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Wilmington Blue Rocks

Wilmington Blue Rocks Game Notes: July 22, 2014

July 22, 2014 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


PITCHING PROWESS LEADS TO WIN: Dominant pitching ruled the day for Wilmington as Brandon Finnegan, Blake Wood, Johnny Walter and Mark Peterson combined to shut out the Lynchburg Hillcats in a 1-0 Blue Rocks win Monday afternoon at Frawley Stadium. The quartet also held Lynchburg to just two base hits during the Blue Crew's league-leading 11th shutout victory of the season. Wilmington moves to 15-15 in the second half and to 48-50 overall.

FINNEGAN FANTASTIC AGAIN: Brandon Finnegan was downright dominant in the Blue Crew's 1-0 victory over the Lynchburg Hillcats Monday afternoon. Finnegan threw three scoreless frames and yielded just one hit and no walks. He fanned four, setting a new career-high. In three professional starts, Finnegan has thrown seven scoreless innings and struck out a combined six batters. He has not walked anyone. The southpaw surrendered the first hit and baserunner of his pro career with one out in the third inning Monday on a bloop single to left by Blake Brown. The base knock snapped a string of 6.1 perfect innings to start his pro career. However, Finnegan recovered quickly and induced an inning-ending double play by Joe Odom on the next pitch.

BULLPEN BRILLIANCE: Following Finnegan's departure, Wilmington's bullpen turned in six scoreless frames of relief. Blake Wood, Johnny Walter and Mark Peterson combined to allow just one hit. Wood threw two perfect frames and punched out one. Walter allowed one hit over his 2.2 innings of work and fanned two. Peterson struck out three in his 1.1 perfect frames on the mound while picking up the save. The right-handed closer's 21 saves lead the Carolina League and are four shy of the all-time Blue Rocks single-season high of 25, set most recently by Mike James in 2006. The Rocks' bullpen has been one of the team's strengths in 2014. Wilmington relievers are a combined 23-15 on the year with a 2.73 ERA. They have allowed 281 hits, 123 runs (102 earned), and 12 homers while striking out 305 and walking 99 in 335.2 innings pitched.

LOPEZ LEADS THE WAY: Jack Lopez extended his hitting streak to six games with two more hits on Monday. Lopez went 2-for-4 with a double and he scored the team's only run. The 5-foot-9 middle infielder now has back-to-back two-hit games and 17 multi-hit contests this year. After batting .219 in April and .257 in May, Lopez hit just .192 in June. He is batting .183 in July, but during his present six-game hitting streak, Lopez is batting .320 (8-for- 25) with two doubles, an RBI, a walk and two stolen bases. Overall, the right-handed hitting Lopez has a .219 batting average and has scored 26 runs in 85 games played. He also has 16 doubles, one homer, 18 RBIs and 21 walks.

SCHEDULE WINDS DOWN: Monday afternoon's contest with Lynchburg was the Blue Crew's final meeting with the Hillcats at Frawley Stadium in 2014. The 1-0 Wilmington win snapped a five-game losing streak against the Hillcats and a string of seven losses in eight meetings. Wilmington finishes the year with a 2-7 record against Lynchburg at home. Overall, The Rocks are 5-11 against the Hillcats this season. The two clubs are scheduled to play one final three-game series against one another, at City Stadium in Lynchburg July 29-31. The Blue Rocks now travel to Zebulon, North Carolina, where they will play a three- game series against the Carolina Mudcats. Those are the final three regular season meetings between the two teams in 2014.

THEY SAID IT, MANAGER DARRYL KENNEDY: "It was a very good, well-pitched ballgame. Especially against those guys who are leading the league in hitting. We've had trouble over the last four or six games keeping them off the board. [Brandon] Finnegan did a good job, Blake Wood came in and did a nice job, and [Johnny] Walter pitched just as well. [Mark] Peterson followed suit...[Brandon Finnegan] is going to pitch again three innings in his next rotation and then we'll go from there. It's three innings or a number of pitches, whichever comes first. I think today was the first hit he's given up and that's a pretty good start to a career. He keeps the ball down; he's got a powerful arm and a very good feel for pitching. He knows when to use his breaking ball and his changeup. I like his competitiveness and the way he goes after guys...It's hard to rate the three outings simply because they're short. He's looked that way every time he's gone out. Coming from college two months ago into the Carolina League, which is a tough league in itself, he hasn't missed a beat...That had the makings of a crazy game [after the wild play that scored Jack Lopez] and then both teams settled down. Lost in the shuffle is the good outing by [Lucas] Sims, he threw the ball well and gets a loss for it, but I'll take them. I'll take them any way I can get them."

