Four-Run Third Costs Rocks Road Trip Opener

Salem, VA -- The Salem Red Sox erased an almost immediate deficit on Saturday to beat the Wilmington Blue Rocks 6-5 at Haley Toyota Field. Salem used a four-run third inning against starter Gerson Garabito to take the series opener. Wilmington outfielder Nick Heath had three hits a walk, an RBI, a run scored and two stolen bases in the losing cause.
 

Garabito (1-3) struggled with control all night, walking a season-high tying five. He also allowed a lead-off baserunner in each of his final five innings. The right-hander wiggled out of danger more often than not, but got burned by a three-run homer off the bat of C.J. Chatham in the third. In Garabito's defense, he should have been out of the inning, but Gabriel Cancel dropped a throw from Angelo Castellano on what would have been an inning-ending double play.
The night started swimmingly for Wilmington, which had a two-run lead before Salem starter Jake Thompson recorded an out. Heath singled then DJ Burt worked a walk before Khalil Lee and Emmauel Rivera each followed with RBI hits. Thompson (2-2) settled in nicely, allowing no more runs while working a career-high six innings.
Wilmington's offense came back to life against the Red Sox bullpen in the seventh. Cancel, Chris DeVito and Heath all collected extra-base hits in the frame with Cancel and DeVito scoring. Heath stole third with one out in the frame, but Burt struck out and Lee grounded out to strand the potential tying run 90 feet from the plate.
It was the closest the Rocks would come. Bobby Dalbec added an insurance run on his solo homer in the penultimate frame. DeVito opened the ninth with a solo homer to right, but Matthew Gorst got the last two batters of the ninth to earn his fifth save of the season.
The Blue Rocks play their second doubleheader of the week on Sunday. First pitch of the opener is slated for 2:05 p.m. Right-hander Arnaldo Hernandez (4-1, 2.97) gets the ball in game one for Wilmington, while southpaw Daniel Tillo makes his Blue Rocks debut in the nightcap. Salem counters with lefty Darwinzon Hernandez (2-1, 4.84) and right-hander Tanner Houck (1-5, 6.00).
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
Outfielder Nick Heath has gotten off to a great start since rejoining the team from the disabled list on Wednesday. In the series opener against Salem, Heath went 3-for-3, with two stolen bases, drove in a run and scored a run. It marked back-to-back, three-hit games for Heath. Wednesday, he added a trio of hits, including a go-ahead, two-run, inside-the-park home run to push the Rock past Myrtle Beach in the series finale, 3-1. Overall, Heath is 6-for-7 with two extra-base hits, has scored three runs and has swiped three bases.
The Rocks are still in search of their first win at Salem this season. Wilmington was swept by the Red Sox in the first week of the season from April 9-11 at Haley Toyota Field. Last season, Wilmington won the head-to-head series 14-13 over its Northern Division foe. The last win for the Rocks at Salem was back on August 27, 2017.
Seven different Blue Rocks picked up a hit Saturday night with Heath and Gabriel Cancel putting together multi-hit efforts at the plate. Wilmington had 10 hits in the game which marked the first time Wilmington has tallied double-digit hits since May 11 at Carolina. Prior to that game against Carolina, the Blue Crew had posted ten or more hits in four of their previous nine games.
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