William Cuevas dealt six fantastic innings, David Chester delivered a pair of clutch hits to drive in Salem’s two runs, and the Red Sox relievers slammed the door shut in a 2-1 victory over Winston-Salem on Friday night at BB&T Ballpark, capping off a three-game sweep. All three wins came by the slimmest of margins, with a 5-4, 10-inning triumph on Wednesday prefacing a pair of 2-1 wins on Thursday and Friday. The Sox improved to 62-61 on the year, moving above .500 for the first time since they were 15-14 on May 7. Meanwhile, Salem became the first team to sweep a series at Winston’s BB&T Ballpark, which opened in 2010 and avoided sweeps for 81 series before the Sox pulled out the brooms on Friday.
Salem used a two-out rally to score first in the top of the second, with Mookie Betts’ single preceding Chester’s RBI double ripped into the left field corner. Two frames later, Winston evened it up on Joe De Pinto’s sacrifice fly that plated Josh Richmond, an unearned tally as a result of Betts’ error earlier in the inning. Tied 1-1 after four, neither starter would be scratched again.
In the seventh, both teams had amazing chances, with Salem putting men at the corners with nobody out and Winston loading the bases with nobody out. Incredibly, neither team scored.
But in the eighth, Bryan Blough departed and Max Peterson immediately struggled. The Dash’s lefty faced three batters and only recorded one out, yielding a double to Stefan Welch and a walk to Blake Swihart. J.B. Wendelken entered with two men on and struck out Betts, but Chester smoked a two-out single to center. Courtney Hawkins fired a strong throw home, but Welch narrowly slid in safely ahead of the catcher’s tag, giving the Sox a 2-1 edge.
Madison Younginer and Nate Striz silenced the Dash offense in the eighth and ninth innings, each dealing a perfect frame to preserve the Red Sox win. Younginer picked up the win in relief, dealing two innings to improve to 2-0, while Striz picked up his eighth save.
Salem starter William Cuevas allowed no earned runs in six innings, giving up on unearned run on five hits, with three strikeouts and two walks. Blough tossed seven strong, but received a no-decision for the first time in his last 14 starts. Blough gave up one earned run on six hits, walking three and fanning five.
The Sox return to LewisGale Field on Saturday night for a gigantic four-game series with the Carolina Mudcats, Salem’s adversary in pursuit of the final playoff spot in the Southern Division. Kyle Stroup will take the ball in the opener opposite Nick Pasquale, with the first pitch slated for 6:05 at Salem Memorial Ballpark.
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Chris Graham
