The Fredericksburg Nationals lost their fourth straight game on Friday night, falling 10-5 to the Salem Red Sox despite a game-tying three-run homer from rehabbing catcher Raudy Read.
The Red Sox scored four runs in the first, causing an early exit for starter Karlo Seijas. It was another big inning, a five-run seventh, that broke a 5-5 tie and handed Salem a comfortable win.
Seijas allowed a leadoff triple to Ceddanne Rafaela in the first, and Gilberto Jiménez brought him home with a sacrifice fly. Nick Decker and Alex Erro hit RBI singles to extend the lead to 4-0, and Amos Willingham had to take over to strike out Rafaela with the bases loaded to prevent further damage.
Willingham turned in 3.1 solid innings to keep the game within reach, but the FredNats managed only one run against Salem starter Chih-Jung Liu on a Jaden Fein RBI single in the third. Salem answered back in the bottom half of the inning on a Matthew Lugo triple and Antoni Flores sacrifice fly to bring the lead to 5-1.
The FredNats finally broke through with a two-out rally in the seventh, as Darren Baker doubled to put runners at second and third against Miguel Suero (W, 1-2). Jordy Barley pounded an RBI infield single off the plate to bring a run home, and Read blasted a three-run homer over the left-center wall to even the score.
After two perfect innings of relief, Bryan Peña (L, 1-3) ran into trouble in the seventh. The lefty almost worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam, but allowed three straight two-out hits to Angel Maita, Rafaela and Tyler McDonough. A wild pitch brought home the last of Salem’s five runs in the inning, more than enough for Jacinto Arredondo to finish off the FredNats in the final two frames.
The FredNats will play their second doubleheader in three days against the Red Sox on Saturday night. First pitch of game one from Haley Toyota Field in Salem is scheduled for 5:00, with FredNats On Deck beginning at 4:45 on the FredNats Baseball Network.
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Chris Graham
