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Wilmington Blue Rocks

Dziedzic, Almonte, Stumpf Shine In 2-0 Blue Rocks Win Over Dash

July 25, 2014 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - Jonathan Dziedzic, Miguel Almonte and Daniel Stumpf combined to hold Winston-Salem to just two hits as the Wilmington Blue Rocks edged the Dash, 2-0, on Friday night at Frawley Stadium. It was the Blue Crew's fourth consecutive win and the team's Carolina League-leading 12th shutout victory. With the win, Wilmington moves to 18-15 in the second half and 51-50 overall. They remain tied with the Potomac Nationals for first in the CL North.

Dziedzic got the start for the Blue Rocks and threw five shutout innings. The southpaw yielded just one hit and one walk while fanning three. Almonte piggybacked off of Dziedzic and tossed 3.2 scoreless frames of his own. He gave up just a single base hit, issued a pair of free passes and struck out two. Stumpf replaced Almonte with two on and two away in the top of the ninth inning. He induced a popup of Nick Basto to end the contest and record the save.

The Blue Rocks scored their first run in the sixth inning on a safety squeeze by Ramon Torres to go ahead, 1-0. Jared Schlehuber led off the frame with a base hit to right-center. Daniel Rockett then grounded out, moving Schlehuber to second. Terrance Gore followed with a single up the middle, putting runners at the corners for Torres. The speedy infielder dragged a perfect bunt up the first-base line to plate Schlehuber and was barely thrown out at first by Dash starter Tony Bucciferro.

In the eighth inning, Wilmington extended its lead to 2-0 on a throwing error by Dash catcher Omar Narvaez. Schlehuber singled to right-center to lead off the frame and moved to second on an errant pickoff throw by Euclides Leyer. With two outs in the frame, Torres reached on a swinging-bunt single, which moved Schlehuber to third. Narvaez threw the ball away, giving Schlehuber enough time to come plateward.

Almonte (6-6, 4.77) earned his sixth win of the year for the Blue Rocks while Bucciferro (7-10, 3.90) suffered his 10th loss of the year for the Dash. Stumpf picked up his first save of the year for Wilmington.

The Rocks return to action Saturday night at Frawley Stadium for game two of three against the Winston-Salem Dash. Southpaw Brandon Finnegan (0-0, 0.00) will take the mound for the Blue Rocks while the Dash will counter with righty Terance Marin (3-2, 3.45). First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m., and fans can listen to the broadcast on 89.7 WGLS-FM.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Jonathan Dziedzic continued his string of dominant starts Friday night with five shutout innings against the Dash. The southpaw allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out three. Over his last four starts, Dziedzic has thrown a combined 23 innings while yielding just two runs and 17 hits. During that stretch, he has also fanned 14 and issued only six free passes. Dziedzic has now hurled 17.2 consecutive scoreless frames. Still, though, the 2014 Carolina League All-Star has not recorded a win since his May 24 outing against the Frederick Keys. Overall this season, Dziedzic is 5-5 with a 2.46 ERA in 18 starts. He has punched out 85 and walked 27 while giving up 86 hits over 95 innings pitched.

Daniel Stumpf earned his first save since the 2012 season on Friday. Stumpf got designated hitter Nick Basto to pop out to shortstop Raul Mondesi for the game's final out. The Humble, Texas, native picked up five saves in 2012 with the Burlington Royals of the Appalachian League. His most recent save was on August 21, 2012. With Rookie-Level Burlington that year, he was 2-1 with a 1.55 ERA and five saves in 19 relief appearances. This year, he is 2-8 with a 4.63 ERA in 22 games (eight starts). He has struck out 60 and walked 13 while giving up 70 hits in 58.1 innings worked. Stumpf began the campaign in the starting rotation and went 1-7 with a 4.19 ERA in eight starts. Since transitioning to the bullpen, he is 1-1 with a 5.49 ERA in 14 appearances. However, in the month of July, he has no record and a 1.69 ERA in four appearances out of the 'pen. Stumpf spent the entire 2013 season in the rotation for Low-A Lexington. With the Legends in 2013, he went 10-10 with a 3.07 ERA in 25 starts. He fanned 117 and walked 50 in 137.2 innings pitched. Stumpf

