The Salem Red Sox scored their fourth walk-off win of the season with a 7-6, 11-inning victory over the Potomac Nationals Sunday evening at LewisGale Field.
In the bottom of the 11th inning, Jose Sermo smacked a double over the head of Nationals left fielder Dale Carey to score Mike Meyers from second base to walk off with the win.
Potomac (48-42, 14-8) struck early against Salem (55-37, 12-11) starting pitcher Trey Ball, who walked three and allowed two runs on two hits in the top of the first. The Nationals gained two more tallies in the third on a Raudy Read sacrifice fly and a Drew Vettleson double.
In the bottom of the third, the Red Sox broke through against Austen Williams when Bryan Hudson, Danny Mars and Rafael Devers strung together three straight singles to score a run, and a Nick Longhi sacrifice fly cut the deficit to 4-2.
The Nationals scored a run in the fourth against Ball when Dale Carey tripled and scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-2. Ball was removed from the game after 3.2 innings, marking the third straight start that he has failed to complete four innings. The Salem southpaw allowed five runs (three earned) on six hits, walking five and striking out four.
Salem’s offense exploded for four runs against Williams in the fifth. With one out, Devers doubled to drive home Hudson, who had singled to lead off the frame. After a walk to Longhi, Meyers smacked a double off the wall in left field to score two more runs, tying the game.
Mario Sanchez was called in from the bullpen and allowed an RBI single to Jordan Procyshen, scoring Meyers and handing Salem a 6-5 lead.
Potomac evened things up in the top of the sixth against Yankory Pimentel on an RBI single from Max Schrock to tie the game at six. Pimentel allowed just the one mark in his 2.1 innings out of the bullpen.
Mario Alcantara threw 3.0 scoreless innings of relief for Salem after Pimentel exited. Offensively, the Red Sox stranded five runners on base in the eighth and ninth innings combined, and the game went into extra innings.
Potomac had runners at first and third with one out in the 10th, but couldn’t score after Danny Mars completed a fly ball double play, throwing out the potential go-ahead run at the plate. Salem stranded two runners in the bottom half of the frame, forcing the game to an 11th inning.
In the 11th inning, Gilberto Mendez (2-1), pitching in his second consecutive game, allowed a leadoff hit to Meyers. After a sacrifice bunt, Sermo doubled to score Meyers with the game-winning run.
Simon Mercedes (2-1) tossed two scoreless innings of relief in the extra frames to earn the victory.
The Red Sox continue the series with the Potomac Nationals at LewisGale Field Monday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm. Salem will send Michael Kopech (0-0, 0.00) to the mound, while the Nationals counter with Mark Blackmar (2-0, 1.29). For tickets and more information, call (540) 389-3333, or slide to www.salemsox.com/tickets.
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Chris Graham
