The Salem Red Sox snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-2 come-from-behind win over the Lynchburg Hillcats Saturday night at Calvin Falwell Field.
Lynchburg (32-17) took an early lead in the first inning, getting a triple from Yu-Cheng Chang and a double from Anthony Santander with two outs off Salem (32-17) starter Matt Kent to jump ahead 1-0.
Kent (3-3) surrendered a solo home run to David Armendariz in the bottom of the fourth to make it 2-0, but was great again against the Hillcats. The southpaw tossed a career-high 7.0 innings, allowing just the two runs on seven hits, striking out five, picking off three baserunners, and not issuing a walk.
As good as Kent was, Lynchburg starting pitcher Mitch Brown was just as solid. Brown had to dance around some trouble, but shut out the Red Sox in his 5.0 innings of work.
Salem capitalized on getting into the Lynchburg bullpen in the sixth by plating a pair of runs against reliever Antonio Romero. Mauricio Dubon led the inning off by reaching on a Chang error and then advanced to second base on a passed ball. Nick Longhi followed with a double to right-centerfield to score Dubon. Longhi came home two batters later on a sacrifice fly from Danny Mars to tie the game at two.
By scoring in the sixth inning, Salem broke a 10-inning scoreless streak, dating back to the fourth inning Friday night. Longhi’s RBI was his team-leading 34th of the season.
The Red Sox took the lead against the Hillcats bullpen in the eighth inning, as Romero (1-1) recorded two outs, but issued a walk to Dubon. Jordan Milbrath entered and surrendered a single to Rafael Devers, and a double to Mars, which scored Dubon. A wild pitch plated Devers and sent Mars to third, which led to a Ben Moore RBI single that give Salem a 5-2 lead.
Ben Taylor took over for Salem in the bottom of the eighth and allowed just one soft single while striking out three in the game’s final two innings, earning his third save of the season.
The win for the Red Sox was their ninth of the season when tied or trailing after seven innings, and their 11th come-from-behind win in the campaign.
The Red Sox are back against the Lynchburg Hillcats Sunday afternoon at Calvin Falwell Field. First pitch is scheduled for 2 pm. Salem has not announced a starter yet, while Lynchburg will roll with Nick Pasquale (1-0, 3.18). Follow along with all the action on the Salem Red Sox Baseball Network. Coverage with the Pre-game Show driven by Haley Toyota begins at 1:45 pm.
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Chris Graham
