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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Blue Rocks Bullpen Implodes, Allows 15 Runs in 15-4 Loss to Mudcats

April 13, 2016 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - An early 3-0 lead for the Wilmington Blue Rocks (1-4) quickly evaporated in the middle innings thanks to 14 unanswered runs between the fifth and seventh innings for the Carolina Mudcats (3-3). The Mudcats scored five in the fifth, four in the sixth and five more in the seventh on their way to a 15-4 win to even the three game series at one game a piece.

The Blue Crew scored first for the first time this season, opening the scoring with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Corey Toups got the ball rolling for the home squad with a one out triple to set the table for Ryan O'Hearn. O'Hearn, who came into the game with seven hits in his last 13 at bats including two doubles, lifted a fly ball to left just deep enough to score Toups for a 1-0 lead. Blue Rocks starter Colin Rodgers kept the Mudcats at bay through the first four innings and the Blue Crew bats returned the favori with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth.

O'Hearn started the inning with a single and moved to second when Brandon Downes walked with one out. However, O'Hearn misread a ball in the dirt and Mudcats catcher Joe Odom threw O'Hearn out at third base for the second out of the inning. That proved to cost the Blue Rocks a run because after Downes stole second base and Wander Franco walked, Robert Pehl doubled down the left field line with two outs to drive in both Franco and Pehl and extend the Blue Rocks' advantage to 3-0.

But things took a turn for the worse in the top of the fifth. The Mudcats took advantage of a wild Matt Alvarez (0-1) who took over for Rodgers. Alvarez recorded just two outs in the top of the fifth inning while walking four batters. The Mudcats received three walks to start the frame before Alvarez threw a wild pitch for their first run of the game. Keith Curcio continued his hot bat to begin the season with an RBI single and pulling the Mudcats within one. An RBI groundout by Reed Harper knotted the game at three before Dansby Swanson's walk put runners at the corners with one out. Jordan Edgerton's sac fly to right pushed the Mudcats ahead 4-3 and chases Alvarez. Ian Tompkins was called on to put the fire out, but gave up a single to Braxton Davidson to cap the five run frame for the Mudcats.

The Blue Rocks threatened to tie the game right back up in the bottom of the fifth when they got runners at second and third with one out, but were unable to drive the runs home. The Carolina boys pounded that mistake in the sixth inning, scoring four more runs, all off of Tompkins. Curcio, Harper, Swanson, and Edgerton all collected two out hits to turn a 5-3 game into a 9-3 cushion, sending eight men to the plate after sending nine to bat in the fifth. They one-upped themselves in the seventh, again scoring five runs to explode for a 14-4 lead while batting around, sending ten men to the plate in the frame.

Toups tripled home a run in the seventh inning to break the streak of 14 unanswered runs by the Mudcats, but they came right back to score one in the ninth inning. However, the run in the ninth was an unearned run. Evan Beal pitched the eighth and ninth innings, but had to come out with two outs in the ninth with runners at first and second due to hitting his pitch count. Blue Rocks manager Jamie Quirk motioned to left field for left-fielder Pehl to take the mound. Pehl actually induced a ground ball to short, but Toups misplayed it allowing an inherited runner (and unearned run) to score before getting another groundout to get out of the inning.

Tomorrow's game is bright and early for Blue Rocks fans with first pitch scheduled for 10:35 a.m. and will feature opening day starter and RHP Zach Lovvorn (0-1, 8.10) against LHP Ryan Lawlor (0-0, 2.25). Fans can listen to the broadcast on 89.7 WGLS-FM or BlueRocks.com. For tickets, please call 302-888-BLUE or visit BlueRocks.com

Pebbles of Knowledge

The Blue Rocks turned their first double play of the season to end the top of the fourth inning when Colin Rodgers was able to get Joey Meneses to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. That broke a streak of 39.1 innings to begin the season without turning two.

