Red Sox Drop Series Against River Dogs 

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Salem Red Sox (28-29), were unable to continue its win streak going into a road series against the Charleston RiverDogs (40-17). This marks the second time the teams have competed against each other this season, but the first time the RiverDogs have achieved a sweep against Salem. Solid pitching from Charleston had Salem battling at the plate the entire week.

Game 1: Sox Drop Series Opener, Despite Stellar Outing from Uberstine

Charleston opened up the scoring first, after driving in three RiverDogs in the bottom of the third inning to take a 3-0 lead. In the top of the fourth the Sox responded quickly as Brainer Bonaci earned an RBI triple, followed by a groundout from Marcelo Mayer to cut Charleston’s lead to one. In the top of the fifth Mayer slammed his second home run of the year to tie the game at three all.

The game began to play in Charleston’s favor as back-to-back home runs from Carson Williams and Willy Vazquez in the seventh inning ended up helping the RiverDogs escape with the close victory.

Despite the loss, Tyler Uberstine accumulated four scoreless innings while on the mound.

Game 2: Sox battle, but ultimately fall short for a second night

Mirroring the early innings of game one, Charleston accumulated a quick 4-0 lead by the bottom of the second. The Salem bats remained quiet, as the Nathan Perry contributed an RBI single to extend the RiverDogs lead by one.

The Red Sox made it onto the scoreboard after Niko Kavadas hammered the ball over the fence for a two-run blast, his seventh of the year, to make the score 6-2. Charleston refused to let up, as Nick Schnell hit a sacrifice fly to extend the lead, 7-2.

In the top of the ninth, Phillip Sikes earned an RBI double to send Tyler Miller to the plate. Salem began to threaten the RiverDogs after two Charleston errors made the score 7-5. However, the Red Sox would fall just short of forcing the contest to extra innings.

Game 3: Mayer shines at the plate for Salem, but is overshadowed by Charleston’s offense

Marcelo Mayer crushed a two-run home run in the top of the first to get the game started. This would give the Sox a quick 2-0 lead and mark his third home run of the season. It did not take long for Charleston to catch up, as the RiverDogs scored two runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game. The RiverDog dominance continued into the second, as Charleston scored three more runs, one of which would be because of a Salem error from behind the plate. To keep up the consistency, the RiverDogs extended its lead in the bottom of the third, to make the score read 10-2.

Darel Belen hit an RBI single to send Miller to the plate and change the score to 10-3 in the top of the fourth. The bats for both teams remained silent until the top of the ninth, as Nathan Hickey achieved an RBI single to cut the RiverDogs lead to 10-4 and keep the Red Sox fight alive. For the last run of the night, Mayer slid home on a wild pitch, but the Charleston lead proved to be too much to overcome.

Game 4: Salem’s strength at the plate is not enough to hold off Charleston

Copying Charleston from the first two contests, Salem scored three quick runs in the top of the first to take a 3-0 lead right out of the gate after Hickey, Kavadas and Karson Simas showed out at the plate. The RiverDogs managed to score one run in the bottom of the inning, but Salem held onto its lead until the bottom of the second. In the bottom of the second, two RiverDogs ran to the plate to tie the game at three.

Charleston claimed the lead in the bottom of the fourth, after three players touched home plate off a Bobby Seymour double. In the top of the next inning, Miller reached on a fielder’s choice to send Hickey home and cut the RiverDogs lead to 6-4. To keep the Red Sox scoring trend alive, Mayer earned an RBI single to put Salem within one run.

After the end of the fifth, Charleston began to lock in and take back control of the competition. In the bottom of the sixth and eighth innings, the RiverDogs scored four more runs to make the score 11-4 going into the ninth. Holding onto Salem’s last chance, Eddinson Paulino helped drive in two more runs, but it would not be enough to reach the RiverDogs 11 runs.

Game 5: Charleston achieves powerful sixth inning to defeat Salem

Charleston showed why they are a top team in the Carolina League. The RiverDogs scored in the first, third, fifth, sixth, and seventh innings to dominate over Salem.

Salem scored two runs in the top of the third and fifth to tie it up at four going to into the sixth.

Inning six is where the game began to get ugly for the Red Sox. Charleston scored seven runs to take an 11-4 lead and showed no mercy, tacking on one more run in the seventh to get ahead by eight runs. An explosive seventh inning was the key to the RiverDogs game five victory.

Game 6: Salem falls short in series finale

Both teams were quiet on offense for the first three innings of play. In the bottom of the fourth, the RiverDogs scored three to take the lead. Scoring once more in the sixth, Charleston held a 4-0 lead over the Red Sox with only two more innings left in the game.

For the second time this series, Mayer hit a home run to put the Sox on the board. He achieved the only run for Salem and his fourth home run on the year.

Salem returns home Tuesday for a two week homestand against Delmarva and Fredericksburg. The first game is Camp Day presented by Splash. First pitch is at 11:05 a.m.