday night against the Mudcats at LewisGale Field. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm. The Red Sox will hand the ball to Dedgar Jimenez (0-1, 9.00), while the Mudcats counter with Ryan Clark (0-2, 3.96). For tickets and more information, call (540) 389-3333 or slide to salemsox.com/tickets.
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Chris Graham
