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Wilmington Blue Rocks

Extras Not Enough for Blue Rocks, Lose 3-1 in 12 Innings

April 24, 2016 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - The Wilmington Blue Rocks (6-12) wasted their best pitching performance of the season on Sunday afternoon at Frawley Stadium, dropping their series finale to the Potomac Nationals by a 3-1 score in 12 innings. It was the first time this season that the Rocks played extra baseball and the second time the Nationals have come into Frawley and swept the Blue Crew.

Pedro Fernandez (2-0) started the game for the home team and immediately showed he had his good stuff. He retired the side in order in the first inning and finished off the side in style with a strikeout of Jose Marmolejos for his first of the day. The problem though for Rocks fans was that Wirkin Estevez (0-1) was just as good. The two traded zeroes through the first five innings before Estevez yielded to the bullpen. Neither side could get a base runner past second base through the first five frames and it looked like Rocks might strike first in the sixth, but Elier Hernandez struck out against Mario Sanchez with a runner at third and two outs to end the inning.

The first scare for Fernandez and really the only of his outing came in the next half inning. Mrmolejos doubled to begin the frame and was sacrificed over. With the runner at third base and one out, Fernandez intentionally walked Drew Ward so he could face Bryan Mejia with the runners at the corners and two outs. The moved turned out to be a prudent one as Fernandez struck out Mejia for the second out of the inning and then got Alec Keller on a tipped strike three to escape the jam.

Fernandez was done after seven innings and Ian Tompkins came into replace him and the P-Nats took advantage. Tompkins struck out the first batter, but a single by Narciso Mesa put a man on first with one out. He moved up to second on a wild pitch and then after a walk to Andrew Stevenson, Mesa and Stevenson successfully pulled off the double steal to put the potential go ahead 90 feet away. Osvaldo Abreu broke the stalemate in the next at bat when he took a 2-0 pitch and sailed it towards relatively deep right field for the sacrifice fly. Tompkins though would get out of the jam without any further damage.

The Rocks wasted little time in fighting back for their pitchers. Luis Villegas reached on an error by Abreu to begin the inning and was pulled for pinch-runner Brandon Downes. Robert Pehl became the first Blue Rock not named Humberto Arteaga to lay down a sacrifice bunt when he did so in the eighth, pushing Downes to second with one out. That is when Corey Toups ripped a 1-2 pitch to right that dropped in front of Dale Carey and with the speedy Downes chugging for home Carey's throw came in late and the game was tied 1-1. Arteaga was up next and the shortstop sent a ball deep to right and seemingly over the head of Carey, but the right fielder reached over his head and came down with the ball on a tremendous leaping dive. The play robbed the Rocks of a run and they could not come up with the big two out base hit as Ryan O'Hearn struck out to end the inning.

Evan Beal replaced Tompkins and immediately allowed a fluke double off of the outstretched glove of O'Hearn. However, Beal maintained his composure and struck out the next two batters before getting a groundout to keep the game tied at 1-1. The Blue Crew was unable to muster anything against the P-Nats arms and the game went into extras. Beal tossed shutout frames in the tenth and eleventh before turning the ball over to Tim Hill, but Hill did not have his best stuff.

He walked the leadoff batter and got the first out of the inning on a sacrifice bunt. Mesa followed with a grounder to first, which moved the runner to third base. It looked like Hill might get out of the inning unscathed, but Stevenson doubled into right-center to put Potomac on top 2-1. They later added a run two batters later when Marmolejos singled to left and the P-Nats took a commanding 3-1 lead into the bottom of the 12th. The game would end with that score thanks to a flawless bottom of the frame by RC Orlan who picked up his first save of the season. Hill was credited with the loss while Justin Thomas improved to 1-1 with two scoreless innings of relief.

The Blue Rocks get their first off day on Monday, but will travel down to Carolina to face the Carolina MudCats for a three game series and the start of a six game road trip that will end in Potomac. Game time for Tuesday night's game is 7:00 p.m. as the Blue Crew will toss LHP Matt Tenuta (2-0, 3.60) against RHP Max Povse (1-1, 1.42). Fans interested in listening to the Blue Rocks game can tune in to Mat Janus' call on 89.7 WGLS-FM.

Pebbles of Knowledge

It took extra innings, but Ryan O'Hearn extended his team best and season base hit streak to eleven games with an eleventh inning bloop infield single. O'Hearn went 1-for-4 in the contest on Sunday afternoon with a walk, but the lone single broke up a streak of back-to-back games in which O'Hearn had homered. His overall numbers on the streak though are still impressive. He is now 16-for-43 (.372) with six home runs (two inside the park home runs), three doubles, 13 RBI and ten runs scored.

The only reason Pedro Fernandez did not get a win on Sunday is because the offense did not score any runs while he was out on the mound. The righty went seven shutout frames against the P-Nats and only got into real trouble once and that was in the seventh inning, which was his last. He ended his start in style, striking out back-to-back batters with runners at the corners in what was a scoreless game at the time. Fernandez's seven innings are the most by any Blue Rocks starter on the season and his seven strikeouts tie him for second most by any starter this year. Of the two walks he allowed, one was of the intentional variety and while he did not pick up a win, he is currently 2-0 on the season with a 1.21 ERA.

Fernandez finished his outing with seven total strikeouts, but the Blue Crew arms were not done. Ian Tompkins came in for one inning of relief and fanned two of the five batters he faced and then Evan Beal continued the trend with three terrific innings. The righty pitched the ninth, tenth and eleventh innings and punched out five separate P-Nats to bring the Blue Rocks total to 14 on the day. The 14 strikeouts are tied for the most by the pitching staff this season and the second time they had done so against Potomac having first done it back on April 8.

The Rocks and P-Nats have played twelve games against each other this season and the home team is just 1-11. Unfortunately for the Blue Crew, the two teams have played eight of those contests at Frawley stadium where the P-Nats are 8-0. Part of that recipe for success for Potomac in the First State has been fast starts. The P-Nats have scored first in every game in Wilmington. The boys from Frawley move to 1-10 overall on the year at home. They have now been swept by the Nationals in both series played at Frawley, but fortunately head out on the road next for a six game road trip.

They Said It

Blue Rocks Manager Jamie Quirk

"Well he (Pedro Fernandez) learned from last year and he's come to the league. He's matured as a pitcher and he's very confident in his stuff right now and he's been pitching great all year. Main thing is he has great confidence going and he has really good stuff."

"His pitch count was fine (in the seventh). It was his ballgame. He has the ability to get strikeouts and he got two big strikeouts there to end the inning. He did a great job and showed tremendous maturity right there. As long as his pitch count was fine, which it was, it was his inning."

"He (Even Beal) had a great slider today and he used it good. His sequences were good. He attacked hitters, went after them. He was excellent, five strikeouts in three innings, he did a great job... he had given us three innings and that was enough. That's really the most we ask out of our relievers is three, the max. He did a great job and it was time to turn it over to somebody else."

"He (Potomac Outfielder Dale Carey) made some great plays this series and earlier in the year. He saved them, (Humberto) Arteaga hit that ball and I thought it was over his head for sure and he mad ea great catch on that ball. That's the ball game right there. That ball gets over and we score and probably win the ballgame."

"We're not snake bitten. You can't worry about results. All you have to do is worry about what you do and you hit the ball hard. Unfortunately a lot of them were caught. We hit the ball hard a lot in this series, but just had nothing to show for it. We had a talk today, you just can't get down. You keep doing the thing that got you here. The law of averages, they'll fall in and we'll get out share, but he made a nice play."

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