Cup of Coffee: Salem wins two games in 10 innings

5/10 Cup of Coffee: The Salem Red Sox played only 10 innings Wednesday night, but picked up 2 wins against the Potomac Nationals. Game 1 was the continuation of the previous night's rain out, and game two was called early. Meanwhile, Portland and Pawtucket both pulled out close wins at home.

Keith Couch (Dave Letizi)

The PawSox kept the Rochester Red Wings (MIN) at bay in a 5-2 win at McCoy Stadium. Pawtucket started the scoring early, with two runs in the first inning when Mauro Gomez singled to drive in Jose Iglesias and Ryan Lavarnway. The Red Wings blasted a solo home run in the second to put them on the board. The PawSox answered in the bottom of that inning when Che-Hsuan Lin was driven in on a Nate Spears single. They tallied another run in the third thanks to a Daniel Nava double that scored Lars Anderson. Rochester put up their second run of the game in the top of the fourth, to make the score 5-2. In the bottom of the fifth, Nava singled to drive in Gomez for the last run of the game. Pawtucket pitcher Justin Germano improved his record to 4-1 and pitched 6 innings with 6 hits, 2 runs, and 2 walks. He was replaced in the second by Garrett Mock who went 1 inning for 1 hit, no runs, and no walks. Junichi Tazawa took the mound in the eighth and threw 1 inning with no hits, no runs, and no walks. Mark Melancon closed out the last inning for Pawtucket throwing for 2 hits, no runs, no walks, and 2 strikeouts. On the offensive side, seven PawSox batters had hits. Iglesias, Anderson, Gomez, and Lin each had 2, while Nava had the most with 3.

Portland hosted the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (TOR) and held off a late rally to win 5-4. The Sea Dogs took an early lead in the bottom of the second when Bryce Brentz homered to put the first run on the board. They put up another in the fourth when Oscar Tejada put up a sacrifice fly to score Juan Carlos Linares. In the top of the sixth New Hampshire tied the game up with two runs of their own against pitcher Stolmy Pimentel. He pitched six innings for the Sea Dogs, giving up 5 hits, 2 runs, and 1 walk. In the bottom of the sixth, Tejada singled to drive in Linares for the second time and regain the lead for Pawtucket. Brock Huntzinger took the mound to start off the seventh and threw for 2 innings, putting up no hits, no runs, and a walk. Portland tallied 2 more runs in the bottom of the seventh, when Linares singled to score Derrik Gibson and Heiker Meneses. Charle Rosario took the mound in the ninth and gave up a two-run homer that made the score 5-4. He held off the Fisher Cats, however, getting the next two batters out. Rosario pitched 1 inning for 1 hit, 2 runs, and 1 walk. The Sea Dogs recorded 13 hits, 4 batters had 2 hits each, and Linares had 3.

Salem shutout the Potomac Nationals (WAS) 10-0 in the conclusion of Tuesday's rain delay. The Red Sox and Nationals resumed play in the top of the fifth inning, with Keith Couch on the mound for Salem.  Jackie Bradley doubled in the bottom of the sixth to score Shannon Wilkerson, and Brandon Jacobs drove in Bradley on a sacrifice fly. The Red Sox tallied another run in the seventh when Shannon Wilkerson drove in Michael Almanzar. They picked up their 10th run of the game in the eighth when Adalberto Ibarra singled to score Christian Vazquez. Couch stayed on for the full five innings, and continued Miguel Celestino's shutout from the night before. He threw for 2 hits, no runs, and 2 walks.

Salem played an abbreviated game two against the Nationals and won 6-2. The game was called early after five innings, due to rain. Salem put up 2 runs in the bottom of the first when Sean Coyle homered, scoring Bradley. Travis Shaw blasted a grand slam in the second, scoring Matty Johnson, Bradley and Coyle. Red Sox pitcher Brandon Workman kept the Nationals quiet until the fourth inning when they drove in 1 run. He gave up another run in the fifth, before being taken out and replaced by Pete Ruiz with 2 outs and 2 men on. Workman pitched 4.2 innings, with 2 hits, 2 runs, 4 walks, and 8 strikeouts. Ruiz pitched to the final batter of the fifth, recording a strikeout, to earn likely the easiest win of his career.

Players of the Night: Keith Couch, who continued Salem's shutout from the night before in their 10-0 victory, and Travis Shaw who blasted a grand slam in game two for the Red Sox to help secure their 6-2 win.

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