Woodies end homestand with shutout loss at hands of Red Sox
Anderson Tejeda (2) of the Down East Wood Ducks looks up to the sky following a slide into second base during Tuesday’s game against the Salem Red Sox. Photo: Faith Decker / Special to Neuse News
It was a good thing there was a pre-Independence Day fireworks show in the postgame of the Down East Wood Ducks game against Salem Tuesday night, because there was definitely no offensive fireworks during the game for the Woodies.
The Wood Ducks (6-7 second half, 41-42 overall) closed their longest homestand of the season with a 4-0 shutout loss at the hands of the Red Sox (6-6, 38-42) at Historic Grainger Stadium. The Woodies and Red Sox split their four-game set with two wins each while DEWD won five of nine games in the homestand that started June 25.
Tuesday’s game was played in front of the largest Grainger Stadium crowd – 3,491 fans – in Down East Wood Ducks’ history. They didn’t get to see a lot of offense from the home team, though, as the Woodies only managed five hits against some solid pitching from the Red Sox. Salem starting pitcher Darwinzon Hernandez gave up all five of those hits in six innings, striking out seven and walking two to lower his season ERA from 5.19 to 4.71. His relief – Jared Oliver for an inning and Jake Cosart for two – combined to strike out five more Woodies while walking none as they both faced the minimum batters. Cosart earned his fourth save of the season with his two perfect innings.
The Red Sox scored three runs in the fourth inning and tacked on a solo home run from Bobby Dalbec in the ninth for insurance. Dalbec finished with a double and homer in his 2-for-4, three-RBIs performance. Designated hitter C.J. Chatham had three of Salem’s 11 hits, while Tyler Hill and Trenton Kemp added two each. The Red Sox travel to Potomac to begin a five-game series on Wednesday.
The Woodies got two hits from Franklin Rollin at the top of the lineup but not much else in their power outage. Chuck LeBlanc, Alex Kowalczyk and Matt Whatley had DEWD’s other hits in the loss.
Steven Bruce had a quality start by putting together 6.1 innings of six-hit pitching but fell to 2-5 for the season with the loss. He had a season-high of eight strikeouts with no walks.
The Wood Ducks travel to Winston-Salem Wednesday to begin a five-game series of their own before heading to Buies Creek for a four-game set. DEWD returns home on Friday, July 13 when they start a four-game series against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans.
