The FredNats opened up their final road trip with a 6-2 win over the Salem Red Sox.
Luke Young and Jose Ramirez traded zeroes through the first couple of innings, until Salem got on the board in the home half of the third. Young fell behind Albert Feliz with three straight out of the zone, when Felix clobbered the next pitch for a solo home run to give Salem the early 1-0 edge.
That lead did not last very long. In the very next half inning, Armando Cruz singled and Elijah Nunez walked. The Nats then executed a double steal, and a poor throw by Enderso Lira allowed Cruz to score and tie the game at 1-1. After Elijah Green walked in his first game back with Fredericksburg, the Nats pulled another double steal. This time, Green was safe at second base while Nunez broke for the plate and scored without a throw to make it a 2-1 FredNat lead. Leandro Emiliani tacked on another run with an RBI single through the right side of the infield to plate Green.
In the top of the fifth, John McHenry opened it up with a walk, then moved to second on a Cruz single, took third base on a wild pitch, and finally scored on a sacrifice fly from Nunez to make it 4-1.
Salem got a run back in the home half of the sixth on a Johnfrank Salazar fielder’s choice that brought Natanael Yuten around, but Fredericksburg matched that run in the seventh. Cristhian Vaquero walked, then went to steal second base. Enderso Lira’s throw to the bag sailed into center field and allowed Vaquero to take third, but then Jhostynxon Garcia’s throw from center was wide of third base, and Vaquero went on to score on the play to make it 5-2. Armando Cruz added one more run in the eighth on an RBI groundout which plated Marcus Brown, as Moises Diaz worked a scoreless ninth to secure a 6-2 win for the Nats. Luke Young got the win, while Ramirez took the defeat. Travis Sthele gets the ball for Fredericksburg tonight against Elvis Soto.
