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Dash loses 1st place to Red Sox
Chiang hits wind-aided home run in ninth inning to lift Salem to 5-4 victory
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Published: May 25, 2009
The Winston-Salem Dash's stay in first place was gone with the wind yesterday at Wake Forest Baseball Park.
Centerfielder Salvador Sanchez just missed snaring a wind-blown two-run homer by Chih-Hsien Chiang in the ninth inning of the Salem Red Sox' 5-4 victory against the Dash in front of a crowd of 624.
The blow off reliever Santo Luis salvaged the final game of the three-game series and allowed the Red Sox to leap-frog back over the Dash and into first place in the first-half race of the Carolina League's Southern Division.
Sanchez, who has spent most of the season in right field, said he felt he had a bead on the drive by Chiang with one out and a runner on first.
"I thought I had it," Sanchez said. "I was right on it, but the wind took it over."
Sanchez said he actually got his glove on the ball, which was dislodged when his arm landed on the top of the wall. Luis, who has a team-leading seven saves despite an earned run average of 7.27 fell to 1-2 for the season by giving up the first runs by a Dash reliever in the series.
Until Chiang's homer, the Dash bullpen had pitched 121/3 scoreless innings, striking out 18 and giving up three hits. Luis got a bad break a batter earlier when umpire Lawrence Reeves ruled that a throw by third baseman C.J. Lang had pulled Christian Marrero off the bag at first, resulting in a one-out error.
Luis then hurt himself by falling behind Chiang two balls and no strikes. He left his third pitch up and Chiang, from Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, hit his fourth homer of the season.
"I thought I left it a little bit up, but at 2-0, I was behind in the count," Luis said.
Opposing teams have hit 25 homers this season at Wake Forest Baseball Park.
Jim Gallagher hit the Dash's 17th homer at home with a runner aboard in the first, spotting his team to a quick 2-0 lead that it stretched to 4-0 with solo runs in the fourth and fifth innings.
Marrero, a regular outfielder, was playing first on directions of the parent Chicago White Sox in an effort to improve the versatility of their players. Jimmy Gallagher, the regular first baseman, played right.
"It's just to keep their value up in every spot," Manager Joe McEwing explained.
Gallagher lost a ball in the sun in the sixth during a two-run rally by the Red Sox that sliced the Dash's lead to 4-3. McEwing declined to fault Gallagher, mentioning a fly that Sanchez lost in the sun that cost the Dash a victory earlier this season.
McEwing also absolved Marrero of any blame for the error by Lang, which sailed across the foul line to the dugout side of the bag. Marrero, who is left-handed, reached across his body and, in McEwing's mind, did all he could.
"Actually he made a hell of a play, staying on the bag," McEwing said. "With that play going into the runner, that's a tough play and he did an outstanding job keeping his foot on the bag. It was a little difference of opinion."
The Dash threatened a comeback in the bottom of the ninth when Lee Cruz slapped a leadoff single off Derrick Loop, the closer for the Red Sox. After Mike Grace laced a one-out liner to left that was caught by Chiang just above the grass, Lang worked a two-out walk to put the potential tying run on first.
Loop then got Dale Mollenhauer to line out to left for the final out. Josh Papelbon, the brother of Jonathan Papelbon of the Boston Red Sox, pitched a scoreless eighth inning to improve to 3-1 and Loop got his eighth save.
The Dash, which is off today, has played the last two games without Brent Morel, the regular third baseman who is sidelined with a pulled hamstring.
■ Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.
SALEM ab r h bi W-S ab r h bi
Negron ss 5 0 1 0 Mllher 2b 5 1 1 1
Hee 2b 5 1 1 0 Paiml ss 4 0 1 0
Chiang lf 5 1 2 2 Galghr rf 4 1 1 2
Place rf 4 1 1 0 Sanchz cf 3 1 0 0
Jones 1b 5 1 3 0 Marero 1b 4 0 1 1
Lin cf 3 1 1 1 Cruz dh 3 0 1 1
Epsito dh 4 0 2 0 Gerst pr-dh 0 0 0 0
Weeden c 3 0 1 0 Pschina lf 4 0 0 0
Vazquez 3b 4 0 1 2 Grace c 4 1 1 0
Lang 3b 2 0 1 0
Totals 38 5 13 5 Totals 33 4 7 4
Salem 000 102 002 -- 5
Winston-Salem 200 110 000 -- 4
E--Hee, Lang (2). DP--Winston-Salem 1, Salem 1. LOB--Winston-Salem 6, Salem 9. 2B--Esposito (2), Jones. HR--Chiang, Gallagher. SB--Sanchez. CS--Place.
Salem IP H R ER BB SO
Capellan 5 6 4 4 1 1
Rice 2 0 0 0 1 1
Papelbon (3-1) 1 0 0 0 0 1
Loop (S,6) 1 1 0 0 1 0
Winston-Salem IP H R ER BB SO
Carter 5 11 3 3 1 6
Brooks 11/3 0 0 0 0 2
Rasner 1 1 0 0 1 5
Luis (1-2) 1 1 2 1 1 1
WP--Rasner. T--2:49. A--624
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