PIRATES PROSPECTSPITTSBURGH PIRATES MINOR LEAGUE NEWS, TRANSACTIONS, AND ARTICLES

The Cardiac Cats, serious under-cats in the Carolina League playoffs, have won the Mills Cup Championship with a sweep of the Southern Division champion Salem Red Sox in Salem, Virginia tonight. �

Five Lynchburg pitchers worked on defeating the Red Sox, with Mike Colla earning the win, and Ronald Uviedo�earned the save. �SS Jordy Mercer went 4-for-5 in the game, marking the first time in his career that he had 4 hits in a game. �RF Jamie Romak went 3-for-4, with 3 RBI. �

The Hillcats got down to business in the top of the 1st inning. �They scored one run on a walk by 3B Josh Harrison�and an RBI double by Jordy Mercer. �Salem came right back with 3 runs in the bottom of the inning, on four singles and a sacrifice fly. �

Lynchburg broke out with 6 runs in the 2nd inning, as they sent 10 batters to the plate. �C Tony Sanchez began the fun with a single, and 1B Matt Hague walked. �Both moved up one base on LF Alex Presley's sacrifice bunt. �CF Jose De Los Santos struck out but a wild pitch on strike three allowed him to reach first base, though Sanchez was not able to score on the wild pitch. �That didn't matter, though, because 2B Chase d'Arnaud smacked a double into left field, bringing in Sanchez and Hague. �De Los Santos scored when Josh Harrison reached base on a fielding error. �Another wild pitch moved De Los Santos to second base and d'Arnaud to third base. �Another fielding error allowed Jordy Mercer to reach base and brought in d'Arnaud with the fourth run of the inning. �Jamie Romak's RBI double brought in two more runs, Harrison and Mercer. �After a pitching change, a ground out and a fly out ended the inning, with the Hillcats ahead 7-3. �

Salem scored another run in the bottom of the 2nd inning, on a walk, two singles, and a fielding error. �Starter Jeff Locke was relieved after another walk, having pitched just 1.2 innings and allowed 4 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks. �Mike Colla took over to finish the 2nd inning, then pitched 3 more hitless and scoreless innings.

The Hillcats added one more run in the 4th inning. �Josh Harrison led off with a single, Jordy Mercer hit his second double of the game, and Jamie Romak brought in Harrison with an RBI single. �They threatened again in the 6th inning with back-to-back singles by Mercer and Romak, but two strikeouts ended the inning without any more runs scoring. �Mercer also singled in the 8th inning, and Matt Hague doubled in the 9th. �

Salem made it a little tighter in the 6th inning with a 2-run home run off�Matt McSwain, to bring the score to 8-6.��Ramon Aguero took the mound in the 7th inning, and retired the side in that inning. �In the 8th, he gave up a lead-off walk, but C Tony Sanchez erased that runner with a perfect throw to second base to catch him stealing. �Aguero also came out to start the 9th inning, and made it a little too interesting. �After a strikeout, a walk and two singles brought in a run, moving Salem to within one run of the Hillcats. �Ronald Uviedo came on in relief, with two runners on base ona one out. �A grounder to 1B Matt Hague, with Uviedo covering the bag, gave the Hillcats the second out, but moved the base runners to second and third bases. �Uviedo calmly got the next batter to ground to second base, where Chase d'Arnaud made the scoop and the throw to first, and the Hillcats were the Champs.

Chase d'Arnaud was named the series Most Valuable Player. �He went 4-for-13 at the plate in three games, with a double in each game and 7 RBI. �

3B Pedro Alvarez set a new World Cup record by hitting three home runs in a single World Cup tournament game, and Team USA tied the team record for homers in a game with six.

