Kevin McAvoy tossed seven shutout innings, only allowing two baserunners as the Salem Red Sox shut out the Winston-Salem Dash 4-0 for their fourth consecutive victory.
McAvoy (3-2) retired the first 11 batters he faced before walking Trey Michalczewski in the fourth. Chris Jacobs then singled before McAvoy struck out Nick Basto to end the inning. McAvoy would retire the last ten batters he faced to end his outing. Through his seven innings he struck out five with just one hit and one walk allowed.
The Red Sox scored first in the second inning. Kevin Heller led off with a single and stole second base. Three batters later with two outs, Aneury Tavarez slapped a single in to center field, scoring Heller and giving the Sox a 1-0 lead.
Salem added to that advantage in the sixth. Sam Travis clubbed a double in to right-center in the inning’s first at-bat. Two batters later, Wendell Rijo pulled a two-out single in to left field. Travis scored and the Red Sox led 2-0.
The advantage swelled again in the eighth inning. Tzu-Wei Lin led off with a single and was moved to second on a Heller single. Jake Romanski then singled up the middle scoring Lin and advancing Heller to third. Michael Ynoa delivered a wild pitch and Heller sprinted home from third to score and extend the lead to 4-0 Salem.
Jorge Marban finished the game on the bump for Salem and allowed only one hit over two scoreless innings. He struck out the side in the ninth to slam the door. Jake Cose (0-1) was the losing pitcher for the Dash. Two runs scored against him on six hits over six innings.
The Red Sox ensured back-to-back series victories over the Dash with the win and improved to 20-17 on the season. Winston-Salem now sits at 15-22. The series finale will take place Sunday afternoon at BB&T Ballpark, first pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Daniel McGrath (1-1, 1.80) will try for the sweep, opposed by Matt Heidenreich (5-0, 2.21). Fans can listen to the game on 1240 AM ESPN Roanoke, online at salemsox.com or via the TuneIn Radio app.
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Chris Graham
