Hello, everyone. First pitch is at 7:05 tonight and for the rest of the weekday games this season.

Radar report: As of 5 p.m., a line of spit and drizzle was moving through town but it looks clear behind it. I’m hearing another heavy band might sneak in around 9 p.m. or so.

Lineups:

SALEM (30-21)

Peter Hissey cf (.251, 0 HR, 14 RBI, 2 SB)

Tim Federowicz c (.257, 2 HR, 23 RBI, 0 SB)

Will Middlebrooks 3b (.314, 3 HR, 19 RBI, 3 SB)

Ryan Lavarnway dh (.295, 11 HR, 41 RBI, 1 SB)

Mitch Dening rf (.280, 0 HR, 16 RBI, 3 SB)

Alex Hassan lf (.233, 2 HR, 18 RBI, 2 SB)

Drew Hedman 1b (.248, 0 HR, 14 RBI, 2 SB)

Ryan Dent ss (.205, 2 HR, 20 RBI, 4 SB)

Jon Hee 2b (.233, 0 HR, 6 RBI, 0 SB)

Stolmy Pimentel RHP (4-2, 3.72 ERA, 10 APP, 10 GS, 46 IP, 39 H, 19 ER, 15 BB, 35 K)

LYNCHBURG (22-29)

Josh Fellhauer lf (.281, 4 HR, 21 RBI, 3 SB)

Cody Puckett 2b (.282, 6 HR, 21 RBI, 5 SB)

Alex Buchholz 3b (.280, 1 HR, 25 RBI, 5 SB)

Carlos Mendez 1b (.304, 0 HR, 10 RBI, 4 SB)

Neftali Soto c (.266, 7 HR, 28 RBI, 0 SB)

Kyle Day rf (.254, 3 HR, 13 RBI, 2 SB)

Jose Gualdron dh (.324, 0 HR, 6 RBI, 2 SB)

Miguel Rojas ss (.214, 0 HR, 11 RBI, 6 SB)

Efrain Contreras cf (.212, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 0 SB)

James Avery RHP (0-1, 5.63 ERA, 2 APP, 2 GS, 8 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 6 BB, 5 K)

Some quickie notes:

—I caught up with former big leaguer Eric Davis, who is in town for four days watching the team. Davis is a special assistant to Reds general manager Walt Jocketty and spend a lot of time touring the Reds’ various minor-league cities. I’ll have a story on Davis’ role in the organization and his impact on young minor leaguers in tomorrow’s News & Advance. As always, we’ll have a roundup of the scoring of the game so readers know what happened during the night, along with any pertinent notes.

—The Hillcats tied their longest win streak this season with last night’s 4-3 victory. They’ve won five of seven since going on a 3-13 skid. In the process, they’ve picked up three games on first-place Frederick in the Carolina League North and have moved into a third-place tie with Wilmington.

—The Cats were 0-3 in extra-innings games to start the season, but they’ve since won three straight, including two on this homestand.

—The Hillcats’ bullpen has recorded the victory in each of Lynchburg’s last three games. In that time, the beleaguered pen has gone 3-0 with a 1.37 ERA to lower its ERA to 5.29, the lowest it has been since two games into the season.

—RHP Jordan Hotchkiss (3-0, 1.38) will get another spot start tomorrow opposite Salem’s Brock Huntzinger (5-2, 2.58). Lynchburg manager Pat Kelly said he hoped to be able to extend Hotchkiss a bit more than he did last Saturday, when he threw 38 pitches in three innings. Hotchkiss spent most of the season as a back-of-the-bullpen, short-work guy, so it will take some time to extend his pitch count.

—Salem struck out 10 times Monday night, marking the fourth straight game the Red Sox hit the mark. Oscar Tejeda led the way with a golden sombrero (four Ks).

—Salem OF Mitch Dening was a home run away from the cycle last night.

—Correspondent Mitchell Malcheff will fill in for me tomorrow night, so no blog post. I’ll be covering Virginia’s NCAA regional this weekend, hence the day off.

AROUND THE ORGANIZATION

Monday’s scores

MLB—St. Louis 12, Cincinnati 4
The Cardinals pulled even in the NL Central by bashing around Reds starter Bronson Arroyo for 10 hits and seven earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.
Reds’ record: 30-22, tied for 1st in NL Central with St. Louis

AAA—Columbus (Indians) 1, Louisville (Reds) 0; Louisville 16, Columbus 2
CF Chris Burke, LF Michael Griffin, C Chris Denove and 2B Chris Valaika each socked three hits for the Bats in the nightcap, and Burke homered, drove in four runs and scored four times.
Bats’ record: 24-28, 4th IL West, 8 1/2 GB

AA—Jacksonville (Marlins) 3, Carolina (Reds) 1
Devin Mesoraco homered for the second time in two starts for the Mudcats.
Mudcats’ record: 23-28, 4th SL North, 6 1/2 GB

HiA—Lynchburg (Reds) 4, Salem (Red Sox) 3 (10)
Carlos Mendez’s walk-off walk lifted Lynchburg to the win.
Hillcats’ record: 22-29, tied for 3rd in CL North, 7 GB

LoA—Dayton (Reds) at West Michigan (Tigers), ppd.
The rained-out game will not be rescheduled.
Dragons’ record: 20-31, tied for 7th in ML East, 13 GB