CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Bats Quiet as Rocks Lose

Published on May 27, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - It was a frustrating afternoon for the Wilmington Blue Rocks on Wednesday. The offense managed just eight hits while failing to post a run for the first six frames, and the bullpen did not come through for starter Eduardo Paulino in a 4-2 loss to the Frederick Keys.

The setback ended Wilmington's three-game winning streak, and spoiled a brilliant start by Paulino (1-2), who kept the Keys at bay for six innings. The right-hander tied a career-high with eight strikeouts. Coming into the contest Paulino had not fanned more than two batters in a game in 2009. He surpassed that total with two outs in the second inning.

Paulino's lone blemish came in the sixth inning of a scoreless contest when he allowed a lead off triple to Pedro Florimon and a sacrifice fly by Brandon Waring to put the Keys up 1-0. It cost him a very tough luck loss.

That would be the starter's last frame, as he gave way to piggyback partner Ray Liotta.

Unfortunately for Wilmington, Liotta was not his normal sharp self out of the bullpen. The left-hander surrendered his first runs of the season as a reliever when Frederick put two huge insurance tallies on the board in the top of the seventh.

Pinch hitter Caleb Joseph opened the frame with a double, and advanced to third when left fielder Adrian Ortiz made an error trying to cut the ball off in the corner. But Liotta seemed poised to pitch his way around trouble by inducing consecutive outs. Catcher Billy Killian ruined that plan though with an RBI single to center. Matt Angle then brought Killian home with a run-scoring triple to dead-center field.

What made the frame extra excruciating would be the Rocks rally in the home half of the inning.

Wilmington stirred up some two-out trouble of its own when Anthony Seratelli's double scored Clint Robinson. Ryan Eigsti followed with a single to left field that scored Seratelli, and brought the Rocks back to within a run.

That is as close as Wilmington would get though, as Frederick added another insurance run off of Liotta in the eighth. The southpaw surrendered a two-out single to Billy Rowell, who moved into scoring position when he stole second base. That set up Joseph's RBI single, and Frederick's lead grew to 4-2.

Keys' starter Pedro Beato earned the win. The right-hander allowed only a single score on six hits over 6.1 innings pitched. Beato (3-3) evened his record at .500 with the strong outing. Closer Luis Lebron earned his ninth save of the season by striking out the side in the ninth.

Wilmington will play the rubber match of its three-game set with the Keys on Thursday at 6:35 p.m. Mario Santiago makes the start for the Rocks as they celebrate Prom Night at Frawley Stadium. Fans are encouraged to dress like they did for their own high school dance, and will select a prom king and queen. For tickets call 302-888-BLUE, or visit bluerocks.com.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Five of Wednesday's six runs were scored on two-out hits.

Wednesday's crowd of 5,561 was the largest attendance at Frawley Stadium in the month of May, and the third largest crowd of the season.

The Blue Rocks are now 0-13 when trailing after eight innings and 1-5 in day games.

Anthony Seratelli got the start at second base on Wednesday, but before the game he represented the Blue Rocks in the lineup exchange for the fourth time in the last two weeks.

Jeff Bianchi had his team-leading 15th multi-hit game of the season. The performance also extended the shortstop's hitting streak to seven games.

Eduardo Paulino's six innings pitched represented the right-hander's longest outing since he went a career-high eight frames on July 7, 2008 for the Burlington Bees.

The loss ended Wilmington's longest home winning streak of the season at four games. The Rocks last dropped a game at Frawley Stadium on May 7 to the Potomac Nationals.

The front end of the piggyback combination of Ray Liotta and Paulino has now resulted in back-to-back quality starts for the first time all season. Unfortunately for the Rocks, neither outing has resulted in a Wilmington win.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from May 27, 2009


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