Ka’ai Tom homered two batters into the game, and Lynchburg led the rest of the way in an 8-3 victory at Salem Memorial Ballpark Tuesday night.
After Tom hit his seventh home run of the year over the right field fence, Connor Marabell and Martin Cervenka extended the lead with back-to-back doubles in the frame. Jordan Betts cut it to 2-1 with his second home run in as many nights in the second inning.
Lynchburg pulled away with a three-run sixth inning that included a two-run homer by Jodd Carter. It marked Carter’s ninth home run this season after only having nine home runs total in his first three years as a professional. Salem used a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull within two, 5-3.
Anthony Miller restored a four-run Hillcats margin with a two-out, two-RBI double in the seventh. His second two-bagger of the game drove in Cervenka and Yonathan Mendoza. Cervenka also had a pair of doubles Tuesday night.
The Hillcats posted 15 hits as a team with nine of them going for extra bases. Sam Haggerty belted a leadoff triple to right-center field in the eighth and scored the final run of the night when Tom knocked him in for his third RBI of the contest. Tom andMarabell added stolen bases in the eighth to give Lynchburg 27 steals over its past 10 games.
Shane Bieber (4-1) earned his fourth straight victory with seven strikeouts in six innings. He held Salem to three runs, only one of which was earned, on five hits. Billy Strode retired six of the seven batters he faced to work two scoreless innings. Kieran Lovegrove worked around a pair of walks to keep Salem from scoring in the ninth. Roniel Raudes (2-4) took the loss after surrendering four runs on eight hits in five-plus frames, including a pair of home runs.
Lynchburg returns to Salem Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. Aaron Civale (3-1, 2.59) will be on the mound for the Hillcats against leftyDedgar Jimenez (8-2, 3.23). The game can be heard live at www.lynchburg-hillcats.com.
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