Team USA exploded for 7 runs in the top of the 1st inning, and they never let Taipei catch up. � �CF Buck Coats (Blue Jays) opened the game with a single, and stole second base. �1B Justin Smoak (Rangers) and RF Ike Davis (Mets) both walked to load the bases. �DH Terry Tiffee (Phillies) grounded to short, but a throwing error by the Taipei shortstop brought in two runs (Coats and Smoak). �LF Jon Weber (Rays) singled, scoring Davis. �Then Pedro Alvarez smacked home run #1, for 3 RBI, as Weber and Tiffee also scored. �C Lucas May (Dodgers) followed the home run with a single, and 2B Daniel Descalso (Cardinals) doubled into the left center alley. �Buck Coats, in his second plate appearance in the inning, plated May with a sacrifice fly for the 7th run of the inning. �

And they were not done yet. �In the 2nd inning, Ike Davis walked, and Jon Weber hit a 2-run homer, which was immediately followed by Pedro Alvarez's second home run. �(The first homer was to right field, and the second was to left field.) �USA 10, Taipei 0.

Terry Tiffee led off the 4th inning with a solo home run, and after Jon Weber singled, Pedro Alvarez blasted his third homer of the game, to center field. �Lucas May followed with another solo home run, Team USA's 6th of the game. �

Team USA starter Todd Redmond (Braves) pitched a total of 6 innings and allowed 5 hits, no walks, with 6 strikeouts. �After giving up back-to-back singles in the 1st inning, Redmond retired 7 straight batters. �He allowed 3 runs to score in the 4th inning, on a triple, a single, and a 2-run homer. �Then he retired the next 9 batters in order to finish the 6 innings. �BJ Rosenberg (Phillies) came on to pitch the 7th inning, and he also put Taipei down in order. �With Team USA ahead by more than 10 runs, the game ended after 7 innings. �

Team USA is now 4-0 in Pool G in the second round of the tournament. �No other Pool G team has won 4 games in round two. �In Pool F, both Cuba and the Netherlands are 4-0.

In other Pool G Games (Played in Italy):

Canada and Japan took a 1-1 tie into extra innings. �Neither team could get a run across in the 10th inning. �A sacrifice bunt , an intentional walk, and an RBI single brought in a run for Japan in the top of the 11th. �Canada did the same thing in the bottom of the inning: �a sacrifice bunt, an intentional walk, and an RBI single to tie the game again. �But, an error by the Japanese catcher on the throw in from the outfield allowed a second run to score, and gave Canada the walk-off win. �Pirate farmhand Dustin Molleken did not appear in the game. �

Team Italy took an early 4-0 lead with a run in the 1st inning and three more in the 2nd inning. �The Australians got one back in the bottom of the 2nd, on a single and an RBI double by SS James Beresford. �The Aussies scratched out another run in the 3rd inning when former Indy Indian LF Chris Snelling walked and scored on 3B Luke Hughes' RBI double. �The Australians tied the game in the 4th inning. �C Joel Naughton singled, stole second base, moved to third on a ground out, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Beresford. �CF Nicholas Kimpton homered to tie the game at 4-4. �

Australian starter Liam Hendriks pitched 2 innings, allowing the 4 runs to Italy. �Then Dushan Ruzic took over on the mound and pitched 7 shutout innings, allowing Team Italy only 2 hits and one walk over the rest of the game. �

In the bottom of the 9th, DH Daniel Berg led off with a double into right field. �James Bereford singled, moving Berg to third base, and Nicholas Kimpton was intentionally walked to load the bases. �Chris Snelling had the walk-off RBI single which scored Berg to give Australia the win. �

In Pool F Games (Played in the Netherlands):

Great Britain had a 4-run 4th inning and held the lead for a short time, but Puerto Rico came back to tie the game in the bottom of the 4th. �The go-ahead run came across on two singles and a stolen base in the 5th inning, and Puerto Rico held on to that slim lead to take the win. SS Brant Ust went 1-for-4 with a single in the 4th, and came around to score for Great Britain. �Puerto Rico's RJ Rodriguez did not get into the game. � �

The Netherlands scored in 6 consecutive innings in their win over Venezuela. �Former Pirate farmhand 3B Yurendell de Caster went 1-for-4, with a single to lead off the 3rd inning, though he was out at second base. �De Caster picked up an RBI in the 4th inning with a sacrifice fly. Former Pirate 1B Randall Simon also went 1-for-4 with a walk and a run scored. �

Pool G (in Italy) had two rain make-up games:

