Safety Squeeze: Salem Wins 16-14 Slugfest

Salem, VA (June 28, 2012) - Salem pitchers were bruised and battered. Top prospect Matt Barnes experienced his shortest outing as a pro. But when all was said and done, Red Sox Pitching Coach Kevin Walker chose a famous football phrase to describe the 36-hit fiasco that unfolded on Thursday night at LewisGale Field.

"Just win, baby," said a joking Walker, quoting the late Raiders owner Al Davis.

In what felt more like a Patriots-Redskins struggle than a Red Sox-Nationals ballgame, Salem survived to defeat Potomac 16-14 in a game that featured 36 hits, six errors, and 39 total at-bats with runners in scoring position. The Red Sox scored all 16 of their runs in the first three innings, leading by as many as ten runs, before holding off the Nationals furious late-game rally that put the tying runners on base in the eighth inning.

Five Red Sox players homered and every single position player recorded at least one hit and one RBI, while five pitchers combined to surrender 14 runs on 18 hits. But All-Star closer Mike Olmsted surrendered just one run while striking out three over the final two innings, recording a six-out save for his 15th preservation of the season.

Barnes, coming off his roughest performance as a pro last Saturday in Lynchburg, yielded four straight singles to start the game. Two of them were infield singles and another a fortuitously placed hit-and-run grounder through the hole, but the Nationals led 3-0 after half an inning. Barnes required 34 pitches to complete the first and did not return to the mound for the second.

But Salem would not trail for long, as Shannon Wilkerson and Heiker Meneses blasted consecutive pitches over the left-field fence for back-to-back homers against Nationals starter Cole Kimball. Trailing 3-2, Brandon Jacobs doubled and Xander Bogaerts belted Salem's third home run of the first inning, a two-run shot, that surged Salem in front 4-3. Two more tallies later, 11 men had hit in the first inning and Salem was up 6-3 after a 45-minute first inning.

The Nationals scrapped one run against Salem reliever Tyler Lockwood in the second, but up 6-4, the Sox exploded for eight more runs in the last of the second inning. Sending 12 men to the plate, the Red Sox recorded six hits, including a solo home run from Brandon Jacobs, to go up 14-4 at the end of the second. Jacobs had three hits and remained a triple shy of the cycle after just two innings, and Salem had 14 runs on 13 hits, with only six outs having been recorded by Nationals pitching.

While Potomac won the third inning 3-2, the Sox would lead 16-7 after three. Jason Martinson led off the third with a solo homer for the Nats, while Michael Almanzar's solo blast to start the bottom of the frame was the fifth round-tripper of the game for the Red Sox.

But over the final six innings, the Sox offense cooled off. Both squads went scoreless in the fifth and sixth, while the Nationals plated one against Ryan Pressly in the sixth. Andrew Jones entered for the seventh, and the Nationals drilled him for five runs on six hits, surging within three runs at 16-13. In the eighth, the Nats grabbed one more, making it 16-14 against Olmsted.

In the top of the ninth, however, the Nationals went 1-2-3 with Olmsted finishing the job, three hours and 26 minutes after the outrageous action started.

Sean Coyle led the Red Sox with four hits, while Wilkerson drove in three runs at the top of the order. Martinson's three hits and four RBI paced Potomac, while Rick Hague also recorded three hits and drove in a pair. The official scorer bestowed the win to Pressly, who permitted one run in two innings, while Kimball suffered the loss.

Salem skipper Billy McMillon was ejected by home plate umpire John Bacon in the bottom of the eighth inning after the umpires overturned a hit-by-pitch call that forced Salem's Matty Johnson to return to the batters' box after previously having been awarded first base. It was McMillon's third ejection of the year.

Salem and Potomac continue their three-game series on Friday night, with Brandon Workman set to face Nathan Karnes. First pitch is set for 7:05.