Hot Salem Red Sox steam into Carolina League playoffs

About a month ago, Salem Red Sox manager Billy McMillon and his coaches gathered the players in the outfield for an impromptu meeting.

The message: You have about 30 games left. Play loose, have fun, and you’ve got a chance to do something.

Did they ever.

Capping a remarkable closing stretch, the Sox beat Lynchburg 4-3 in Monday’s regular-season finale to steam into the postseason as the hottest team in the Carolina League.

They’ll host Myrtle Beach at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday in Game 1 of the best-of-three Southern Division Series. Games 2 and 3 will be in South Carolina.

“It’s been everybody. That’s been the fun part,” said second baseman Mookie Betts, who received a pie in the face from a teammate after going 2 for 4 with two doubles and four RBIs. “Everybody might do something every day, and that’s been the great thing about this team.”

After going a pedestrian 33-37 in the first half, the Sox stormed to a 43-27 mark after the all-star break to claim the Southern Division second half crown. They’ve won 25 of 33 since July 30.

“When you get to 110, 115 games into the season, you might get a little tired, but there was always that carrot right in front of us that we could chase, and we kept chasing it,” said Salem pitching coach Kevin Walker, who saw starter William Cuevas allow four hits over six strong innings Monday. “Once we got ahead, it was like, ‘OK, this is for real. We can really put the teams away and go for this.’ ”

Nobody’s been hotter than Betts, who drove in Stefan Welch for the game’s first run in the second inning, doubled home two in the sixth and added an RBI two-bagger in the eighth.

He’s batted .466 (27 for 58) over his past 16 games, closing the regular season with a .341 average since his July 9 promotion from Greenville.

“There have been a lot of guys, not only in this organization but every organization, that come up here after a good stint in Low-A and struggle,” McMillon said. “He pretty much took off right where he left off in Greenville up here. That’s been really good to see, how he’s developed and is developing with his first full season in professional baseball.”

Welch, who was acquired from Pittsburgh in June, went 1 for 3 with a walk and two runs scored to finish the season at .292.

Any chance his arrival was the key to the turnaround?

“Yeah, I think it’s a coincidence,” Welch said with a smile. “It’s a great team. Great group of guys that love coming to the park every day. The last three or four weeks we’ve been playing really well, so it’s been a lot of fun.”

Salem led 4-1 heading into the ninth and held on to win for the 14th time in its past 16 games.

The Sox have their rotation lined up nicely for the postseason, with newcomer Luis Diaz (2-0, 1.38 ERA) scheduled to go in Game 1 and former supplemental first round draft pick Brian Johnson (1-0, 1.64) slated for Game 2.

The bullpen has been a strength in the second half, too, giving the Sox plenty of confidence heading into Wednesday.

“It’s possible that we may have a quicker trigger than we had in June, just because it’s win two or go home,” McMillon said. “But for the most part, we’re not going to do anything differently than we’ve done before. There may be an occasion when we might try to match up in the bullpen a certain pitcher, a certain hitter, but our guys have designed roles, and we’re going to as much as we can keep them.

“I think the worst thing we could do is try to be a different team than we were all year.”

Or at least the one they’ve been lately.

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