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May 29th, 2025
Zebulon, NC- The Carolina Mudcats (31-16) played host to the Salem Red Sox (20-27) in a Thursday evening contest. The Mudcats entered tonight’s contest 2.5 games ahead of the Lynchburg Hillcats (28-20) in the North Division standing. The Mudcats sent Bryce Meccage (0-0) to the mound who entered today’s game with a 1.61 ERA in 22.1 innings pitched. The Red Sox sent Steven Brooks (2-2) to the mound who entered today’s game with a 5.54 ERA in 26 innings pitched. The Carolina Mudcats entered tonight with 19 games left in the first half.
The Red Sox struck in the top of the second when Natanael Yutun scored on a single to right field by Fraymi De Leon which gave Salem a 1-0 lead. Then, Frederik Jimenez scored on a sacrifice fly by Justin Gonzales which increased the Red Sox lead to 2-0. Then, Fraymi De Leon scored on a single to left by Yoeilin Cespedes which expanded the Red Sox lead to 3-0.
The Mudcats responded in the bottom of the 3rd when Jesus Made scored on a hit by pitch by Jose Anderson which cut the deficit to 3-1. The Mudcats scored later in the inning when Luis Pena scored on a sac fly by Filippo Di Turi which cut the Red Sox lead to 3-2. Then, Luis Lameda cleared the bases with a triple off the right field wall that gave the Mudcats a 5-3 lead. Then, Luis Lameda and Yannic Walther scored on a 3 run inside the park home run by Jesus Made which expanded the Mudcats lead to 8-3.
Dikember Sanchez threw 0.2 scoreless innings where he only allowed 1 walk.
Salem struck in the top of the sixth when Natanael Yutun scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Fraymi De Leon which cut the deficit to 8-4. The Mudcats responded in the bottom half when Jesus Made scored on a 2 run home run by Luis Pena which increased the Mudcats lead to 10-4.
Jesus Flores threw 4 innings where he only allowed 1 run on 5 hits. Eybersson Polanco threw 1 inning where he allowed no hits and no walks.
The winning pitcher for the Mudcats was Dikember Sanchez (1-0) for his 0.2 scoreless innings. The losing pitcher for Salem was Steven Brooks for his 2.2 innings where he allowed 6 runs on 4 hits. The Mudcats improved to 31-16 on the season while Salem fell to 20-27 on the year. The Mudcats exited tonight 3.5 games ahead of the Lynchburg Hillcats in the North Division standing. The Mudcats are back in action tomorrow night at 6:30 pm at Five County Stadium
Manager Stanley met with the media following the conclusion of the game. When asked about the reaction to the inside the park home run, Manager Stanley said:
“Oh yeah, the guys love it. Inside the park homers are hard to come by, and they’re always super exciting, so the guys are fired up.”
When asked about the defensive performance of Braylon Payne, Manager Stanley said:
“I love it. I love the way he’s played defense, no matter whether he’s 4 for 4 or 0 for 4, he’s playing hard out there, and that’s all we can ask.”
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