Miguel Almonte made his first relief appearance of the season on Friday, piggybacking off of Jonathan Dziedzic. The flame-throwing righty had not worked in relief since 2012, while he was with the Rookie-Level Surprise Royals in the Arizona League. With Surprise, Almonte made six appearances, four of which were out of the 'pen. His most recent relief outing had been on August 25, 2012, when he threw 5.2 innings out of the 'pen against the Arizona League Rangers and gave up just two runs on four hits. On Friday, Almonte threw 3.2 scoreless innings of relief and allowed just one hit and two walks. He also punched out a pair. Almonte's solid appearance snapped a string of three consecutive rough outings for the righty. In his last three starts, Almonte had given up a combined 15 runs (14 earned) on 23 hits and five walks across 13 innings pitched. On the campaign, Almonte is 6-6 with a 4.77 ERA in 18 games (17 starts). He has fanned 85 and walked 29 while giving up 94 hits in 94.1 innings pitched.

Jared Schlehuber stayed hot for the Blue Rocks on Friday with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate. He also scored both of the team's runs. Over his last eight games, Schlehuber is batting .379 (11-for-29) with six runs scored, a double, two homers and six RBIs. During those eight contests, he has seen his batting average rise from .182 on July 13 to .250 on Friday. He also has a pair of three-hit contests over that stretch to go along with Friday's two-hit game. Schlehuber has been consistently good in the month of July. During 14 games this month, he is hitting .341 with eight runs, two doubles, three homers, eight walks and eight RBIs. Overall in 24 games with the Blue Rocks, Schlehuber has 14 runs, four doubles, four homers, 12 RBIs and 14 walks to go along with his .250 batting average and .358 on-base percentage.

THEY SAID IT:

Manager Darryl Kennedy:

"They play [Terrance] Gore pretty shallow and he hit a ball pretty hard and I thought it got to the center-fielder pretty quickly and [Jared] Schlehuber isn't the fleetest of foot so I held him up. I've had [Ramon] Torres before, a couple of years ago, and I know he can bunt really well. It was the right time for it; the kid [Tony Bucciferro] was throwing a very good game. He was not giving up much. I just felt like it was a good time to do it. On nights like this, that's what you have to do to win. Their guy was throwing a good game; our guys were throwing a good game, not a lot of hits going on in the game. You've got to be able to execute. We were able to execute right there and get a run across and that was big."

"[The second run] was one of those [plays] where he just puts the ball in play with two outs, we got a break right there on that throwaway and got an extra run which proved to be huge. Going into that ninth and inning and you've only got a one run ballgame and they've got first and second, things are a little different."

"We knew going in that we were going to limit [Jonathan] Dziedzic, not give him the 100 pitches, keep him right around 75 just to give him a blow. He's been pretty consistent all year going 5-to-6 innings for us and he threw five good innings. [Miguel] Almonte came in and did a great job. The reason we went with the piggyback was that day off on Monday. Now it kind of keeps everybody on that four days of rest."

"[Daniel] Stumpf and [Kyle] Bartsch, I'm looking at them [to close]. We added [Andrew] Edwards. It'll probably be a little more of a committee than just one guy but I've got a lot of confidence in all of those guys. I thought Stumpf did a great job tonight coming in in that situation and getting the out."

Starting Pitcher Jonathan Dziedzic:

"I came out trying to establish the fastball early. It had a little bit more movement than I would have hoped for. I was able to go to the bullpen and when I was warming up my stuff was kind of all over the place so I wasn't really sure how it would translate in the game. I got in the game and was able to throw a couple of changeups in the first inning for strikes and I had a pretty good curveball. I think the biggest thing tonight was just mixing well. Zane Evans was calling a great game, we were really flowing well together."

"I think the biggest thing is just outing in the work outside of the game, putting in your bullpen and your side (sessions). I'm just coming out everyday, working hard, just trying to get better... it'll eventually show up on the field. Sometimes it doesn't always go your way but if you keep putting in the work it'll show up."

"They told us yesterday, since the rainout (on Monday), they want to keep the pitching rotation kind of the same. I wasn't really sure, innings wise, what that was going to entitle but I kind of thought five or six innings. We kind of knew in advance."

Second Baseman Ramon Torres:

"[Speed is] one of the tools I have being the leadoff hitter. I was just glad that [Darryl Kennedy] had some faith in me to put it down and I was able to do the job."

"I'm glad [Darryl Kennedy] had my back, I'll always have his back too."

"I knew as soon as I hit the ball it was going to be a tough play with my speed. I was just focused on getting down the line and trying to get that second insurance run in."

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