Another low-hitting game. �Taipei had 5 hits and Japan had only 4 hits. �The Taipei pitcher Chih-Lung Huang pitched all 10 innings, allowing one unearned run on those 4 hits, with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts. �He threw 125 pitches (74 strikes). �Wow. �Taipei's 2-RBI single broke tie in the top of the 10th, and Japan could not respond in the bottom of the inning. �

Team Canada took a 2-run lead in the top of the 1st inning, on a single, �a double, a sacrifice fly by 2B Brett Lawrie (Brewers) and an RBI single by DH Tim Smith (Rangers). �They added a run in the 4th when C Cole Armstrong (White Sox) walked, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on 3B Shawn Bowman's (Mets) RBI single. �1B Jimmy Van Ostrand (Astros) doubled down the left field line to lead off the 6th inning, and Bowman produced another RBI single to give Canada a 4-0 lead. �

Canadian pitchers held the Mexican batters to just 4 hits over the first 7 innings. �A 2-run homer in the 8th inning was all the scoring that Team Mexico would do. �Pirates' farmhand Dustin Molleken took the mound for Team Canada to begin the bottom of the 9th. �He got two fly outs, then gave up a single, and was relieved by Robert Swindle (Cleveland Indians), who gave up a walk, then struck out the next batter to end the game. �

Pool F �(playing in the Netherlands)

Puerto Rico scratched out a run in the bottom of the 1st, on a single, a wild pitch, a sacrifice bunt, and an RBI ground out. �South Korea tied it up in the 4th on a throwing error and a double, but Puerto Rico took the lead again in the bottom of the inning with a single, a walk, and a 2-RBI double. �In the top of the 8th, South Korea took advantage of a walk, a fielding error, and a wild pitch to score another run, and move within one run of Puerto Rico. �With two outs and runners on the corners, RJ Rodriguez came in to pitch for Puerto Rico. �Rodriguez ended the inning with a strikeout, preserving Puerto Rico's lead. �Rodriguez came back out to pitch the bottom of the 9th. �He allowed a walk and a single, but held South Korea scoreless to earn the save. �

Nicaragua put up 3 runs in the 2nd inning, with 3 singles and a double, plus a fielding error. �Great Britain came back in the bottom of the frame with an unearned run, on a fielding error, a single, and a ground out. �A single and a double gave Nicaragua one more run in the top of the 7th. �Tom Boleska took the mound for Great Britain to pitch the last two innings. �He retired the side in the 8th, and allowed 2 hits in the 9th inning, but got a ground out to end the inning without a run scoring. �SS Brant Ust went 0-for-4 for Great Britain. �

A 7-run 2nd inning gave the Netherlands a lead they would not relinquish. �3B Yurendell de Caster�had an RBI single and then came around to score in the 1st inning, when the Netherlands scored twice. �They sent 11 batters to the plate in the 2nd inning, when the first six batters reached base safely: �single, single, double, single, walk, and a double by de Caster, accounting for 4 runs. �Another single and another double added three more runs in the inning. �Spain scored 2 runs in the 3rd and 3 more runs in the 4th, but it wasn't enough. �A single and a double added one more run for the Netherlands in the 8th. �

Lynchburg CF Jose De Los Santos is not a particularly big guy -- he's listed at 5' 11'' and 160 pounds. �But he's huge in Lynchburg tonight. �The speedy De Los Santos had stolen 53 bases this season, and was caught stealing only 8 times, but power was not his forte. �He had 5 doubles and 6 triples this season, but no home runs. �No homers last season either, when he split his time between Hickory and Lynchburg. �In fact, he'd had only one homer in his career -- until tonight. �In the bottom of the 9th inning, with the score tied at 4-4, and two outs, Jose De Los Santos lifted a long, high fly ball over the left field wall for his first home run of the season, giving the Hillcats the walk-off win. �

Salem had cracked the scoreboard first. �Hillcats' starter Rudy Owens�allowed only one single over the first two innings, but gave up a solo home run to SS Ryan Dent in the 3rd inning. �

