STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times

Chih-Hsien Chiang and the Salem Red Sox captured the Southern Division championship this season.

STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times

Lynchburg's Jordy Mercer slides home as Red Sox catcher Tim Federowicz waits for the throw during the Mills Cup championship series. The Hillcats swept Salem in three games.

From the opening game, it was clear this season wasn't going to go as planned.

Salem starter Kyle Weiland lasted just 2 ¹₃ innings and hot shot shortstop Yamaico Navarro finished with a great night but a broken hamate bone in his wrist.

The Salem Red Sox, in their second season under Boston Red Sox ownership and first in the Sox's farm system, struggled -- mightily at times -- through the growing pains of the young prospects in its starting rotation, key injuries and call-ups.

There were more losses than wins along the way, but by the end of the season the Red Sox captured a Southern Division championship and was swept in three games by Lynchburg in the Mills Cup championship series -- just with a different script and a decidedly different cast of characters.

"It's been unbelievable, it really has," said Salem manager Chad Epperson. "We had a lot of tough patches. But you look at where we are now. And it's like 'wow.' Unbelievable."

"It's been fun," said third baseman Jon Hee, who was one of many who started the season with low-A Greenville and ended up playing a pivotal role for Salem. "This is such a good group of guys."

Weiland, Seth Garrison and Eammon Portice made huge leaps in their development. Weiland and Garrison ended up in the league's top 10 in ERA. Portice led the league with 141 strikeouts.

Prospects like Navarro, outfielder Ryan Kalish, catcher Luis Exposito reliever Ryne Miller were promoted to double-A. Boston named Kalish the organization's player of the year.

Daniel Nava, who spent the first half of the season, was promoted to double-A after starring for Salem for a month, and even Jason Place was moved up, though he didn't perform well for Salem.

Kris Negron, who was pressed into service as a shortstop for the first half of the season because of Navarro's injury, was traded away along with pitcher Bryan Price.

Derrick Loop, who became the Salem closer after Jason Blackey was injured early in the season, ended up ranking third in the league with 18 saves. He and Miller were Salem's representatives on the Carolina League's midseason all-star team.

Center fielder Che-Hsuan Lin was the Red Sox's only member of the league's postseason all-star team.

And Casey Kelly, named the Boston organization pitcher of the year, came up to Salem from Greenville and starred for a while before moving back down to the Gulf Coast League to play shortstop.

Eventually the Salem Red Sox started looking a lot like the Greenville Red Sox. With Stephen Fife, Jon Hee, Anthony Rizzo and Tim Federowicz taking starting roles.

Ryan Dent, who played second base most of the year at Greenville, came up to Salem at the end of August and he and Hee starred in the playoffs. Dent was named the organization's defensive player of the year.

"It became a revolving door," Epperson said. "When it is a revolving door because of guys not performing well, or because you're plagued by injuries, that's not good.

"But it gave guys like Jonathan Hee a chance to perform. Guys like Rizzo, Federowicz, Fife came in a performed very well. They got the job done."

They needed to.

The Red Sox had finished 32-37 in the first half, 6 ¹₂ games behind first-half champion Winston-Salem, thanks in part to a stretch of 13 losses in 16 games.

In the second half, Salem again hit a skid, this time losing 13 of 14 games. But it didn't fall too far behind in the standings as all four Southern Division teams were struggling.

"There was a time period when we lost a bunch in a row," Loop said. "It would've been easy to get down on ourselves.

"The chemistry this team has kept the entire season has been unbelievable. A lot of guys came and went, but they kept that chemistry."

After a 14-2 loss at Potomac on Aug. 23, the Red Sox pulled themselves together with a run of 11 wins over 16 games to capture a playoff spot on the final day of the regular season.

"We got a little help at the end," said first baseman Mike Jones. "The guys from Greenville picked us up at the end."

Boston then sent Major Leaguer Daisuke Matsuzaka to start the opening game of the best-of-five Southern Division series for Salem, on a rehab assignment. The Red Sox won Game 1 behind Matsuzaka, then took Games 2 and 3 in extra innings to capture the division championship.

The sweep, though, left Salem waiting for two days while Lynchburg scrapped its way back to a win over Wilmington in the Northern Division championship series in five games. And the Hillcats, who had watched Salem celebrate making the playoffs on Lynchburg's City Stadium field a week earlier, returned the favor.

Lynchburg swept the Red Sox in three games for the Mills Cup championship and celebrated themselves at Salem Memorial Ballpark.

"If you're gonna lose, you want to lose in the championship," Jones said.

Weiland was the starter in Salem's final game just as he was in the opener. He struggled for the first time since the end of May, bowing out after just 1 ¹₃ innings.

"He came in and said 'it ended just like it started,'" Epperson said. "I beg to differ.

"I will say this: We don't need a ring on our finger to be called champions. We accomplished a lot more than people thought we would."