Ryan O'Hearn came into the game 7-for-13 in his last three games with a pair of doubles and two RBI. He immediately put the Blue Rocks on the board in the bottom of the first inning with a sacrifice fly to make it three RBI in his last four games. He added a single in the fourth to extend his hitting streak to four games. Corey Toups came into the game with one hit on the season and went 3-for-5 with a pair of triples, a run scored and an RBI in his first game back after resting in Monday's game.

The Blue Crew led the game through the first four innings thanks to Rodgers batting around three walks, but the rest of the bullpen was not so lucky. The bullpen as a whole walked eight batters, which combined with Rodgers three walks set a new season high in walks with eleven. The biggest offender when issuing free passes was Matt Alvarez who walked four batters including the first three of the fifth inning. His four walks ties Josh Staumont for most individual walks given up on the season.

The one good thing for the Blue Rocks in the game was the continuation of their extra base hit prowess. After not collecting an extra base hit in the first 22.1 innings pitched, O'Hearn broke that streak with a double in the top of the fourth inning of Sunday's game against Potomac. The Blue Crew stroked six doubles in Monday night's game before continuing the barrage against Carolina on Tuesday, piling up four more including two triples from Toups who drove in a run and scored a run. Robert Pehl picked up one of the two doubles (Brandon Downes was the other) and now has doubles in back-to-back games.

While the extra base hits continue to collect, the Blue Rocks are still searching for that elusive first home run of the season. The Potomac Nationals hit five in the three game set at Frawley Stadium to begin the season, but so far the Blue Crew has not put one over the deep fences. That brings the innings streak to start the season to 44 innings without a home run (no at bats in the ninth for the Blue Rocks in Monday's game).

They Said It

Blue Rocks Manager Jamie Quirk

"He (Colin Rodgers) did a great job of battling through some control issues, four innings one hit, but he just got behind too many hitters and for his first start, his pitch count got him. I didn't take him out because of anything with his stuff, he just fell behind guys and got to his pitch count after four innings. But he pitched good, he just got himself in bad counts and had to work too hard and the pitch count went up. For a first outing it was good for him and it was nice to get it out of the way and now he can get in a rhythm because he hadn't pitched in eight days, since spring training."

"It was good for Evan (Beal) and it was good for us to have him pitch that well. We needed somebody to get outs. We would've liked for him to have gone the full two innings, but again it was a guy dealing with a pitch count and we would like for him to be able to go tomorrow if we need him. But again he got to that 30 pitch limit and he pitched great in a game that was out of hand, but he's a professional. You should not worry about the score. Just go out there and do your thing and he did it, and he did well."

"What happened in the ninth was Beal hit his pitch count and we did not want him to go any further. (Robert) Pehl is a guy we had talked with before in case of a situation like that and we had actually talked to him the inning before to warn him this might happen, anticipating if Beal got to a pitch count that was unmanageable for us he'd have to go out there and pitch and he did and he did a good job getting two ground balls and getting us out of the inning."

"You don't get drafted No. 1 in the country because you're a bad player. He (Dansby Swanson is obviously a great player. Hitting third, right out of college a year ago, he has a ton of talent, but it was also the other guys in the lineup that really got to us, not just him. You still have to make pitches and if you look at their lineup, they had two other guys that got three hits too. It doesn't matter if you're Swanson or if you're Mickey Mantle, you've got to make pitches to hitters and get ahead in the count and we didn't do that at all tonight, to anybody."

"Corey Toups is a very good hitter and he got off to a slow start, but didn't play yesterday simply because it was his scheduled day off. Tomorrow (Humberto) Arteaga will be off and we're gonna have to rotate around. (Alfredo) Escalera had tonight off and I pick a day off here and there to keep the guys fresh. But He's a good hitter. He hit the ball well three times tonight. Those balls he hit for the triples he really hit well, one to left center and especially the one to right center. That's what we anticipate and that's what we think Corey can do for us and that's why he's at the top of the order."

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