McGrath Dominates Blue Rocks in 5-1 Win

WILMINGTON, Del. - Daniel McGrath struck out eight over six spotless innings and the Salem Red Sox cruised to a 5-1 win over the Wilmington Blue Rocks on Sunday evening at Frawley Stadium.

McGrath (2-6) authored his best start since coming off the disabled list on July 17, mixing all three of his pitches to befuddle the Blue Rocks. The southpaw retired the first eight hitters, five on strikeouts, before giving up a two-out single in the third inning. He then set down six straight, three more via the K, before giving up a second single.

In total, McGrath's eight strikeouts were one shy of his career-high, set earlier this season. His second straight quality start lasted six innings, which led to his first win since April 26. For the second straight start, McGrath did not walk a batter.

Brandon Show picked up where McGrath left off, setting down the first seven he faced before a one-out triple in the ninth led to Wilmington's lone run. Show earned his first professional save with three innings of relief.

Offensively, Salem jumped out on top with a first inning tally for the third straight day. Mauricio Dubon led the game off with a single and scored with two outs on an RBI infield single from Mario Martinez.

In the fourth inning, Cole Sturgeon led off with a double and scored two batters later on a missile of a two-run home run from Kevin Heller that made it 3-0. Salem added two more in the sixth inning to grow the lead to 5-0. With runners at first and second and no outs, Wendell Rijo and Sturgeon executed a double steal with the ball getting away into left field, allowing Rijo to score. Heller then drove home Sturgeon with a sacrifice fly to left-center.

Heller led the offense with three RBI, taking over the team lead with 44 runs batted in. Sturgeon was on base twice, going 1-for-4 with a double and two runs scored.

Salem secured its first series victory of the month of August, winning back-to-back games for the first time since July 31 and August 1. Both the Red Sox and Blue Rocks now have matching 57-68 records, including 19-36 marks in the second half.

The Sox now head home to start the final homestand of the season on Monday night against the Lynchburg Hillcats. Salem will send Ty Buttrey (7-8, 4.09) to the mound against Lynchburg's Jayson Aquino (0-1, 2.84) First pich is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Fans unable to attend can listen to the game on 1240 AM ESPN Roanoke, online at salemsox.com or via the TuneIn Radio app.