Wilmington, DE -- A five-run fifth-inning explosion and seven solid innings from Julio Pimentel lifted the Wilmington Blue Rocks to a 6-1 victory over the Potomac Nationals in the first of a four game series at Frawley Stadium on Wednesday night. In a game delayed by rain for an hour and four minutes at the start, Wilmington produced five runs on five hits in the fifth, highlighted by Marc Maddox's two-run triple. Meanwhile, Pimentel (6-3) won for the third time in his last four starts, lowering his season ERA to 2.48, the slimmest it has been since May 27. With the win, the Blue Rocks (14-5) increased their lead in the Carolina League's Northern Division second-half standings to four games over the P-Nats, while eclipsing the .500 mark overall (44-43) for the first time since May 30. With the game knotted at one apiece heading to the home half of the fifth, the Rocks went to work against Potomac starter Cory VanAllen, who was making just his fifth start at the Class-A Advanced level. The southpaw held Wilmington to just a run on one hit through the game's first four innings, including seven strikeouts. The only offensive noise the Blue Rocks generated in that span came via Brian McFall's RBI double the previous inning, tying the game at one.
But, after VanAllen (1-3) retired newest Blue Rock Jeremy Cleveland on a fly ball to right field to begin the frame, the Wilmington lumber came to life. Kiel Thibault collected the Rocks' second hit on a sharp double to right and soon came home on Chris McConnell's two-bagger to left, giving the Blue Crew a 2-1 lead. Following a walk to Jose Duarte, Maddox blasted a VanAllen offering off the base of the left-center field wall for a game-breaking triple, chasing both McConnell and Duarte plateward.
Maddox's knock ended VanAllen's night and brought on right-hander David Trahan, who had gone 16.1 innings within the Carolina League without yielding a run. Mario Lisson greeted the new hurler with a single under the glove of third baseman Brandon Powell, plating Maddox for a 5-1 lead. Two batters later, McFall delivered his second double of the game, scoring Lisson from second and bloating the Wilmington lead to five.
While the Blue Rock bats were bashing away, Pimentel was undertaking his normal routine - at least of recent times. For the fourth straight outing, the Dominican righty pitched into the seventh inning; twirling a career-best seven frames while allowing just one run on four hits with four strikeouts on the night. His only mistake was a two-out solo homer by Devin Ivany in the second inning.
The P-Nats threatened to get on the board in the first inning, but first baseman Miguel Vega cut down Justin Maxwell trying to score on a Mike Daniel grounder to the right side.
Pimentel wrapped up his night's work by inducing Brian Peacock into a 6-4-3 double play to end the seventh.
Reliever Arthur Santos navigated through a shaky eighth, thanks to a 1-2-3 double play off the bat of Chris Marrero with the bases loaded plus a strikeout of Matt Rogelstad to escape the inning unscathed.
Russ Haltiwanger worked around a two-out hit in the ninth to finish the game.
The Blue Rocks and Nationals play the second game of their four-game set Thursday night at 7:05 p.m., as Wilmington sends right-hander Tyler Chambliss (2-0, 5.40) to the hill to face Potomac righty Shairon Martis (7-5, 4.34).
GAME NOTES:
Right-hander Julio Pimentel entered action with a 2.58 ERA, a figure good enough to place him third in the Carolina League. Teammate Rowdy Hardy leads the circuit with a 1.98 ERA.
Over his last four outings, Pimentel is 3-0 with a 1.32 ERA. He has allowed just one earned run in each of his last four starts, while inducing five total double plays.
Jeremy Cleveland joined the Blue Rocks earlier in the day after the Kansas City Royals signed the free agent outfielder to a minor league contract. A right-handed hitter, Cleveland was hitting .250 with no home runs and eight RBIs in 28 games with Double-A San Antonio (San Diego Padres organization). A five-year minor league veteran, Cleveland started in right field and batted seventh for Wilmington on Wednesday, going 1-for-4 in his Blue Rocks debut.
Miguel Vega was forced to leave the game with an apparent shoulder injury after being picked off first base by catcher Brian Peacock to end the fifth inning.
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