The "Cardiac 'Cats answered with 3 runs in the bottom of the 5th. �DH Kris Watts led off with a double lined off the right field wall. �He moved to third base when 1B Matt Hague grounded out. �LF Alex Presley walked to put runners on the corners with two outs. �CF Jose De Los Santos bounced back to the mound, but Salem pitcher Stephen Fife's throw to first base was high, and 1B Tony Rizzo had to leap to make the catch. �He had not yet come back to earth when De Los Santos crossed the bag, so De Los Santos was safe and Kris Watts crossed the plate with the tying run. �2B Chase d'Arnaud followed with a double smacked into left field, scoring both Presley and De Los Santos, to give the Hillcats a 3-1 lead. �

Rudy Owens held the Red Sox to just two singles over the middle three innings. �Both of those came in the 6th, and one was erased with a double play. �Owens gave up a walk to begin the 7th inning, then got a strikeout. �At that point, he was relieved by Noah Krol. �Krol gave up a single to the first batter he faced, and a 3-run home run to the next batter he faced, LF Chih-Hsien Chiang. �After a strikeout and a throwing error that put another runner on base, Krol induced a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning, but Salem had taken a 4-3 lead. �

The Hillcats threatened in the 8th inning. �Jason Blackey took the mound for Salem, and he began with back-to-back walks to Chase d'Arnaud and 3B Josh Harrison. �SS Jordy Mercer dropped down a bunt right in front of the plate, and the ball got lost between the Salem catcher's legs -- everyone was safe. �Blackey walked RF Jamie Romak with the bases loaded, forcing in the tying run. �Blackey was relieved by Kyle Fernandes, who struck out Kris Watts and got C Tony Sanchez to bounce into a double play, ending the threat. �

Ronald Uviedo came on to pitch the 9th for Lynchburg. �He retired the side in order, with one strikeout. �That set up the bottom of the 9th, and gave Jose De Los Santos the opportunity to be the big hero. �The Hillcats' radio announcers said that Salem pitcher Fernandes stood on the mound stunned and gaping at De Los Santos as he circled the bases.

The Hillcats and the Red Sox move on to Salem for the next game of the series, which will be played on Thursday. �

NOTES:

The Pirates opened camp for Fall Instructional League in Bradenton today. �As reported by Jen Langosh on the Pirates' site, this will be a two-part camp. �Phase I is for the more advanced members of the organization: � (not a complete list at all)

LHP Daniel Moskos, OF Jose Tabata, SS Brian Friday -- will do Instrux for a few weeks, then go on to the Arizona Fall League

SS/2B Chase d'Arnaud -- will get to Instrux as soon as the Hillcats finish up in the playoffs, then he will move on to the AFL also

SS Jordy Mercer, RHP Bryan Morris, LHP Rudy Owens -- will also get to Instrux when the Hillcats finish

OF Starling Marte, SS Jarek Cunningham, 1B Jeff Clement -- working back from injuries

OF Gorkys Hernandez, INF Shelby Ford, OF Robbie Grossman, RHP Tim Alderson, etc -- �will get a few weeks of Instrux time

Then Phase II will be the newer players, and that is scheduled to start on Sept 30th. �This will include most of the 2009 draft picks, even C Tony Sanchez. �3B Pedro Lopez is also expected to be there after his Team USA/World Cup experience, as he is scheduled to begin a mucho serious workout program.

Brad Lincoln allowed one earned run after 7 scoreless innings to take the win over Japan this afternoon in Italy. �Lincoln�scattered 6 hits, no walks and struck out 5 batters over 7.1 innings, and needed 93 pitches (67 strikes) to get the work done. �Team USA scored their 4 runs on only 4 hits, while Japan recorded 9 hits but only 2 runs.

Lincoln began the game by striking out the side in the top of the 1st inning. �He gave up a lone single in each of the next two innings and worked around a lead-off double in the 4th, without letting that runner move off second base. �He gave up two singles in the 6th, and a throwing error by 3B Pedro Alvarez put a runner on third. �The next batter lined out to center field, though, and it became a double play when the runner from third was tagged out at the plate on the throw in from CF Buck Coats (Blue Jays) to C Jason Castro (Astros). �Another double play erased a base runner in the 7th inning, after Lincoln hit a batter with a pitch.

