After falling in a first-inning hole and trailing almost the entire game, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans battled back late Tuesday night to score a 6-5 win over the Salem Red Sox at Lewis Gale Field.
Billed as a battled of aces with Kyle Hendricks against Matt Barnes, both pitchers showed small weakness is the first inning before battening down the hatches the rest of the way. Myrtle Beach scored once in the first inning before the Red Sox plated a controversial three for a 3-1 lead.
Hendricks struggled to gain a handle on things early, allowing the first six batters to reach safely, making it 3-1 Salem. Adalberto Ibarra then flied out to left and a double play ensued with Xander Bogaerts being thrown out at home. Lucas LeBlanc followed with a single to left, supposedly scoring Michael Almanzar. On the back end of the play, however, Christian Vazquez was thrown out at third. The out was ruled to have occurred before the run scored, and Almanzar’s tally was disallowed, keeping it 3-1.
The starters settled in after that, neither allowing a run through the rest of their nights. Barnes went five while Hendricks went four and two thirds.
Myrtle Beach finally cracked the scoring column again in the sixth with an RBI single from Santiago Chirino. Christian Villanueva then dealt a blow with his 10th homerun in the seventh, a three-run blast, to make it a 5-3 Pelicans score.
The Beach’s lead was short live, however. Salem rallied for two in the bottom of the seventh with a Bogaerts homerun and an Ibarra RBI double. It was 5-5 and stayed that way into the ninth.
Myrtle Beach picked up the decisive run in the top of the ninth inning when Villanueva came through again. The third baseman singled with two outs to score Teodoro Martinez, who led off with a single on the infield. It was 6-5. Ben Rowen pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth for his 11th save. Ben Henry earned the win while Pete Ruiz suffers the loss.
The Pelicans send Randy Henry to the mound against Keith Couch in the third game of the series, a 7:05 start on Wednesday.
- Photo courtesy of MB Pelicans
