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Blue Rocks Game Notes

May 19, 2012 - Carolina League (CarL) Wilmington Blue Rocks

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Wilmington Blue Rocks had struggled at home coming into Friday night, going 6-10 in their first batch of clashes at Frawley Stadium. Those struggles all seemed to wash away after Kevin David's two-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans sent the Rocks to their third win in a row, 6-5. The Blue Rocks have won six of their last nine.

CLOSE CALLS: The Blue Rocks played their league-high 18th one-run game of the season. They are 7-11 in such affairs. That means 45% of the team's games and 39% of its wins have come by a single score. Only six teams in all of affiliated baseball have played more one-run games than Wilmington. The Rocks are tied for the fourth-most losses by the slimmest of margins.

IT IS HIGH, IT IS FAR, IT IS GONE: Blue Crew pitchers have allowed a homer in a season-long six straight games. Foes have outhomered the Rocks 34-20.

TROUBLE AT HOME?: David's dinger is just the fourth hit by the Blue Rocks at Frawley Stadium this season. Sixteen of the team's 20 round-trippers have come on the road. The Blue Rocks and Pelicans are tied for the second-fewest homers in the Carolina League. Only Salem (18) has hit fewer, but leads the league with a .286 team batting average.

IT'S A WALK-OFF: The Blue Rocks got their second walk-off win of the season on Friday night. It was their first walk-off homer since Eric Hosmer snapped a scoreless tie in the 12th inning of the Game 3 of the 2009 N.D.C.S. against Lynchburg. The Blue Rocks' other walk-off win this season came in the home opener on April 13 against the Frederick Keys.

GREAT AFTER EIGHT: The Blue Rocks are now 2-21 in games when they are trailing after eight innings. Last night was also the team's seventh success when trailing after seven frames. No other CL squad has more than one such triumph.

RALLY ROCKS: The Blue Crew has trailed in 11 of its 18 victories.

HOME RUN HAPPY: Tyler Sample served up two homers in the fourth on Friday night. After giving up multiple homers in back-to-back starts, he has allowed a league-high eight dingers on the campaign. While Wilmington's starters have thrown just 59.5% of the team's innings, they have allowed 29 of opponents' 34 homers (85%). That is a big reason why the starting staff's ERA stands at 4.12.

BULLISH 'PEN: Meanwhile, Cole White (2-0) got the win in relief with three scoreless innings last night. Over the team's last six games, the bullpen has allowed just one earned run over a span of 17.1 innings (0.52 ERA).

COMEBACK KIDS: The Rocks had their biggest come-from-behind win of the season on Friday, as they erased a four-run deficit. They trailed by four going into the bottom of the fifth. They scored twice in the seventh and three times in the ninth to pull off the victory. Before that, their largest deficit erased to win a game was three, which was on April 13 against Frederick. Coincidentally, that was the team's only other walk-off win. It concluded on the combination of a Cheslor Cuthbert sacrifice fly and outfield error.

SOUTH OF THE BORDER: Earlier today, the Royals announced that Wilmington lefty Thomas Melgarejo has been loaned to Saraperos de Saltillo of the Mexican League. The off-speed specialist got off to a disastrous start by allowing three runs on five hits in 1.1 innings in the season opener at Myrtle Beach. Since then, he composed a 1.69 ERA over his last eight nods and 16 innings. The Mexican native pitched for the same Mexican League squad in 2005 and 2011. There is no corresponding move at this time, leaving the Blue Rocks at 24 active players.

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Carolina League Stories from May 19, 2012


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