Team USA put a base runner on in each of the first two innings, including a double by Pedro Alvarez in the 2nd inning. �Both of those runners were left stranded. �The US batters got things going in the 3rd inning. �With one out, SS Trevor Plouffe (Twins) walked on 5 pitches. �1B Justin Smoak (Rangers), who had 2 homers yesterday, added another home run to his tally with a 2-run blast over the left field wall. �Moments later, DH Terry Tiffee (Phillies) added a solo home run to left center, chasing Japan's starter Hiroyuki Kamegawa, and giving Team USA a 3-0 lead. �

Trevor Plouffe gave the Americans another run in the 7th inning. �2B Tug Hulett (Royals) walked and stole second base, which put him into scoring position for Plouffe. �Plouffe ripped a double into right field, and Hulett came around to score. �USA 4, Japan 0.

Japan got onto the scoreboard in the 8th inning. �Pinch hitter Shoh Aranami opened the inning with a ground-rule double off Brad Lincoln. �A ground out moved Aranami to third base, and that was all for Lincoln. �Ehren Wassermann (White Sox) relieved Lincoln, but the first batter he faced, CF Ikuhiro Kiyota, doubled into right field, and Aranami scored, with the run charged to Lincoln. �

Cedric Bowers (Phillies) came on to pitch the top of the 9th inning. �He faced only one batter, DH Keiji Ikebe, who singled. �Reliever Nate Field (Marlins) took over for Bowers, and his wild pitch put Ikebe on second base. �Field got a strikeout and an infield pop out, but then gave up an RBI double to pinch hitter GO Yamaoka, which brought in Ikebe with Japan's second run. �That was all they would get, though, as Field ended the game with a fly out.

Team USA and Team Japan had both gone 2-1 in the first round of the tournament. �Team USA has now won 3 games in Round 2, while Japan is 2-1 in the second round.

Team USA has tomorrow off. �They will resume play against Taipei on Thursday. �Japan has the make-up game against Taipei tomorrow. �

Former Pirates' farmhand Paul Mildren suffered the loss as Taipei beat Australia in extra innings tonight. �Both teams were held to just 5 hits, and three of the Australian hits came off the bat of former Indy Indian LF Chris Snelling. �

Taipei scored first, with a lead off home run in the bottom of the 2nd inning by CF Ken-Wei Lin. �(Five members of the Taipei starting line up, plus a relief pitcher and a DH substitute all have the surname "Lin"). �The Australians came right back in the top of the 3rd to tie the score. �With two outs, CF Nicholas Kimpton walked, 2B Brad Harman singled to move Kimpton to third base. �Chris Snelling brought Kimpton in with an RBI single into right field. �

Things were quiet over the middle innings, as both teams had 9 straight batters retired in order. �Australia threatened in the 8th inning, when Nicholas Kimpton hit a one-out double down the left field line, and Chris Snelling singled. �Kimpton rounded third and headed for home, but he was cut down at the plate on the throw in from right field. �

Paul Mildren came on to pitch for the Australians in the bottom of the 8th. �He retired 6 batters in order, including 3 strikeouts. �But the Australians also went down in order in the 9th, and the game went into extra innings. �(Remember the international rules for extra innings.)

Australia began the 10th inning with SS James Beresford on second base and Nicholas Kimpton on first base. �Brad Harmon dropped down a bunt, but the Taipei pitcher threw wildly to first base, and Beresford was able to score. �With runners on second and third, Chris Snelling smacked his third hit of the game into center field, scoring Kimpton from third. �Snelling was out at second base on the throw in from center. �3B Luke Hughes scored Harman with a sacrifice fly, and Australia had taken a 4-1 lead.

