Salem Red Sox walk this way to win over Hillcats

The Salem Red Sox only needed five hits to defeat the Lynchburg Hillcats 6-5 Monday night at LewisGale Field thanks, in part, to 11 walks. The win gave Salem a series split in the four-game set with Lynchburg.

Two batters into the game, the Hillcats (55-33, 10-8) grabbed a 1-0 lead against Trey Ball when Greg Allen scored on a Mark Mathias double. It appeared as though Lynchburg had scored a run in the second inning on a sacrifice fly, but on appeal, Martin Cervenka was ruled to have left second base early, negating the run scoring from third base.

Lynchburg tacked on two official runs in the top of the third inning, thanks to a Bobby Bradley sacrifice fly and a Luigi Rodriguez infield single to make it 3-0.

Salem (52-35, 9-9) narrowed the gap to 3-2 against Lynchburg starter Mitch Brown, who walked the first four batters in the bottom of the third inning, including Reed Gragnani with the bases loaded. He then allowed an RBI single to Nick Longhi.

A Bradley RBI single in the top of the fourth expanded the Hillcats’ lead to 4-2 and chased Ball from the game. The lefty threw 3.1 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits, walking four and striking out four.

Things got silly in the bottom of the fifth inning, when Lynchburg reliever Matt Whitehouse (2-1) walked Gragnani and Rafael Devers before allowing a single to Longhi to load the bases with one out. Jose Sermo lifted a sacrifice fly to score Gragnani, and then a single from Jordan Procyshen tied the game by plating Devers.

Danny Mars walked to load the bases ending Whitehouse’s night. With Jordan Milbrath pitching, back-to-back walks to Jordan Betts and Bryan Hudson handed Salem a 6-4 advantage. The Red Sox sent 10 men to the plate in the inning, five of whom walked. Overall, Salem received a season-high 11 free passes from Lynchburg pitchers, all coming in the first five innings.

Anyelo Leclerc (2-0) allowed a solo home run to Martin Cervenka in the top of the seventh to shave the lead to 6-5. Aside from that, Leclerc was a rock out of the bullpen, lasting 3.2 innings, allowing one run on three hits, striking out five.

Jorge Marban tossed a 1-2-3 frame in the eighth, and worked around a one-out single in the ninth to earn his first save with Salem and seal the win.

The Red Sox are off Tuesday before beginning a new series Wednesday night at LewisGale Field against the Wilmington Blue Rocks. The Red Sox will throw Michael Kopech (0-0, 0.00) in the opener, while the Blue Rocks have not announced a starter yet. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm. For tickets and more information, call (540) 389-3333, or slide to www.salemsox.com/tickets.