WOOF, WOOF, WOOF!
Yes, you read it right, the dogs were barking away at the ballpark.
It was the Dog Day of summer inside Salem Memorial Ballpark on Sunday afternoon as the Salem Red Sox looked to close out game three and sweep Carolina right out of the Roanoke Valley.
Carolina had other plans, though. Jumping out on top of Salem with three runs in the second inning, the Sox had to battle from behind again, for the third time in three days.
But, it just wasn’t enough this time.
Just for the record, hearing random dog barks at the ballpark is actually really intriguing; two things that theoretically don’t go together surprisingly go very well together…perhaps they should let dogs in every home game, why not? WOOF! (There were even a few dogs that were actually sitting in the stadium seats!)
Either way, dogs or not, the Sox had business to attend to and looking to improve their season record to .500, they knew they had to take advantage of any opportunity that presented itself.
Showing signs in the bottom of the fifth, Henry Ramos ripped one to right-center field reaching second base. Next up was the league leader in RBI’s, De La Cruz, who tallied another RBI, bringing in Ramos from third to make the score 3-2 in favor of Carolina.
On the other hand, Carolina took full advantage of their opportunities as well, in the sixth. After a VERY controversial call at the plate, which would have ended the inning, the Mudcats then rallied to bring in two runs, pushing up their lead, 5-2.
And just like last night, Mother Nature was back in action, attempting to put a damper on the afternoon. Dark skies and sporadic raindrops sent fans for the exits…not to mention the Sox weren’t winning or showing any promising signs on the offensive side of the ball.
Salem was hitting the ball well, just not in clutch situations and this was key to them losing the final game of the weekend series.
Although coming away victorious on the weekend and heading to Myrtle Beach for three more games this week (Monday-Wednesday), the Sox now find themselves two games back from .500 and continue to search for consistency on both sides of the ball.
Getting the loss for Salem was LHP Henry Owens and getting the win for Carolina was RHP Cody Anderson.
Personally, I still think the play at the plate during the fifth changed the entire game…and it didn’t help that out of all the dogs that were in the park, I failed to see a Great Dane…Bummer.
The Sox will be back at home on July 8 for eight straight home games against Myrtle Beach and Potomac, in hopes of finding that consistency and making a late playoff-push.
We will have away game content to provide but since I don’t travel with the team, all of the more insightful content will come from games played here at LewisGale Field.
Until next time, signing off.
