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Wilmington Blue Rocks

Rocks Tumble Against Pelicans

August 28, 2016 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE--Austin Bailey's solo shot in the seventh inning snapped the Wilmington Blue Rocks' (49-81/22-39) 15.1 scoreless streak to start their series against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (76-55/40-21), but that was the Blue Crew's only run as they faltered 7-1. It was the switch-hitter's first dinger from the right side of the plate all season and it came against reliever Tommy Thorpe as Pellies' starter James Pugliese was dominant out on the mound; the righty fanned nine batters over six scoreless innings while walking just a pair in his sixth victory of the season

The game immediately got off on the wrong foot as Rocks starter Derek Gordon allowed a leadoff home run to Charcer Burks. Gordon settled down to retire the next five batters, but a single by Andrew Ely in the second followed by an errant pickoff throw and a double by Daniel Spingola put the Pelicans up 2-0. It stayed that way until the fifth when Gordon went back out, but gave up a walk, a single and a double in succession to allow Myrtle Beach to move ahead 3-0.

The Pelicans put it away in the seventh inning when they batted around, sending ten men to the plate and scoring four times. After Sam Selman retired the first two batters of the inning, the next six men reached as the Pelicans bolted to the lead 7-0. Bailey's solo shot on a 1-0 pitch in the bottom of the seventh put the Rocks on the board for the first time in the series, but that was all they would get to drop the second game of the series 7-1.

Gordon takes the loss for the Rocks and evens up his record at 2-2 while Pugliese improves to 6-5 during the 2016 campaign. The two teams will finish their season series on Sunday when LHP Foster Griffin (4-9, 6.36) takes on RHP Erick Leal (10-4, 2.94). First pitch for the finale is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. and fans interested in attending the game can call the Rocks' ticket office at 302-888-BLUE or online at BlueRocks.com. Those wishing to listen to game can hear Matt Janus' call by tuning in to WGLS-GM 89.7 Rowan Radio or by going to the Rocks website at BlueRocks.com.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE

The seventh inning home run had to feel twice as sweet for Rocks second basemen Austin Bailey. The switch-hitter not only stopped the Rocks scoreless streak at 15.1 innings, but the homer came as Bailey was batting from the right side. The Californian is a much better hitter from the left side than the right. He came into the game on Saturday batting .270 from the left side, but only .156 from the right-handed batters box. Not only that, but out of his 17 extra base hits before Friday, 15 of them came against right-handed pitching. The long ball was his first of the year from the right side and his first non-double extra base hit against lefties all season.

Saturday's game did not start the way the Blue Crew hoped for. Charcer Burks led off the game for the Pelicans and smashed the second pitch of the evening out to left and over everything for a leadoff homer. It was the second time during the 2016 campaign that a Rocks pitcher has given up a leadoff shot. The only other time came back on July 4th when Corey Ray watched Victor Robles take him deep down in Potomac in the first at bat of the bottom of the first. That game though had a much happier ending for the Blue Crew as the boys from Frawley went on to score the next 12 runs and take out the P-Nats by a 12-1 score.

The Blue Crew has rocked back and forth as of late between streaks. With the loss on Saturday they have now dropped five in a row after getting swept by Lynchburg and losing their first two games of their series versus the Pelicans. However, they entered the series having won 10 of 11 at Frawley Stadium including a perfect 6-0 homestand from August 15 to August 20 against Potomac and Carolina. While home had been sweet, the road has been rocky lately for the boys from Frawley. They are currently in the midst of their longest road-losing streak of the year, having dropped their last ten games (a four game sweep in Potomac at the beginning of August, a three game setback in the middle of the month versus Salem and the three game series down in Lynchburg, VA).

THEY SAID IT

MANAGER JAMIE QUIRK

"I've been very happy with (Derek Gordon)'s development. He's done a great job with anything we've asked him to do. He's had to have three starts now. He's had three innings, four innings, and this game he had five innings. He's done fine. He does what you ask him to do. He competes and does his thing and pitches well. We're real happy with how he goes about it."

"His pitches were okay. We wanted to get him up and down five times and see where we were at from there. He didn't get through the fifth inning but that's okay. We wanted him up and down five times and he did it."

"This game I thought were (Chad Johnson)'s best throws of the year. He threw the one guy out and the next one was right on the money too. In early work before the game he threw real well to second base on drills. It's progression, that's what you like to see. A couple balls to first base on blocked strike threes, he's had trouble in the past there. He did two today. That's what you look for, progression and Chad's getting better."

"Yeah (James Pugliese) has a real good changeup, that's his best secondary pitch. He uses it well and we didn't recognize it well. We knew about it and (Abraham Nunez) talked about it. He threw strikes with his fastball and you have to respect the fastball. He picked the right times to throw his changeup. He was very effective. The bats have gone south here the last couple of days. We aren't getting many quality at bats. Positive side (Austin Bailey) hit a homerun right handed. His numbers right handed have not been good. So that was a nice sign he got a homerun right handed. When you get four hits you're not going to score many runs. I know Myrtle Beach has a very good pitching team. They're up there in the leaders but we've played well against them until the last two days."

"I think (Sam Selman) was a little tired. That was his first time he had gone out three times. That's in his progression to get him out there for the third inning. He looked tired to me but we didn't want to just pull him when he got traffic, we wanted him to try to work out of it. He had a lefty coming up and we wanted him to face the lefty. The lefty got that last hit off of him. That's part of his progression with the organization, we have to get him involved a little bit longer and that's what we did today." ------=_20160827223806000000_88301

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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