Red Sox Fall To Pelicans In Series Opener

SALEM, Va. – Despite two-hit days from Johanfran Garcia, Nelly Taylor Jr. and Natanael Yuten, the Salem Red Sox (9-13) fell to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (8-13) by a final score of 12-4 on Tuesday evening at Carilion Clinic Field at Salem Memorial Ballpark.

The loss dropped the Sox to 1-9 at home this season, while the win for the Pelicans was Myrtle Beach’s second victory in a row.

Matt Duffy took the hill for Salem and started strong. He struck out the first six batters of the game and only allowed one run through 4.1 innings.

The Pelicans would then put up a seven-spot in the fifth to make it an 8-0 ballgame. That inning included 13 batters, four walks and three errors on the Red Sox.

Two separate Garriola two-run bombs would then make it a 12-0 Myrtle Beach advantage, and there was no looking back after that.

The Red Sox did put up four runs of their own in the home half of the eighth, highlighted by an Antonio Anderson two-run double to make it a 12-4 game, but that’s all Salem would get from there.

Right-hander Nick Dean (1-0) picked up the win for the Pelicans after tossing five innings of shutout ball, while Matt Duffy (0-1) took the loss for the Red Sox after four and one-third innings on the hill.

Salem returns to action on Wednesday evening when it continues their six-game set with the Pelicans at 7:05 p.m. Right-hander Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz gets the ball.

Location: Salem Memorial Ballpark

First Pitch: 7:06 p.m.

Time of Game: 2:53