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Wilmington Blue Rocks

Weird Night Leads to Wilmington Win in Extras

June 28, 2010 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - There was something weird in the air on Monday night at Harry Grove Stadium. In a game that featured an umpire's warning due to a pair of hit batsmen, a runner wandering off second base despite being called safe, and a two-out pinch-hit home run to tie the game in the ninth inning, it seemed fitting that the Wilmington Blue Rocks (35-40, 3-2) were able to prevail over the Frederick Keys (44-31, 3-2), 4-3, in 11 innings, despite the fact that they were out-hit, 9-5.

The Rocks offense was in a quality-over-quantity mindset. Wilmington enjoyed only two multi-hit innings and they came in the first and last frames.

After Jacob Julius tied the game in the ninth with a no-doubt-about-it pinch-hit homer to right-center field off reliever Jairo Cuevas, Wilmington needed a spark.

It came in the 11th inning from Jamie Romak. The clean-up hitter flared a bloop double down the right-field line with two away and nobody on. His big hit was followed by Salvador Perez's liner into right field. The single allowed Romak to score and it put the Rocks ahead to stay.

Wilmington's other offensive outburst came in the opening frame. With one out, Rey Navarro singled and Eric Hosmer walked. That allowed Romak's double to the left-center field gap to plate a pair and give Wilmington a 2-0 lead before Frederick had a chance to come to the plate.

The Rocks did not even need a hit to get their only other score home. Back-to-back walks to Hosmer and Romak opened the sixth inning. That set up the strangest play of the night, and quite possibly the season. Perez hit what appeared to be a quintessential double-play grounder right to second baseman Miguel Abreu. The Frederick fielder flipped the ball to Pedro Florimon at second base, but the Keys shortstop missed the bag. Making matters worse his throw to first pulled Joe Mahoney off the base, so it appeared the Rocks would have the sacks full with no outs.

But Romak did not realize he had been called safe and began walking to the Wilmington dugout. When alerted he was still alive in the play, Romak worked his way into a rundown between second and third. At this point Hosmer broke for the plate and got caught in a rundown himself. This allowed Romak to reach third and Perez to move up to second base. Consequently, Jamar Walton's grounder to second plated Romak to put Wilmington in front, 3-1.

That insurance run proved huge, as Cuevas worked himself into a jam in the seventh. Frederick put its first two men on base in the inning. After a failed sacrifice bunt attempt by Brian Ward, Xavier Avery ripped a double over Romak's head in right. The two-bag base hit plated one and put two men into scoring position. Cuevas induced consecutive grounders off the bats of Kyle Hudson and Avery, however, escaping the jam without further damage and with Wilmington's 3-2 lead intact.

As a result, Julius' dinger in the ninth only tied the game, instead of winning it.

Buddy Baumann was one out away from earning the win for the Blue Crew. The left-hander lasted five frames in his second career professional start and had to settle for a no-decision. Baumann surrendered six hits, but yielded only one run. He fanned four and walked none.

Baumann did put one runner on base without the benefit of a base hit. He plunked Ward right in the backside with two outs and nobody on in the fourth. That came on the heels of Romak getting drilled in the third. As a result, home-plate umpire Tim Rosso issued a frivolous warning to both teams.

It was reliever Eric Basurto (1-0) who earned the victory. The right-hander entered in the 10th and faced the minimum. He then blew away the Keys in the 11th, striking out the side to nail down the victory.

Wilmington will wrap up this series in Frederick with a rubber match on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. Reigning Carolina League Pitcher of the Week John Lamb (3-2, 1.94) takes the hill for the Blue Crew. Frederick is slated to counter with right-hander Oliver Drake (2-2, 3.96)

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Salvador Perez's run-scoring single in the 11th inning resulted in just the second RBI for the catcher since June 8. It was the only hit of the night for the Carolina League All-Star who finished the game 1-for-5.

Jamie Romak had a big day at the plate. Not only did he spark the game-winning rally, but he also scored half the Rocks runs, knocked in the other half, had two hits, and reached twice more via free pass and getting hit by pitch. Romak has now notched a team-high 47 RBIs.

With the win, the Rocks improved their record in extra innings to 4-3, and upped their mark in one-run games to 15-10.

Wilmington has fared fairly well in rubber matches during 2010. The Rocks enter Tuesday's contest with a 3-1 mark in series-deciding tilts, including a victory over Salem in their last such encounter. Wilmington aims for its ninth series win of the season, and its first of the campaign in three tries against the Keys.

The bizarre sixth-inning fielder's choice went 4-6-3-1-6-2.

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