CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

As the Crow Flies, Rocks Rally to Win

Published on August 8, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Salem, VA - For the third time in 53 tries, the Wilmington Blue Rocks (55-58, 23-20) rallied to win a game they trailed after seven innings. The Blue Crew plated the last four runs of a 5-4 win over the Salem Red Sox (64-47, 22-19). The last three of those runs all came on two-out hits. Wil Myers tied the game with a two-out double in the eighth, and Rey Navarro put the Rocks on top with a two-out solo homer in the ninth. Starter Aaron Crow (1-1) secured his first Advanced-A win with a career-high-tying eight innings of work, while Brendan Lafferty bolted down his first Blue Rocks save.

A balk against Salem starter Brock Huntzinger allowed Nick Francis to score from third in the second inning for a brief 1-0 Wilmington lead. While Crow navigated a bases-loaded one-out jam in bottom of the second, Will Middlebrooks' run-scoring groundout tied it up in the third. An inning later, three straight one-out Salem hits ended with a homer to right by Drew Hedman for a 4-1 Red Sox advantage.

Crow would dominate from that point forward, facing the minimum over his final 4.2 innings. The only man to reach in that time, the recently called up Ronald Bermudez, did so on an infield hit that was muted by a subsequent groundball double play. Crow struck out eight and walked none. The two-time first-round pick allowed just three earned runs.

A slumping Christian Colon busted out of his funk with an RBI single in the sixth for a 4-2 score. Huntzinger departed the game after that inning in line for the win. He allowed two scores on six hits and no walks over his six innings.

Reliever Will Latimer retired the first five he faced before the top of Wilmington's lineup connected on three straight two-out hits to tie the game. Patrick Norris doubled, Colon singled him home and the 19-year-old Myers registered his 19th RBI with a double to the right-center gap for a 4-4 deadlock.

Salem went to its bullpen and former starter Seth Garrison (1-1), who induced a lineout to right from Francis to end the inning. In the ninth, Garrison retired the first two Blue Rocks he faced. But the third Rock to bat on the inning, Navarro, connected on a first-pitch homer that just scraped over the 20-foot high wall in right for a 5-4 Wilmington lead. Garrison, who earned his first win of the season in the series opener, took his first loss of the year in the finale while allowing just one baserunner.

Lafferty, who has been dominant of late, got his first Advanced-A save chance to start the ninth. The former UCLA Bruin fell behind Dan Butler 3-0 in the count and lost him to a walk. But Berumudez, Ryan Dent and Hedman all flied out to left, right and center respectively to end the game.

With their road trip complete, the Blue Rocks return home for a seven-game homestand. It starts with the first of a four-game set against the Winston-Salem Dash on Monday at 7:05 p.m. Southpaw Will Smith (1-1, 4.15) tosses for the Blue Rocks against southpaw Joe Serafin (1-2, 7.36).

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Over his last nine games, Brendan Lafferty has gone 1-0 with a save, a 1.06 ERA and a .172 batting average against. He recorded his sixth career save in seven tries.

Patrick Norris notched a key steal of second in the sixth, increasing his team-leading total to 25 on the year.

Each of the top four batters in Wilmington's lineup each finished with two hits.

Wil Myers finished the road trip 16-for-28 (.571) with five doubles, three RBIs and six runs scored. The journey lifted his batting average 60 points from .333 to .393. He now enjoys a nine-game hitting streak.

Aaron Crow posted his first win since July 24 when he was still with Double-A Northwest Arkansas. That win came against Springfield, coincidentally enough the same squad he previously lasted eight innings against back on April 29. Springfield, a Cardinals affiliate, is managed by Ron "Pop" Warner, a cousin of Wilmington skipper and former Cardinals farmhand/coach, Brian Rupp.

Crow induced 12 groundouts against four flyouts on the game. He hit 95 mph on the in-house radar gun multiple times and displayed a dynamic slider.

Another road round-tripper continues the widening of the Blue Rocks' home run splits. Of the team's league-low 53 homers, 35 (66%) have been hit on the road. Also, 33 (62%) of the dingers have come with nobody on base.

Rey Navarro's solo shot is his first homer in 41 games and 154 at-bats.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from August 8, 2010


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