Photo courtesy of Carolina Mudcats
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April 28th, 2024
Zebulon, NC-The Carolina Mudcats (15-6) played host to the Salem Red Sox (9-12) on Sunday afternoon in the series finale at 5 County Stadium. The Mudcats, losers of their last 3 in a row, still held a 1.0 game lead over the Fredericksburg Nationals (13-7). The Mudcats starting pitcher on Sunday was Bishop Letson. Noah Dean would get the start for the Red Sox.
In the top of the 1st, Salem was able to plate the first run of the game on a Marvin Alcantara solo home run giving the Sox an early 1-0 lead. Letson would settle in and kept the Salem bats silent over the next 2 innings.
In the bottom half of the 2nd, the Mudcats would tie the game at 1 behind several walks and a wild pitch that plated Juan Baez. In the bottom of the 3rd, the Mudcats would tack on another run on a Daniel Guilarte solo home run giving them the 2-1 lead.
Bishop Letson contined his strong start to the season and would throw 3 innings only allowing 1 run on 3 hits. He also struck out 3 and finished the day with a staggering 1.04 ERA.
In the top of the 4th, Salem would tie the game at 2-2 as Nelly Taylor Jr. would score on a double play. Taylor, who began the inning with a walk followed by a steal of second, would move to third on a base hit and score on the impending double play. Josh Timmerman would get the ball in relief of Letson in the 4th where he showed his overpowering stuff over his 4 scoreless innings. Timmerman allowed only 2 hits while striking out 6 to earn his 2nd win of the year.
The Mudcats would retake the lead in the bottom of the 5th on a solo home run by Yhoswar Garcia giving the Mudcats a 3-2 lead.
In the bottom of the 8th, the Mudcats offense would strike again with an insurance run which would end up being much needed. The rally started with a Tayden Hall triple. Reidy Mercado would come into the game to pinch run, and scored on a Juan Baez RBI single to extend the lead to 4-2.
In the top of the 9th, Salem would create a lot of trouble as they would cut the lead in half. It started with a fielding error followed by 2 singles following a strikeout. With the bases loaded, the Mudcats dodged disaster and forced a 5-4-3 game ending double play to give them the 4-3 win. Morris Austin earned the save for his effort in the 9th.
After the game, Manager Nick Stanley met with the media and had these thoughts on the play of his offense:
“Just being a little bit more aggressive, probably. And there wasn’t any panic there. It’s easy to do that when you’re a young team in a young lineup, if you know things aren’t going your way. But we didn’t do that we kinda keep working, and today went a little better.”
When asked about the performance of Josh Timmerman Manager Nick Stanley said:
“He had command of all his pitches and threw them in the zone. And then he got stronger as he went on, and that’s a really good recipe for success.”
The Mudcats will resume play Tuesday at home as they play host to the Columbia Fireflies. Game time is set for 6:35 pm.
