Thunderstruck: Sox Dropped 11-10 in 11 by Dash

WINSTON-SALEM, NC (Sunday, July 23, 2017) - The Salem Red Sox had multiple late leads but squandered them all Sunday afternoon, falling 11-10 in 11 innings to the Winston-Salem Dash at BB&T Ballpark.
The Sox (19-11, 58-39) fell just short of a four-game sweep of their hosts, and blew leads in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings to take the loss. Winston-Salem (14-15, 38-61) avoided the sweep, and have now gone 3-9 against the Sox in 2017. Jordan Betts and Jose Sermo each clubbed two homers for the Sox in the loss.

The Dash opened the scoring in the bottom of the second against Sox starting pitcher Roniel Raudes (ND). Brandon Dulin led off with a single, and advanced to second on a two-out base hit by Joel Booker. Luis Alexander Basabe cracked a single to center, and both runners scored, with Booker just beating the tag by Jhon Nunez to make it 2-0 in favor of the Dash.
The Sox drew even in the top of the third inning against Dash starter Ian Clarkin (ND). Austin Rei drew a one-out walk, and Betts mashed a huge homer to left, his second of the series, to knot things up at 2-2.
Winston-Salem edged back in front in the bottom of the frame, as Eloy Jiménez smoked a fastball from Raudes over the left field wall to put the Dash ahead 3-2. But Salem had the answer in the top of the sixth, as Jhon Nunez reached on a one-out single and Nick Lovullo looped a triple into the right field corner to plate him with the tying run.
The Dash retook the lead in the bottom of the sixth, as Seby Zavala and Jimenez each singled to start the inning. With runners on first and second and no outs, new reliever Daniel McGrath got Dulin to fly out softly to center, and picked Jimenez off first, but walked Brady Conlan before allowing an RBI single by Yeyson Yrizarri to give the Dash a 4-3 edge. The home side expanded their lead in the seventh, as Zavala singled with two outs, and Jimenez doubled over Matheny's head to make it a 5-3 game.
Salem roared ahead in the top of the eighth against Winston-Salem reliever Jack Charleston (BS, 1). Sermo led off the frame with a titanic dinger to center field, and Tyler Spoon followed with a single before Charleston hit Nunez on the hand with a pitch. Bryan Hudson came on to run for Nunez, and Lovullo dropped a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third. Chris Madera delivered, slicing a single to left to score the runners and put Salem in front 6-5.
Winston-Salem knotted it back up in the bottom of the ninth against Sox reliever Stephen Nogosek (BS, L, 2-1), who walked leadoff man Jameson Fisher before Zavala bunted him to second. With a 1-2 count on Jimenez, lightning forced a delay for safety reasons. Following the layoff, Jimenez singled to center, scoring Fisher and tying the ballgame at 6-6.
Salem retook the lead in the top of the 10th against Kelvis Valerio, as Sermo's fly to right was dropped by Basabe to lead off the inning. A wild pitch advanced Sermo to second base, and a ground out by Spoon moved him to third. Hudson drew a walk, but was picked off by Valerio. However, the pitcher fired another wild pitch, allowing Sermo to score. Lovullo then singled, and Madera singled him to third base with a liner to right. Jeremy Rivera rapped an RBI single of his own, giving Salem an 8-6 advantage.
The Salem lead looked like it'd hold up in the bottom of the 10th, as a double play had the bases empty with two outs, but Bryant Flete mustered a single, and Fisher bashed an opposite-field homer to left off Nogosek, tying the game at 8-8.
The homer pendulum swung back toward Salem in the top of the 11th as Sermo and Betts each crushed their second homers to left field. However, Nogosek couldn't hold the lead again, as Jimenez hammered a double to center, and Dulin belted a two-run bomb to right to tie the game. Conlan then doubled on a full count, and Yrizarri sacrificed him to third before Booker knocked a single up the middle to score Conlan and win the game.
Raudes took a no-decision, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks while whiffing six in five innings. McGrath surrendered an unearned run on five hits and a walk in three innings, whiffing three. Nogosek was roughed up for six runs on seven hits (both season-highs for any Sox reliever) and two walks in 2.1 frames.
The Sox will open a three-game series at the Wilmington Blue Rocks Monday, with lefty Kyle Hart making his debut start for Salem. First pitch from Frawley Stadium is at 6:35 p.m., and Ben Gellman has the call on the Red Sox Radio Network starting at 6:15 p.m.