Light-hitting catcher Dwight Childs doubled with two outs in the ninth, scoring Ronny Rodriguez from first to give the Carolina Mudcats a 3-2 win over the Salem Red Sox Thursday.
Salem put the tying run at second base with one out in the last of the ninth, but Sean Coyle struck out and Shannon Wilkerson lined out to center against JD Reichenbach, giving the Mudcats the rubber match of the three-game set.
Both starters were quality but received no decisions. Yeiper Castillo permitted two runs on six hits in six frames, striking out seven and walking one, while Will Roberts allowed two runs on seven hits over seven innings, punching out six and walking one. The Mudcats tallied single runs in the third and fifth innings on RBI doubles from Tony Wolters and Delvi Cid, while the Sox countered with a two-run rally in the last of the sixth to tie it up. Heiker Meneses and Adalberto Ibarra smashed back-to-back triples to plate one run, while Michael Almanzar recorded an RBI single that evened the score at two.
In relief, Andrew Jones retired the first seven Mudcats he faced before walking Rodriguez with one out in the ninth. After a Tyler Cannon strikeout, Childs drove a deep fly over Lucas LeBlanc’s head in right that brought Rodriguez around, lifting Carolina in front. Childs had previously recorded just one double in his first 93 at-bats on the season. Jones allowed just the one run in three innings, but suffered his third loss of the year, falling to 4-3.
Reichenbach allowed one hit and one walk in his two scoreless innings for Carolina, earning the victory to improve to 4-5. Delvi Cid led the Mudcats with three hits, while Meneses and Ibarra each connected on two hits for the Red Sox.
The loss drops Salem a second-half worst 10 games behind the first place Myrtle Beach Pelicans and Winston-Salem Dash. The Sox have 24 games remaining, with 13 of the next 17 coming on the road.
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Chris Graham