Taipei did not let the lead last for long. �LF Tai-Yung Kuo was placed on second base and 1B Chia-Hao Chang on first. �3B Chih-Hsiang Lin sacrificed the runners up 90 feet, and a fielding error on Taipei's Lin Han's grounder by SS James Beresford allowed both to score. �Lin Han was still on base when DH Hung-Yu Lin hit a walk-off 2-run homer to give the win to Taipei. �

Lynchburg CF Jose De Los Santos is not a particularly big guy -- he's listed at 5' 11'' and 160 pounds. �But he's huge in Lynchburg tonight. �The speedy De Los Santos had stolen 53 bases this season, and was caught stealing only 8 times, but power was not his forte. �He had 5 doubles and 6 triples this season, but no home runs. �No homers last season either, when he split his time between Hickory and Lynchburg. �In fact, he'd had only one homer in his career -- until tonight. �In the bottom of the 9th inning, with the score tied at 4-4, and two outs, Jose De Los Santos lifted a long, high fly ball over the left field wall for his first home run of the season, giving the Hillcats the walk-off win. �

Salem had cracked the scoreboard first. �Hillcats' starter Rudy Owens�allowed only one single over the first two innings, but gave up a solo home run to SS Ryan Dent in the 3rd inning. �

The "Cardiac 'Cats answered with 3 runs in the bottom of the 5th. �DH Kris Watts led off with a double lined off the right field wall. �He moved to third base when 1B Matt Hague grounded out. �LF Alex Presley walked to put runners on the corners with two outs. �CF Jose De Los Santos bounced back to the mound, but Salem pitcher Stephen Fife's throw to first base was high, and 1B Tony Rizzo had to leap to make the catch. �He had not yet come back to earth when De Los Santos crossed the bag, so De Los Santos was safe and Kris Watts crossed the plate with the tying run. �2B Chase d'Arnaud followed with a double smacked into left field, scoring both Presley and De Los Santos, to give the Hillcats a 3-1 lead. �

Rudy Owens held the Red Sox to just two singles over the middle three innings. �Both of those came in the 6th, and one was erased with a double play. �Owens gave up a walk to begin the 7th inning, then got a strikeout. �At that point, he was relieved by Noah Krol. �Krol gave up a single to the first batter he faced, and a 3-run home run to the next batter he faced, LF Chih-Hsien Chiang. �After a strikeout and a throwing error that put another runner on base, Krol induced a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning, but Salem had taken a 4-3 lead. �

The Hillcats threatened in the 8th inning. �Jason Blackey took the mound for Salem, and he began with back-to-back walks to Chase d'Arnaud and 3B Josh Harrison. �SS Jordy Mercer dropped down a bunt right in front of the plate, and the ball got lost between the Salem catcher's legs -- everyone was safe. �Blackey walked RF Jamie Romak with the bases loaded, forcing in the tying run. �Blackey was relieved by Kyle Fernandes, who struck out Kris Watts and got C Tony Sanchez to bounce into a double play, ending the threat. �

Ronald Uviedo came on to pitch the 9th for Lynchburg. �He retired the side in order, with one strikeout. �That set up the bottom of the 9th, and gave Jose De Los Santos the opportunity to be the big hero. �The Hillcats' radio announcers said that Salem pitcher Fernandes stood on the mound stunned and gaping at De Los Santos as he circled the bases.

The Hillcats and the Red Sox move on to Salem for the next game of the series, which will be played on Thursday. �

NOTES:

The Pirates opened camp for Fall Instructional League in Bradenton today. �As reported by Jen Langosh on the Pirates' site, this will be a two-part camp. �Phase I is for the more advanced members of the organization: � (not a complete list at all)

LHP Daniel Moskos, OF Jose Tabata, SS Brian Friday -- will do Instrux for a few weeks, then go on to the Arizona Fall League

SS/2B Chase d'Arnaud -- will get to Instrux as soon as the Hillcats finish up in the playoffs, then he will move on to the AFL also

SS Jordy Mercer, RHP Bryan Morris, LHP Rudy Owens -- will also get to Instrux when the Hillcats finish

OF Starling Marte, SS Jarek Cunningham, 1B Jeff Clement -- working back from injuries

OF Gorkys Hernandez, INF Shelby Ford, OF Robbie Grossman, RHP Tim Alderson, etc -- �will get a few weeks of Instrux time

Then Phase II will be the newer players, and that is scheduled to start on Sept 30th. �This will include most of the 2009 draft picks, even C Tony Sanchez. �3B Pedro Lopez is also expected to be there after his Team USA/World Cup experience, as he is scheduled to begin a mucho serious workout program.

