FredNats silenced in 3-1 loss on Saturday at Salem 

SALEM, VA - The Fredericksburg Nationals (1-1, 31-36) fell quietly against the Salem Red Sox (1-1, 27-39) on Saturday at Carilion Clinic Field, losing 3-1 to fall behind in the series three games to two.

Once again, the FredNats got a phenomenal performance from their starting pitcher in Salem. A night after Xander Meckley tossed six scoreless innings on 58 pitches, Yoel Tejeda Jr. punished the Sox with five innings of one-run ball. The tall righty relied heavily on his sweeper for a career-high eight strikeouts, with six coming on that pitch alone. The lone blemish against the first-year starter was a leadoff home run in the fifth by Natanael Yuten that made it 1-0 Red Sox.

That’s because the FredNats had another slow game offensively. They did not score in the first five innings and only got on the board once in the sixth, when Cristhian Vaquero scored from third on a double play groundout by Nate Rombach. Vaquero was a bright spot with a three-hit game, his second of the series, and a double.

Fredericksburg tied the game 1-1 in the sixth, but instantly gave the Red Sox the lead back. Johan Otanez allowed a pair of one-out singles and then threw the ball away on a comebacker, sailing it over Carlos Tavares at first base to allow two runs to come in.

Salem carried that lead through the rest of the game, fighting fires and putting out FredNat rallies in the eighth and ninth innings to win the game and take a 3-2 series lead.

Austin Ehrlicher (2-2) got the win in relief, as Otanez (3-1) got the loss and Eybersson Polanco (2) closed things out with a four-out save. The FredNats will now play the final game of the series and the 12-game road trip on Sunday, with Angel Roman (1-5, 8.69) taking the ball in a 1:05 start.