Hillcats sweep Salem, clinch Carolina League's Mills Cup

SALEM — On Labor Day, the Salem Red Sox celebrated. Wildly. First on the City Stadium field, then in the clubhouse, which is separated from the Hillcats clubhouse by one concrete wall. Most Hillcats milled around the home clubhouse that afternoon, unaffected. One player turned toward that wall separating the clubhouses and shot an annoyed look.

“I wanted it to be us,” Chase d’Arnaud said.

D’Arnaud was still playing for West Virginia when the Hillcats engaged in their own road playoff-clinching celebration, way back in mid-June in Myrtle Beach. So he had no idea quite how it felt.

About that time, d’Arnaud changed his walkup music for his home at-bats, choosing Jay-Z’s new tune, “On To The Next One,” appropriate in many ways. “One” could signify playoff series. And after Lynchburg dropped Game 3 of the Northern Division Championship series, the Hillcats gutted out two wins and moved, well, on to the next one. And four days later, Lynchburg was the Carolina League champion, an 8-7 victory Thursday night at Salem Memorial Ballpark completing a 3-0 sweep of the same team that had celebrated so relentlessly on its home field just two weeks ago.

“One” could also signify d’Arnaud’s career arc. After spending a half year in Low-A, he was promoted to Lynchburg, giving the Hillcats a desperately needed second-half spark. A hand injury nearly ended his season, but he healed quickly, earning the respect of his teammates and the Pirates’ organization as he returned to play in mid-August.

Thursday, he hit a game-tying two-run single in the second inning, igniting a six-run rally that put Lynchburg up 7-3. In the series, he drove in eight runs and earned Mills Cup most valuable player honors. Next up: A trip to the elite Arizona Fall League, and quite likely, a promotion to Double-A to start next season.

“He was phenomenal, so many huge hits,” Hillcats manager P.J. Forbes said. “What a great problem for the Pirates to have, to have him and (Jordy) Mercer. Two guys that are athletic competitors, both of them stepped up in big times. I look at it, and I’m so happy for the organization more than anything. We’ve talked about building a winning franchise, and it starts from the bottom.

“Miles Durham, Pedro Alvarez both had huge hands in this, getting us through the first half. What a great start for what we’re trying to do, I believe.”

For the first time in the posteason, the Hillcats couldn’t count on a great outing from a starting pitcher. Though the Cats tagged Salem starter Kyle Weiland for seven runs (three earned) off four hits in 1 1/3 innings, Salem did the same to Lynchburg starter Jeff Locke, who allowed six hits and four earned runs in 1 2/3 innings.

So Forbes turned to Mike Colla, who hadn’t pitched at all in the postseason. Colla responded, locating his fastball well and holding the Red Sox hitless for 3 1/3 innings. The outing came on the heels of a tough second half, as Colla’s ERA rose from a low point of 0.86 on June 27 to 4.31 on the season’s final day.

“You look back at it in the first half, and guys in the bullpen stepped up when we needed them to,” Forbes said. “It was just kind of a culmination watching this game tonight, a microcosm of our season. When we needed guys to do it, they did it.”

Salem nearly climbed all the way back, though, from a late 8-4 deficit. Matt McSwain’s strength is forcing ground-ball outs. But when he relieved Colla in the sixth, he gave up fly ball after fly ball, including Ryan Dent’s two-run home run that cut the lead to 8-6.

In the ninth, Ramon Aguero ran into trouble, issuing a one-out walk to Brad Correll and a single to Mike Jones. Forbes turned to Ronald Uviedo, the former starter who moved into the closing role for the Hillcats when R.J. Rodriguez left to join Puerto Rico’s national team in the World Cup of Baseball.

“First thing I was thinking was get a ground ball double play,” Uviedo said. “I wanted to throw the fastball in because the lefty (Chih-Hsien Chiang) will always pull.”

Chiang hit a grounder to first, and Matt Hague threw to Uviedo for the second out, though Jones went to third. Uviedo threw a couple of breaking balls to the next batter, Zach Borowiak, before throwing a fastball, which Borowiak hit to d’Arnaud at second. He threw to Hague at first for the final out, and the wild on-field celebration began.

Said Forbes: “Nothing seemed to faze them. Despite the struggles we had in the second half, all that stuff, it just never seemed to faze them. Those guys believe in themselves and playing winning baseball. Tonight was what I saw the whole first half. Regardless of the situation, we were going to get it done.”