Sox sneak past Dash, 2-1

The Salem Red Sox won their second straight one-run decision against the Dash, grabbing a 2-1 victory over Winston-Salem on Thursday night at BB&T Ballpark. Keury De La Cruz belted a deep sacrifice fly to right field in the top of the eighth, driving in Matty Johnson to break the 1-1 tie. On the mound, Mickey Pena delivered seven awesome innings, permitting just one run, to execute his seventh consecutive quality start. In relief, Matty Ott set down all six batters he faced over two perfect frames to earn his third save of the year.

The Sox were outhit 5-3, but Salem made its hits count. While Mookie Betts was stranded after his double in the fifth, Henry Ramos laced an RBI triple into the right field corner in the sixth, tying the game at one as Sean Coyle, who walked earlier, scurried around from first. Two innings later, Matty Johnson led off with a single, moved to second on Coyle’s second walk, scooted to third on Ramos sacrifice bunt, and sprinted home on De La Cruz’ sac fly.

The game remained scoreless into the fifth, when Pena finally yielded a run following a leadoff double for Josh Richmond. Micah Johnson smoked an RBI single into center to give the Dash a 1-0 lead, but Pena would not falter again. The lefty tossed 69 of his 98 pitches for strikes over seven innings, giving up just five hits and one walk, with five strikeouts. After Johnson’s RBI single, Pena retired the final eight men he faced.

All together, Pena and Ott set down the last 14 Dash batters in the game, aided by some amazing defense. Nick Natoli and Betts both made standout diving plays in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively, to keep Dash hitters off the bases.

Jake Cose tossed seven strong innings for the Dash, allowing just one run, and receiving a no decision. Joseph Dvorsky surrendered the go-ahead run in the eighth and got tagged with the loss.

Salem can sweep the three-game set in Winston-Salem with another win on Friday night. First pitch is set for 7 PM, and William Cuevas will throw against Brian Blough.