Errors Plague Hillcats in Blowout Loss to Red Sox 

Lynchburg, Virginia – Jordan Jones pitched six innings of one hit baseball, but the the Lynchburg Hillcats (54-57) committed four errors and the Salem Red Sox (68-43) piled on thirteen runs in the last four innings to defeat Lynchburg by eleven on Thursday night at Bank of the James Stadium.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After Salem starter Chih-Jung Liu shut the Hillcats out for three innings, Alexfri Planez finally put the Hillcats on the board when he smashed his sixteenth home run of the year. The bomb gave Lynchburg a 1-0 lead heading into the fifth inning.
• After silencing the Red Sox for five frames Jordan Jones, fanned two straight in top of the sixth. The ‘Cats righty followed by walking Tyler McDonough, putting a runner on for Salem. Jones locked in and struck out Ceddanne Rafaela, but Hillcats catcher Micael Ramirez dropped the ball and then made a wayward throw to first that went past the glove of Lynchburg first baseman Miguel Jerez. The error allowed McDonough to race home and sent Rafaela to third. Trying to get an out at third Jerez made another error on a throw that allowed Rafaela to score on the same play. The two mishaps made it 2-1 Salem on no hits.
• Randy Labaut took over for the Hillcats on the mound in the top of the seventh inning and the Red Sox poured on three innings off four hits. Labaut was pushed out of the game after getting two outs and Jacob Forrester came in to get the final out for Lynchburg with Salem now up 5-1.
• Forrester pitched a scoreless top of the eighth inning and the Hillcats sent out Hugo Villalobos for the top of the ninth with the Hillcats still down four. Salem’s Alex Erro led off with a single, followed by Antoni Flores reaching on a throwing error committed by Gabriel Rodriguez at third. Erro scored when Jonathan Diaz sliced a single to right-center field, but Villalobos fanned McDonough in what would have been the third out of the inning if not for error.
• The Red Sox exploded to add five more unearned runs tagged to Villalobos prompting the Hillcats to send out catcher Jonathan Lopez to pitch. The position player allowed two scores and Salem took a 13-1 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.
• A walk, a single, and a wild pitch tallied Micael Ramirez in the final frame but the damage was done and the Hillcats lost 13-2.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Hillcats take on Salem Friday night at Bank of the James Stadium. First pitch is set for 6:30pm with Lenny Torres set to take the mound for the Hillcats.