McCarthy Deals Red Sox Past Keys 3-1

Salem, VA (August 30, 2012) - Mike McCarthy knew that Thursday night would be his final start of the 2012 season, and he certainly made it count. The righthander permitted just one run on four hits over seven innings, striking out six and walking none, while Brandon Jacobs belted his 12th homer of the year for Salem's only earned run of the game in a 3-1 triumph over Frederick. The Keys made two costly errors in the fourth inning that enabled two runs to score, and those tallies proved to be the difference as the Sox won their fourth in a row. With four games remaining in the regular season, the Sox are back above .500 at 67-66-1.

Through six innings, McCarthy faced just one over the minimum. He allowed two singles and hit a batter in his first six frames, but two of the runners were erased via inning-ending double plays. In the seventh, pitching with a 3-0 lead, he surrendered two more singles, one of which drove in Frederick's only run. But with Travis Adair representing the tying run in the batters' box, McCarthy popped him up to left to complete the seventh.

Salem's multi-run inning came in the fourth, when Jacobs reached on a two-out error by right-fielder Jeremy Nowak. The dropped fly put Jacobs at second, and another error would help him score. Keys reliever Eric Beaulac put Adalberto Ibarra in a 3-2 count and before the payoff pitch, Jacobs took off for third. Beaulac stepped off the rubber and lasered a wild throw past Adair, giving Jacobs a steal of third and another error to score and give the Sox a 1-0 lead. Ibarra walked on the next pitch, and Sean Coyle smashed an RBI triple off the wall in left to make it 2-0.

Two innings later, Jacobs came to bat with two outs again, and unlike his previous at-bat, he did not give the Keys a chance to make an error. Instead, he launched a line drive homer over the fence in left to give the Sox a 3-0 lead. Jacobs finished 1-for-3 with a homer and two runs scored, while Ibarra went 1-for-1 with two walks.

Both teams finished with five hits, with five different individuals contributing one hit apiece on each team.

Charle Rosario tossed the final two innings for Salem to earn his second save, pitching around one hit and one walk, striking out one.

Down to the final four games on the schedule, the Red Sox will look for the four-game sweep of the Keys on Friday night. Miguel Celestino will get the start opposite Devin Jones, with the first pitch slated for 7:05.