It must be the bat.

Greg Buchanan can't really explain what's happening.

The Salem Avalanche second baseman suddenly has 10 hits in his last 19 at-bats, going a combined 5-for-7 with two doubles, four runs scored, a walk, a hit by pitch and four RBIs on Tuesday as Salem scored a pair of victories over the Frederick Keys at Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium.

"I don't really know," Buchanan said by way of explanation. "Baseball's weird."

Searching for a better answer, he added: "I am using a bigger bat."

And, well, baseball is weird.

Take Salem's winning streak.

The Avalanche (15-21) had not won two in a row since the beginning of June before it drubbed Frederick 13-7 and 8-1 on Tuesday to stretch its current winning streak to a season-best five games.

Just about the only thing predictable about the night, or even the streak, was that Salem starter Douglas Arguello held the Keys to just one run on two hits through six innings in Tuesday's second game.

With a 2.84 ERA, Arguello is the stingiest active pitcher in the Carolina League, but even his performance wasn't typical. Normally a groundball pitcher who allows his defense to carry the weight for him, Arguello struck out five and walked three.

The Avalanche outhit Frederick 10-2 in the second game. Buchanan had an RBI double and then scored on a single by Roberto Mena in the second inning. Thanks to Arguello and Jason Dominguez, who closed out the seventh inning, those runs would have been enough.

Still, Salem added one more in the fourth and five in the fifth, with doubles from Mark Ori, Collin DeLome and Mena.

Before Tuesday's scheduled game could start, the Avalanche had to wrap up Monday's game. Salem was up 7-1 through four innings before rain forced the suspension.

Oracles being cryptic sorts at best, rumors that the rainy outburst included tears from the baseball gods -- who witnessed 10 walks and a hit batter in four innings -- could not be confirmed.

Salem outhit Frederick 15-4 and also took advantage of 12 walks and four hit batters.

Starter Sergio Severino pitched the four innings on Monday, but was not eligible for a win. Reliever David Qualben got that.

"It seems like we're getting a lot of breaks right now," Avalanche manager Jim Pankovits said. "Everything's going our way. It's about time."

Note

The Houston Astros released Avalanche reliever Joel Santo (0-3, 5.70) and the Avalanche will add right-hander Sean Walker in his place today. Walker pitched for Salem last season but missed much of the year with a broken ankle. He was 1-6 with a 7.24 ERA with Double-A Corpus Christi.

HOW THE RUNS SCORED

First Game

Frederick first: Figueroa walked. Davison sacrifice bunted, Figueroa to second. Figueroa stole third. Snyder flied out, Figueroa scored. Keys 1, Avalanche 0.

Salem second: Two outs. Quintero homered. Avalanche 1, Keys 1.

Salem third: Florentino walked. Ori flied out. Clemens walked, Florentino to second. DeLome singled and went to second on the throw, Florentino scored, Clemens to third. Torres walked to load the bases. Quintero walked, Clemens scored, DeLome to third, Torres to second. Moresi struck out. Buchanan doubled, DeLome scored, Torres scored. Avalanche 5, Keys 1.

Salem fourth: Ori singled and stole second. Clemens walked. DeLome struck out. Torres singled to load the bases. Quintero flied out, Ori scored, Clemens to third. Torres stole second. Moresi walked. Buchanan walked, Clemens scored. Avalanche 7, Keys 1.

Suspended due to rain. Played resumed Tuesday.

Salem fifth: Florentino singled. Ori doubled and was thrown out going to third, Florentino scored. Avalanche 8, Keys 1.

Salem sixth: Buchanan singled and went to second on a wild pitch by Mueller. Parraz walked. Florentino doubled, Buchanan scored, Parraz to third. Ori grounded out, Parraz scored. Avalanche 10, Keys 1.

Salem seventh: One out. Moresi singled. Buchanan hit by a pitch from Moore. Parraz doubled, Moresi scored, Buchanan to third. Florentino grounded out, Buchanan scored. Avalanche 12, Keys 1.

Frederick eighth: Two outs. Johnson hit by a pitch by Qualben. Figueroa walked. Davison reached on an error by Buchanan, Johnson scored, Figueroa to second. Snyder singled, Figueroa scored. Avalanche 12, Keys 3.

Salem eighth: Clemens walked. DeLome singled, Clemens to second. Mena was hit by a pitch by Moore to load the bases. Quintero flied out, Clemens scored. Avalanche 13, Keys 3.

Frederick ninth: One out. McCarthy doubled. Winterling struck out. Johnson walked. Figueroa walked to load the bases. Davison walked, McCarthy scored, Johnson to third, Figueroa to second. Snyder doubled, Johnson scored, Figueroa scored, Davison scored. Avalanche 13, Keys 7.

SECOND GAME

Salem second: Moresi singled. Goethals struck out, Moresi stole second. Buchanan doubled, Moresi scored. Mena singled, went to second on the throw and to third on a throwing error by Figueroa, Buchanan scored. Avalanche 2, Keys 0.

Salem fourth: One out. Goethals singled. Buchanan sacrifice bunted, Goethals to second. Mena reached and went to second on a throwing error by Rowell, Goethals scored. Avalanche 3, Keys 0.

Frederick fifth: Tripp singled. Abreu doubled, Tripp scored. Avalanche 3, Keys 1.

Salem fifth: Ori doubled. Deza relieved Schmidt. DeLome doubled, Ori scored. Rosales grounded out, DeLome to third. Moresi grounded out, DeLome scored. Goethals walked. Buchanan singled, Goethals went to second on the hit and to third on an error by Tripp. Mena doubled, Goethals scored, Buchanan to third. Buchanan scored on a wild pitch by Deza, Mena to third. Parraz singled, Mena scored. Avalanche 8, Keys 1.