Salem offense puts on clinic in victory

5/6 Cup of Coffee: Cinco de Mayo saw Portland and Greenville get shut down by impressive pitching performances while Salem brought out the lumber in a ten run second inning to bring home the lone victory for the affiliates Wednesday.

Even with their ace on the mound, Portland could not pull out a win as they fell to the Reading Phillies (PHI) in a close 2-1 contest. The Sea Dogs jumped out to an early 1-0 advantage on Luis Exposito's RBI ground out in the first. Casey Kelly got the call for Portland and went 5.0 innings, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 4 hits while striking out 4 and walking 2. The loss for Kelly brought his record to 0-2 so far this season. Reading pitching held the Sea Dogs scoreless for the last 8.0 innings, getting out of a key bases loaded no out jam in the fourth. Jose Iglesias had a rough game, committing two errors and grounding into two double plays on his way to an 0 for 4 evening at the plate. Exposito and Ray Chang laced two doubles each to both go 2 for 4 to lead the Portland offense. Robert Coello pitched 3.0 innings of scoreless relief striking out 4 while only allowing 2 hits. Bryce Cox pitched a scoreless ninth inning and struck out 2.

While Portland struggled to cross the plate, Salem had a ten run second inning to hammer the Wilmington Blue Rocks (KC) 11-3. Will Middlebrooks and Oscar Tejeda hit back-to-back home runs after Ryan Lavarnway's leadoff walk to open an inning which saw nine out of the first ten batters reach base. Peter Hissey roped a 2 RBI triple, Tim Federowicz added an RBI single, Anthony Rizzo blasted his fifth home run of the season, Tejeda added an RBI ground out and Drew Hedman capped the second inning scoring with an RBI single. The Red Sox added one more in the sixth on Tejeda's RBI single. Salem starter Stolmy Pimentel improved to 3-1 with his 5.1 inning performance in which he allowed just 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 5. Mike Lee pitched the final 3.2 innings of relief to notch his second save. Tejeda was 3 for 5 with 3 RBI to raise his batting average to .357. Every Red Sox starter had at least one hit except for David Mailman and Jon Hee. Federowicz went 3 for 6 and Middlebrooks 2 for 4 to lead the Salem offense.

Greenville could not take after their Salem counterparts as they mustered only three hits on their way to a 6-0 shutout loss to the Augusta GreenJackets (SFG). Drive starter Kendal Volz pitched 5.0 innings, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits while striking out 4. Volz has yet to walk a batter this season, having a 21:0 K:BB ratio through 28.0 innings pitched. Following Volz, Jeremiah Bayer pitched 2.1 innings, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits while striking out 3. Jordan Flasher got the final two outs of the eighth, striking out two of the four batters he faced. Zach Gentile was 2 for 3 to lead the Drive offense with Christian Vazquez adding the only other Greenville hit.

Player of the Night: Oscar Tejeda, who went 3 for 5 with a home run, double and 3 RBI in Salem's drubbing of Wilmington.

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