The Hillcats came out swinging in the Carolina League Mills' Cup Championship Series, as they scored 9 unanswered runs to beat the Salem Red Sox at City Stadium in Lynchburg. �

Justin Wilson got the start for the Hillcats. �He gave up an unearned run in the 2nd inning, when Salem DH Michael Jones reached base on a fielding error by 3B Josh Harrison. �A ground out moved Jones to second and a single moved him along to third base. �2B Zach Borowiak brought Jones in with a sacrifice fly. �Salem scored again in the 3rd inning on 3B Jonathan Hee's one-out single, followed by 1B Anthony Rizzo's RBI double into the right field corner that RF Jamie Romak had trouble tracking down. �. �Salem 2, Lynchburg 0.

It was all Hillcats after that. �1B�Matt Hague led off the bottom of the 3rd with a walk. �LF Alex Presley lined a single into left field, and when the Salem left fielder had trouble handling the ball for an error, Presley went to second and Hague to third. �CF Jose De Los Santos walked to load the bases. �2B Chase d'Arnaud lifted a loopy hit that dropped into right field and became a double, scoring both Hague and Presley to tie the score. �When SS Jordy Mercer flied out to center field, �De Los Santos tagged up and headed for the plate. �He slid into home, avoiding the tag, to�give the Hillcats a 3-2 lead.

The Hillcats were quiet over the next three innings. �The only base runner was Jose De Los Santos, who singled and stole second base in the 5th inning, but was left on base. �When Salem starter Eammon Portice took a seat and was replaced by Jason Rice to begin the 7th inning, the Hillcats got going again. �Matt Hague blasted a solo home run over the left field wall, and the Hillcats had a 4-2 lead. �Alex Presley followed the homer with a single, chasing Rice from the game too. �Jose De Los Santos singled, moving Presley to third, though De Los Santos was out as he tried to stretch his hit into a double and overslid the second base bag. �Chase d'Arnaud picked up another RBI with a line drive into left field, scoring Presley, and the Hillcats were up 5-2.

Four more runs came in during the 8th inning to seal the Red Sox' fate. �Jordy Mercer opened the inning with a single, and Jamie Romak walked. �DH Kris Watts bunted, but instead of a sacrifice, it turned into a force out of Romak at second base, leaving runners on the corners. �C Tony Sanchez smacked a double off the right field wall to score Mercer and send Watts to third base. �Matt Hague greeted another new reliever with an RBI single, bringing in Watts, and moving Sanchez to third base. �Jose De Los Santos collected his third hit of the game with a 2-RBI triple to the left field wall, plating both Sanchez and Hague, and the Hillcats had the game safely in the bag. �

After the Red Sox scored in the 3rd inning, Justin Wilson went on to retire the side in the 4th, and allow only a walk, quickly erased with a double play, in the 5th. �Wilson got into a little bit of trouble in the 6th, with a lead-off walk and a single. �He was relieved by Chris Cullen. �The only batter Cullen faced, LF Chih-Hsien Chiang, drove a grounder to the right side of the infield, which looked like it was heading into right field for an RBI to tie the game. �1B Matt Hague had other ideas -- he made a diving stop, then was able to turn and throw to Cullen, covering first base, to end the inning without allowing a run to score. �Wilson pitched 5.2 innings and allowed 2 runs (one earned) on 5 hits and 2 walks, with 3 strikeouts. �

Harrison Bishop�pitched the 7th inning for the Hillcats, working around a lead-off single, but keeping the Red Sox from scoring. �Ramon Aguero came on to pitch the last two innings. �He struck out the first two batters in the 8th, then gave up two singles, then got a grounder force out to end the inning. �A fielding error by Chase d'Arnaud and a walk put two runners on base for Salem in the 9th, but Aguero got another ground out to end the inning and the game. Aguero earned the save and Wilson took the win. �

The two teams meet again on Tuesday at 6 pm for Game 2 of the five game series. �