Salem swipes opener from Frederick, 5-4

The Salem Red Sox scored all but one of their runs in the first three innings and held on to take down the Frederick Keys 5-4 on Wednesday night at Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium. It was Salem’s fourth straight win.

The Sox jumped out to an early lead, scoring two runs in the top of the first. Jose Vinicio jumped on the first pitch of the game, yanking it down the left field line for a leadoff double. One batter later, Tzu-Wei Lin singled to right to score Vinicio, taking second on the throw home. Sam Travis kept the line moving in the third at-bat of the frame, knocking in Lin with another single to make it 2-0 Red Sox.

The Keys responded quickly in the home half of the first when Adrian Marin belted a solo home run over the left field wall. The blast not only cut the Salem lead to 2-1, it ended a streak of 26.2 consecutive scoreless innings by the Red Sox pitching staff, falling one out short of a franchise-record 27.0 straight scoreless frames by the 1990 Salem Buccaneers from July 28-30.

Frederick tied the game in the bottom of the second inning on a throwing error by Wendell Rijo on a potential double play, allowing Anthony Caronia to score.

The tie did not last long, however, as Salem struck again in the top of the third. With Lin on first, Kevin Heller blasted a two-run homer to left field and the Sox took back the lead at 4-2.

Trey Mancini led off the Frederick fifth with a double followed by a Jeff Kemp single. With one out, Caronia lined a single back up the middle, scoring Mancini and chasing Denny Bautista who was solid in his first outing with Salem. Taylor Grover entered and promptly got the next two batters to end the frame.

Bautista (1-0) went 5.1 innings with seven hits and three runs, two earned. He walked two and struck out two.

Salem got an important insurance run in the eighth. Travis led off with a double and two batters later, Jake Romanski spanked a grounder past Marin at short. Travis scored and the Sox extended the advantage to 5-3. Travis finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and a run batted in.

Austin Maddox entered for the ninth and danced in and out of trouble. Caronia reached on an error in the first at-bat followed by a Ruettiger double in the gap in right-center. With nobody out and runners on second and third, Gregory Lorenzo chopped a grounder to Lin at short, scoring Caronia but also recording the inning’s first out. Maddox then struck out pinch-hitter Tucker Nathans and got Josh Hart to fly to left, sealing the win and earning his league-leading seventh save.

Salem’s fourth straight win improved their record to 24-22 and the Keys loss dropped them to the same mark. Game two of the series is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Thursday night. Ty Buttrey (3-0, 2.25) will get the start for the Sox against the Keys’ Chris Lee (0-0, 1.80).

Fans can listen to the game on 1240 AM ESPN Roanoke, online on salemsox.com or via the TuneIn Radio App.