Blue Rocks Offense Goes Quiet in Series Finale
Published on July 8, 2018 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release
Lynchburg, VA - The Wilmington Blue Rocks (39-46/8-7) had the bats fall silent in a 4-0 loss to the Lynchburg Hillcats (40-44/11-6) on Sunday afternoon at Calvin Falwell Field. A pitcher's duel between both starters was broken up in the bottom of the sixth when the Hillcats put four runs on the board. Wilmington's starter Ofreidy Gomez suffered the tough-luck loss and allowed just one earned run in five-plus innings of work.
After a lead off fly out in the bottom of the sixth, Lynchburg's Li-Jen Chu, Trenton Brooks, and Dillon Persinger combined for three straight singles to load the bases with only one out. Emmanuel Tapia struck out swinging to keep the runners in place with two outs. Logan Ice drew a bases-loaded walk to score Chu and make it a 1-0 ballgame. Jorma Rodriguez hit what would have been an inning ending ground out, but Blue Rock's third baseman Emmanuel Rivera made a throwing error to allow Rodriguez to reach base safely and bring home Brooks and Persinger to extend Lynchburg's lead to 3-0. Ernie Clement put the game out of reach with an RBI single to score Ice to make it 4-0.
The Blue Rocks offense was held hitless after the sixth inning. Wilmington only garnered three total hits in the game which were all singles by Blake Perkins, Nathan Esposito, and Angelo Castellano. Nick Heath and Esposito were the only two Rocks players to draw walks in the game.
Wilmington will continue the road trip on Monday, July 9 at 7:00 p.m. against the Frederick Keys at Nymeo Field. The Blue Rocks will have righty Gerson Garabito (3-6, 4.05 ERA) take the mound. He will be opposed by fellow right-hander Matthias Dietz (0-1, 9.00 ERA) who gets the start for the Keys. Fans can catch all the action with Matt Janus on the call on 89.7 WGLS-FM.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
Despite the loss on Sunday afternoon, Wilmington still holds an 11-5 season series lead over Lynchburg. Last season the Hillcats came out on top with a narrow 9-8 winning record against the Blue Rocks. These two teams will play 11 more games against each other with the next matchup taking place in Lynchburg on July 18. The Hillcats accomplished one rare feat against the Blue Rocks on Sunday. The shutout loss was only the third game in which Wilmington failed to put a run on the scoreboard. The last time the Rocks were shut out was back on June 22 in Potomac when they suffered a 10-0 defeat. Wilmington now has a 5-17 record when they have five or less hits and falls to 10-35 in games where they score less than three runs.
Angelo Castellano has had a productive first half of the road trip. With a single on Sunday afternoon, the short stop is now batting 5-for-15 (.333) with three runs scored, two doubles, and two walks. Castellano also extends his hitting streak to four games. He is only two games away from tying his season high of six games in a row which he set back in late April.
Ofreidy Gomez had another solid start on the mound for Wilmington. The righty pitched for five and two-thirds innings giving up only five hits, one earned run, and four walks while also striking out two batters. In his last two starts, Gomez has only given up a combined two earned runs for a 1.54 ERA, but has not been on the winning end of either start.
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