Winston-Salem Warthogs Hold Onto Close One as they Defeat Salem Avalanche 4-3 - Carolina League

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - Winston-Salem. NC—The Salem Avalanche, Class A-Advanced affiliate of the
Houston Astros, scored two ninth-inning runs against a pair of
Winston-Salem pitchers but could not score the tying run Saturday night in
a 4-3 loss to the Warthogs on Ernie Shore Field.  Kanekoa Texeira coerced
Greg Buchanan into a double play to finish the threat for Salem (14-20)
against Winston-Salem (14-17).

Winston-Salem led in the first inning versus Salem starter David Qualben.
The Warthogs got a leadoff triple from Paulo Orlando and an RBI single
from John Shelby III to achieve the game’s first lead.  Two batters after,
Brandon Allen jolted the first pitch he saw over the left-field fence for
a 3-0 edge.

In the fourth, Salem pumped its first run across when Mark Ori poked a
single to center that scored Tim Torres.  Winston-Salem, though, countered
with a sacrifice fly off of Orlando’s bat that scored Lee Cruz.

The score held at 4-1 until the ninth when Salem’s Koby Clemens opened the
inning with a single to center against reliever Matt Davis.  The ball
trickled past outfielder Paulo Orlando to the wall, granting Clemens third
base.  The next batter, Orlando Rosales, doubled to left center for a 4-2
game.

At that point, manager Tim Blackwell replaced Davis with Texeira, a
right-hander that threw an inning the day before,  He first earned a
flyout from Nick Moresi.  Next, Jimmy Van Ostrand singled Rosales home and
slimmed the lead to one.  The following batter, Greg Buchanan, rolled into
a double play from second to short to first to close the game.

John Ely packed the win away for Winston-Salem-his first in
Advanced-A-with a six-inning performance in which he did not allow an
earned run.