Salem Smashes Delmarva
Homers and good defense lead the way
At 11:05 AM in Salem, VA on Tuesday it was a windy, muggy morning the day after severe thunderstorms and torrential rainfall made its way through the area. But quickly into the game it went from a mild 75 degrees to an extreme 99 degrees with very light wind and just the sun beaming down.
The weather though, wasn’t the topic of conversation. It was the Salem Red Sox bats as they were even hotter on Tuesday.
Niko Kavadas, Blaze Jordan and Eddison Paulino all hit homers for the Red Sox.
Prior to Kavadas home run in the first inning, Paulino scored the first run on three passed balls by Delmarva. Kavadas then jolted a solo-shot into the other parking lot behind Salem’s right field wall.
It was his eighth of the year.
Blaze Jordan, with two runners on belted a fastball over the left field wall into the trees. It was his fourth homer of the year.
Rounding out the clubs home run fiasco was Paulino, who hit a screaming solo-shot to right field with very little effort. It was his fourth of the year.
Rounding out the scoring for Salem was a Brainer Bonaci single, scoring two. A Kavadas double, that scored two. And a Jordan single that that brought one in.
Salem would eventually earn the 12-3 blowout win.
Saving some runs for Salem was their 19-year-old phenomenal short shortstop, Marcelo Mayer. In the sixth inning Mayer dove, snagged the ball in short left field, hopped up and threw a cannon across the diamond for the final out of the inning.
Starting pitcher Wikelman Gonzalez worked five innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits, walking three and striking out five.
Gonzalez touched 94-96 with his fastball and touched 78-84 with his off speed. He worked himself into some bad situations, but he always managed to get out of the danger zone against Delmarva.
The two clubs continue their six-game series on Wednesday.
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