Coming off a late rally win on Monday night, the Pelicans and Red Sox were back at it again Tuesday evening inside Salem Memorial Ballpark. Tonight, it was the Salem Red Sox rallying early to come away with another win after exceptional offense, winning 8-6.
Unlike last night, the game was full of action from the start- hits, runs, defensive highlights, stolen bases, good pitching, injuries, controversial calls and lead changes.
It was when a Pelican batter ripped a line drive right back at Sox pitcher, Mike Augliera, that sent him to the ground and an eerie chill lurked through the ballpark. He was able to get to the locker room under his own power but that’s not the kind of walk-off you want to see if you’re a Sox fan. Hope all is well with Augliera!
Replacing the injured Augliera was RHP Heri Quevedo.
The score was already 5-4 after two complete innings of play, by far the most entertaining two innings of baseball I’ve seen from inside LewisGale Field.
Giving Salem their first lead of the night was Monday’s hero, Stephan Welch, as he lined one deep to center for a sac fly gaining a RBI. Brandon Jacobs was also responsible for three of the RBI, keeping his hot hitting streak alive.
The newest player on the Salem roster, Mookie Betts from Brentwood, Tenn., made his debut tonight and was sure to make his name well known to the fans as he made a magnificent inning-ending double play and then began the next inning with a double to start a rally from Salem in the third.
(For the record, Betts has the best walk-up song on the team, U.O.E.N.O by Rocko)
Duplicating Betts’ double in the third was Cody Koback who was then followed up by a single from David Renfroe bringing around Betts to score and gave Salem a 7-4 lead.
And despite a lack of fans, again due to the ruckus of the Salem fair, the Sox didn’t let that alter the game plan of night–early and often, early and often!
They did just that, two runs in the first, three in the second and two in the third (2-3-2) followed by one more in the fifth.
As they held the Pelicans scoreless for six straight frames after the second inning, the Sox continued to impress on both sides of the ball. A handful of double plays and multiple base hits kept the energy on Salem’s side.
Yet, in an attempt to steal the game back, Myrtle Beach snuck two runs in during the eighth after Salem pitcher, Matty Ott, took a line drive to the leg similar to the one that sent Augliera to the locker room for the night. This made the score 8-6.
But, it was just too little too late for the Pelicans. Salem closed out the ninth in 1-2-3 fashion sending Salem fans home happy for the second night in a row.
Pitcher Nate Striz got the save for Salem while Quevedo recorded the win after filling in for the original starter, Augliera.
Salem still has two more games set against the Pelicans on Wednesday and Thursday evening. Following those two games on Friday, the Sox will begin another four-game series against Potomac, which will end next Monday, June 15.
The Sox have an exciting slate full of promotions for this weekend that you do NOT want to miss out on.
Thursday is Tattoo Night, Friday is Awful Night and Saturday will feature Christmas in July…I’m interested to see which one turns out to be the best (If I had to guess right now, I’d say Christmas in July but, time will tell.)
