Salem Slams Past Dash 8-4 Tuesday

SALEM, VA (Tuesday, July 10) - The Salem Red Sox made history with their big bats booming Tuesday night, as Bobby Dalbec and Trenton Kemp each hammered two dingers for the first multi-player multi-homer game in the Red Sox era en route to an 8-4 win over the Winston-Salem Dash at Haley Toyota Field.
Salem (11-8, 43-44) bounced back after a night without a single extra-base hit on Monday, and never trailed in the ballgame. The Dash (13-6, 54-35) saw their bats go quiet, with only singles among their seven base hits. Dalbec took sole control of the Red Sox-era (2009-present) record for homers in a season with his 20th and 21st blasts of the year, and matched Michael Chavis's career record of 12 homers at Haley Toyota Field. He is three blasts away from matching Brandon Jacobs for the Salem Red Sox career record of 24 homers.

The Sox got the scoring going in the bottom of the first against Dash starting pitcher Blake Battenfield, who surrendered a leadoff single to Tyler Hill before a wild pitch advanced Hill to second. Brett Netzer sliced a single to right, scoring Hill and giving the Sox a 1-0 lead.
Salem gained some breathing room in the bottom of the third frame. With one out, Hill drew a walk, and Netzer pummeled a double to right, advancing Hill to third base. C.J. Chatham flew out to shallow right, but Dalbec launched a hanging slider over the wall in left for a three-run dinger to run the Salem lead to 4-0.
The Dash responded in the top of the fourth frame against Salem starting pitcher Bryan Mata (W, 6-2). Luis González singled to lead off the frame and headed to second on a passed ball by catcher Nick Sciortino. Laz Rivera popped out to second, but Blake Rutherford singled to plate Gonzalez, and Mitch Roman drew a walk to put runners at first and second. Gavin Sheets singled Rutherford home, and Ti'Quan Forbes singled to load the bases. Yeyson Yrizarri hit a bouncer to short, and Chatham flipped it to Netzer at second for the second out, but Yrizarri beat out the back end of the double play, allowing Roman to score and trim the lead to 4-3.
The Red Sox earned a run back in the bottom of the fourth, as Kemp belted a solo dinger to left-center with two away to make it a 5-3 game. However, the Dash answered right away in the top of the fifth, as Gonzalez cracked a one-out single and moved up to second on a groundout to third by Rivera before Rutherford slapped a single through the middle to score Gonzalez and drop the lead to 5-4.
In the bottom of the fifth, Netzer cracked a one-out single, and Dalbec mashed a hanging slider over the wall in left, with his second dinger of the night extending the lead to 7-4 for Salem. Kemp tacked on one more in the bottom of the sixth, crushing a homer off reliever Kyle Kubat for the final 8-4 margin of victory.
Mata surrendered four runs on six hits and two walks in five frames, whiffing four batters. Kevin McAvoy (S, 1) fired four shutout frames on one hit and striking out three for the save.
The Sox will look for another win Wednesday night, with righty Jake Thompson taking the ball for Salem against Dash right-hander Lincoln Henzman. First pitch at Haley Toyota Field is scheduled for 7:05 p.m., and the pregame show with Ben Gellman and Suzie Cool begins at 6:45 p.m. on the Red Sox broadcast network.