SALEM, Va. – The Salem RidgeYaks' late rally was cut short by Mother Nature on Tuesday night at Carilion Clinic Field.
After falling behind by seven runs, Salem (38-52, 13-12) plated four runs in the bottom of the seventh, highlighted by Andrews Opata's grand slam, before heavy rain forced the game to be called with two outs in the inning. The Augusta GreenJackets (50-41, 15-10) held on for a 7-4 victory in the series opener.
Following a 25-minute rain delay before first pitch, Augusta wasted little time taking the lead. The GreenJackets scored in the opening inning on Cody Miller's RBI single before adding another run in the third on Miller's sacrifice fly after Alex Lodise's leadoff double.
The visitors broke the game open in the fourth. Nick Montgomery led off the inning with a solo home run, and Augusta added two more runs later in the frame to extend its advantage to 5-0. Caden Merritt added a solo homer in the sixth before Conor Essenburg's RBI single made it 7-0.
Salem finally found its offense in the bottom of the seventh. Adonys Guzman reached on a throwing error before Avinson Pinto and Givian Sirvania followed with singles to load the bases and set the stage for Opata, who blasted a two-out grand slam over the left-field wall to trim the deficit to 7-4.
Franklin Primera than drew a walk before the rain started to pick up. The game entered a 37-minute rain delay and it was officially called before another pitch could be thrown.
Opata finished 2-for-4 with his seventh home run of the season and four RBI to lead the Salem offense. Sirvania recorded a pair of hits, while Kleyver Salazar doubled for the RidgeYaks' only other extra-base hit.
Jacob Mayers (2-2) suffered the loss after allowing five runs, four earned, over three innings. Cole Tolbert struck out five across three innings of relief, and Luis Cohen retired all three batters he faced in a scoreless seventh.
Davis Polo (4-5) came out with the victory for Augusta after tossing 6.1 innings with four strikeouts.
The RidgeYaks and GreenJackets continue their six-game series Wednesday night at Carilion Clinic Field, with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Right-hander Christian Foutch will make the start for the Yaks
Game Notes:
- The seventh-inning call of the game marked the second shortened game by Salem this season after winning 3-1 after six on May 26 vs Hickory
- The delayed start marked Salem’s fourth delayed start this season due to rain and second in as many games
- After Salem belted just one grand slam all of last season, Andrew’s Opata seventh inning slam was the fourth one hit this season
- Salem’s last grand slam came on June 7 at Wilson by Kleyver Salazar
- Salem has now homered in eight straight ballgames since July 9 and has seen 20 total home runs over their last 16 games since June 30
- Since July 2, Salem has won nine of their last 14 games played, the Yaks leads the Carolina League since that stretch with a .296 average, 103 runs, 146 hits and 59 extra-base hits over their last 14
- Avinson Pinto worked a fifth inning walk to extend his on-base streak to 16 games since June 23
- In the three games played post all-star break, Pinto is hitting .556 (5-for-9) with five RBI and a 1.445 OPS