STARTING PITCHER BRANDON FINNEGAN: "Everything was working today. Really it's just getting back into the groove of things. I took a month off after the [College] World Series to get here. I'm getting back into throwing the pitches, getting them all down again is really what I needed to do. They were working pretty good today, but as long as we're staying in the game that's all that matters...I'd hoped it would go this way. One of these days it's going to turn on me, it does on everybody, but I'll be ready for it, it's not like it hasn't happened before. Right now I'm just having fun with it... I love [the Royals system]. When I got here I already had 105 innings so they just wanted me to get back in the groove of things slowly, not over-do it. I threw a lot of pitches this year so really it's just trying to take care of my arm in the long run. I like it; I want to pitch more of course but it's a good idea...[Monday] was [my best outing] for sure. Despite not giving up a hit in the last two, they were just hitting it right at people. One flopped in today. That's fine, I got a double-play right after. As long as I come out and we're still in the game that's all that matters."

Today's Starters

WIL: LHP Sean Manaea (2-7, 4.48)

vs.

CAR: RHP Adam Plutko (2-4, 3.83)

After the summer of 2012, many thought Sean Manaea would be the No. 1 overall pick in last June's draft. While pitching in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks in 2012, Manaea put together one of the most dominant pitching seasons the league had ever seen. He went 5-1 with a 1.21 ERA that summer, while throwing his fastball between 94 and 96 m.p.h. Manaea's 85 strikeouts set a modern-day Cape League record, eclipsing Josh Bard's 82 in 2005. Last spring at Indiana State, however, a series of unfortunate injuries led to a drop in velocity and, in turn, Manaea's draft stock falling. Manaea hurt his ankle and then his hip and his shoulder. Kansas City still drafted him 34th overall last June and signed him to a $3.55 million bonus. He had surgery after the draft to repair a torn hip labrum and did not pitch professionally in 2013. Manaea will make his 18th start of the season Tuesday against the Carolina Mudcats at Five County Stadium. During his last outing, in game two of a doubleheader on July 16, Manaea allowed just one run on a single hit a cross 4.2 solid innings of work. He did walk five, but also fanned five. The 6-foot-5 hurler has now gotten past the fourth inning in 10 of his 17 starts. His longest appearance of the year came on June 26, a 6.1-inning outing against the Lynchburg Hillcats. He gave up three runs on four hits that night. The talented southpaw's 91 punchouts place him sixth in the Carolina League.

The Cleveland Indians selected 6-foot-3 righty Adam Plutko in the 11th round of the 2013 Draft. Plutko played collegiately at UCLA, where he amassed the second-most wins in school history (29), a career 2.25 ERA and 272 career punchouts. Plutko also has the most postseason wins (7) and lowest postseason ERA (0.94) ever for a UCLA Bruin. His postseason prowess helped lead UCLA to its first-ever College World Series title in 2013. Plutko was also named the Most Outstanding Player of last year's college World Series. The Glendora, California, native did not pitch professionally in 2013, but was excellent at Low-A Lake County to start the 2014 campaign. With Lake County, Plutko went 3-1 with a 3.93 ERA in 10 starts while striking out 66 and walking just 12 in 52.2 innings pitched. Tuesday night marks his 11th start at the Advanced-A level for the Mudcats. Plutko has struck out 45 and walked 10 in 54 innings pitched while posting a 2-4 record and 3.83 ERA. In six second-half starts, Plutko is 1-3 with a 3.27 ERA. He has already faced the Blue Rocks twice this year. Against the Blue Crew, Plutko is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 12 innings pitched. The right-handed hurler was also drafted in the Sixth Round of the 2010 Draft by the Houston Astros, but elected to attend UCLA.

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