Salem Blanks Frederick 1-0 in Series Opener

Salem, VA (August 28, 2012) - Bizarrely, on a night when a Frederick pitcher authored perhaps the most impressive performance, it was the Salem Sox shaking hands on the diamond at LewisGale Field after a 1-0 victory. Yeiper Castillo, Marco Duarte, and Pete Ruiz combined in the shutout for the Sox, holding the Keys to seven hits and stranding nine Frederick runners on base. Tyler Wilson struck out 10 in seven dominant innings for the Keys, but the one run he surrendered in the very first inning proved to be his, and Frederick's, downfall.

With two outs in the last of the first, Michael Almanzar ripped a double down the right field line for his league-leading 35th two-base hit. Just two pitches later, Brandon Jacobs jacked a colossal liner to the wall in left-center, ringing it off the fence for another double that drove in Almanzar to give the Sox a 1-0 lead. Despite the fact that Frederick pitchers would retire 21 of the next 22 Red Sox hitters the rest of the way, the lone tally would stand up.

Wilson set down 17 Sox in a row before Jacobs launched his second double of the game off the wall in right-center in the seventh inning. Jacobs stole third, but was stranded, as Wilson struck out Drew Hedman and Sean Coyle to complete his seven inning, 10-punchout performance. Wilson permitted just three hits (all doubles) and did not walk anybody, but fell to 7-7 as his offense gave him no support.

Castillo improved to 3-3 for the Sox, dealing a bevy of strikes in his five inning outing. With 53 of his 73 pitches in the zone, the Keys mustered just four hits (all singles) against Castillo, who struck out seven and issued zero walks. In relief, Duarte pitched in and out of trouble in the sixth, stranding the bases loaded full of Keys. Duarte tossed a perfect seventh, striking out four in his two-inning stint, and Ruiz worked around a single and two walks in his two innings on the hill, inducing a 5-4-3 double play off the bat of Garabez Rosa to end the ballgame.

Frederick outhit Salem 7-3, but the Keys went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, leaving a man in scoring position in five of the final six innings. The Keys fell two games back of the Wilmington Blue Rocks in the race for the second half Northern Division title.

The Red Sox earned their 10th shutout victory of the season, the first since blanking Lynchburg on July 11. With six games to go in the regular season, Salem is within a game of the .500 mark at 65-66-1.

Salem and Frederick will square off in game two of their four-game set on Wednesday night, with Keith Couch set to pitch against Trent Howard. First pitch is slated for 7:05.