The Salem Red Sox pushed across three runs in the first inning and never looked back, as they beat the Potomac Nationals 4-2 Monday afternoon at Pfitzner Stadium.
Mauricio Dubon singled in the first at-bat of the game, followed by a Wendell Rijo single that advanced him to third. Kevin Heller then poked a grounder to second, scoring Dubon for the first run of the game. With two outs in the inning, Franklin Guzman singled to right, scoring Rijo and Heller to push the lead to 3-0.
Potomac answered with a run in the bottom half as Kevin McAvoy battled his command. Alec Keller and John Wooten singled, then McAvoy walked Drew Ward to load the bases. Raudy Read then worked a two-out walk, pushing Keller home and making the score 3-1 Salem.
McAvoy was pulled after 2.2 innings, finishing with one run allowed on two hits and two walks with one strikeout.
The Sox added to the lead in the fifth when Dubon singled. Heller drove him in again by blasting a double down the third base line, scoring Dubon to make it 4-1 Salem. Potomac got one back in the sixth with Drew Ward scoring on an Estarlin Martinez sacrifice fly.
Kyle Kraus (2-2) picked up the win with 3.1 innings in relief of McAvoy, as he struck out two with one run allowed on three hits. Austen Williams (4-6) took the loss after allowing four runs on nine hits with four strikeouts through six innings. Taylor Grover worked a clean ninth to earn his fourth save of the season.
Heller led the way by going 3-for-4 with two doubles, a run scored and two RBI, Dubon was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and two runs scored and Guzman went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI.
Salem finished the season 66-73 and 28-41 in the second half. They won 11 of their final 16 games and finished the final road trip of the season 6-1. The Red Sox won the final series 3-1 and took the season set 13-9 over the Nationals.
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Chris Graham
