Salem Shellacked 16-5 by Frederick

FREDERICK, MD (Tuesday, May 22) - Jerry Downs bashed two homers for the first time as a professional, and Roldani Baldwin hit another dinger, but the Sox were outslugged 16-5 by the Frederick Keys Wednesday night at Harry Grove Stadium.
Salem (22-21) saw their season-best five-game winning streak come to an end, as they surrendered 23 hits to match a Red Sox-era record. Frederick (19-26) led 11-1 after five innings and went a staggering 10-for-22 with runners in scoring position. The 16 runs scored by the Keys are the most they've scored against Salem in the Red Sox era, and the most since the Keys scored 17 against the Salem Buccaneers in a 17-6 thumping on August 4, 1992.

The Keys opened the scoring in the bottom of the second against Enmanuel De Jesus (L, 0-1), making his Salem debut. With one away, Jomar Reyes and Yojhan Quevedo knocked back-to-back singles, and Collin Woody drew a walk to load the bases. T.J. Nichting singled to left, scoring Reyes and Quevedo, and Ryan McKenna knocked an RBI single of his own with two outs to score Woody and give the Keys a 3-0 lead.
Salem got on the board in the top of the fourth against Frederick lefty Alex Wells (W, 2-3). With an 0-1 count, Baldwin popped an opposite-field solo homer to right to lead off the inning. It was Baldwin's fourth homer of the season, his second in as many games, and it trimmed the lead to 3-1.
Frederick responded right away in the bottom of the inning. Nichting and Clare cracked consecutive singles to open the inning before a wild pitch advanced Clare to second base, and McKenna knocked another run-scoring hit to left, with both runners scoring on the play to make it 5-1.
The dam burst in the bottom of the fifth inning. De Jesus allowed a leadoff double to Quevedo and walked Woody before getting Nichting to fly out to right, but Clare singled to score Quevedo and chase De Jesus from the game. New reliever Algenis Martinez couldn't do any better, surrendering RBI singles to McKenna and Cole before fanning Preston Palmeiro for the second out. However, Wilson Garcia belted a hanging slider over the wall in right for a three-run dinger that ran the lead to 11-1.
Salem moved a little closer in the top of the sixth inning. With one out, C.J. Chatham cracked a single, and Bobby Dalbec drew a two-out walk from new reliever Steven Klimek. Downs then mashed a majestic three-run homer to right, cutting the lead down to 11-4.
The Keys struck back with another three-run frame in the seventh. Billingsley walked and Palmeiro singled him to second, and Garcia blasted another three-run shot out to right to restore the lead to 14-4. Downs scorched another solo homer off Klimek in the eighth, but the Keys got two more runs off new Sox reliever Jared Oliver, providing their final 16-5 margin.
De Jesus was rocked for eight runs on 12 hits (both career-highs) and two walks in 4.1 innings, whiffing six. Martinez surrendered six runs on nine hits (also both career-highs) and a walk over 2.2 frames of relief, striking out three. Oliver gave up two runs on two hits and three walks while recording three strikeouts in one inning of action.
The Sox will look to take a series victory Thursday morning, with righty Jake Thompson taking the ball for Salem against Frederick righty Cristian Alvarado. First pitch from Harry Grove Stadium is at 11:00 a.m., and the pregame show with Ben Gellman and Suzie Cool begins at 10:45 a.m. on the Red Sox broadcast network.