Britton Dominates in 4-1 Salem Triumph

Salem, VA (April 25, 2012) - After three tough outings to start his season, Drake Britton shined on Wednesday night, blanking the Blue Rocks over five superb innings in Salem's 4-1 victory at LewisGale Field. Britton struck out seven while allowing just one hit and walking a pair during his 79-pitch, 49-strike performance. The Red Sox offense delivered double digit hits for the eighth straight game, led by Jackie Bradley, Jr. and Travis Shaw who each recorded a single and a triple.

Britton, a member of Boston's 40-man roster, pitched a perfect first before Brian Fletcher doubled off the wall in center to begin the second. Following the hit, however, Britton set down the next eight Blue Rock batters in succession. He walked one in the fourth and one more in the fifth, but consistently kept the Rocks off balance with his fastball, curveball, changeup combination. The victory is Britton's first since May 7, 2011 and just his second Carolina League win in 30 appearances.

Britton and Wilmington's Greg Billo plastered competing zeroes on the scoreboard through the first three innings, but the Sox broke through on a wacky play in the fourth. Following a leadoff walk for Michael Almanzar and single for Christian Vazquez, Shannon Wilkerson dropped down a nifty bunt up the first base line. Billo picked it up and fired over the first-baseman's head, allowing Almanzar to score. Blue Rocks second-baseman Whit Merrifield tracked down the ball in foul territory and attempted to throw out Wilkerson running to second. That toss soared into left, giving Vazquez an easy road home. It was scored a bunt single and two throwing errors, and transforming the scoreless stalemate into a 2-0 lead for the Sox.

In the last of the fifth, with runners at first and third with one out, Wilkerson grounded into a fielder's choice at short, beating the ensuing throw to first to pick up an RBI as the Sox surged to a 3-0 advantage. Wilmington scored its only run on Brian Fletcher's sacrifice fly off Andrew Jones to trim the gap back to two in the top of the sixth, but the Sox countered in the last of the inning with a pair of two outs hits. Bradley tripled off Blue Rocks reliever Cole White and scored on Sean Coyle's single one batter later. Up 4-1 after six, the Sox bullpen slammed the door.

Jones overcame his bumpy sixth inning by dealing a scoreless seventh, pitching around two singles. Ruben Flores entered in the eighth and retired six of the seven batters he faced, striking out the side in the ninth to earn his first Carolina League save. The Red Sox three hurlers matched a team-season high with 13 strikeouts in the ballgame.

Vazquez and Adalberto Ibarra joined Bradley and Shaw with multi-hit games, as the Sox finished with ten hits on the night. Despite the two errors, all four runs were earned, with three charged to Billo (who suffered the loss) and one tagged on White.

Salem will strive for a series split of the four-game set in Thursday's finale at LewisGale Field. Miguel Celestino will make the start against Leondy Perez, with the first pitch slated for 7:05.