Manuel Margot launched a leadoff home run and the Salem Red Sox never looked back, cruising by the Winston-Salem Dash 7-2 on Saturday night at BB&T Ballpark. The Sox extended their winning streak to five games, equaling a season-high.
Margot’s blast wasn’t the only offense in the first inning, as Salem plated three more while sending all nine batters to the plate. Two batters after the homer, Sam Travis hammered a triple to left-center that scored Tzu-Wei Lin. Mario Martinez followed that with an RBI single to knock in Travis and was moved to third on a Kevin Heller single. He then scored when Brandon Brennan balked for the second time in the inning to make the score 4-0.
Salem got some insurance in the fourth inning beginning when Margot singled and stole second base. Two batters later with two outs, Travis smashed a single up the middle, scoring Margot from third for a 5-0 advantage.
Teddy Stankiewicz cruised through his outing with the exception of the bottom of the fourth inning. With one runner on, Keon Barnum tucked a two-run home run just inside the foul pole in the right field corner. Stankiewicz (2-8) allowed hits to the first three batters in the fourth but shut things down the rest of the way. He finished with two runs allowed on four hits over six innings while striking out four.
Brennan (0-1) took the loss in his second start of the season, giving up five runs on nine hits over 3.2 innings.
Two more runs crossed in Red Sox sixth on a Martinez double, knocking in Margot and Jose Vinicio to make it 7-2. Margot was 2-for-4 with three runs scored and his third home run of the year while Martinez drove in three and scored one as part of a 2-for-4 effort.
The Red Sox and Dash finish out the first half of the season on Sunday evening with a 5:00 p.m. scheduled first pitch. Kevin McAvoy (4-5, 3.78) will start for Salem while Brian Clark (2-2, 3.06) goes for Winston-Salem. 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
