With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Blue Rocks third-baseman Cheslor Cuthbert launched a towering solo homer over the left field fence, igniting a celebration at Frawley Stadum. The blast came on a 1-0 pitch off Salem’s Mike McCarthy and untied the contest that had been even at two since the fifth. Furthermore, the Blue Rocks’ 3-2 triumph gave Wilmington its second win in as many days, leaving the Salem Red Sox left hoping for a split of the four-game series on Thursday night.
Kyle Kaminska and Kyle Smith both set the tempo for their respective teams, each dealing six innings and allowing two runs. In his Carolina League debut, Kaminska yielded his two runs on one swing, a two-out RBI single for Daniel Mateo in the third inning. After surrendering that hit, Kaminska, whose first four starts of the season came with the Portland Sea Dogs, retired 10 of the final 11 hitters he faced over his six-inning performance. The Red Sox persistently threatened against Smith, but only scored one tally in the third and one more in the fifth.
Garin Cecchini continued his offensive tear with another multi-hit, multi-RBI performance. After Sean Coyle doubled with one out in the third, Cecchini’s RBI grounder brought him home to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. And with Salem down 2-1 in the fifth, Cecchini doubled to the gap in left-center to drive in Bryan Johns and tie the game at two. Cecchini finished with his seventh straight multi-hit night, going 2-for-4 with two RBI. In 22 games, Cecchini is batting .398 (33-for-83), #1 in the Carolina League and also tops across all of A-ball.
But while Cecchini has delivered steady thunder, it was Cuthbert who struck the game ending bolt of lightning on Wednesday. It was his first home run of the season after going deep seven times for the Blue Rocks in 2012.
The Red Sox dropped to 12-12 on the year, going 4-8 in their first 12 games and 8-4 in their last 12, despite having lost the last two straight. Wilmington has now won two in a row after a seven game losing streak, improving to 11-15.
The Sox and Rocks will wrap up their four-game set on Thursday, with Mike Augliera scheduled to face Sam Selman in the 6:35 first pitch.
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