CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Blue Rocks Game Notes: July 12, 2014

Published on July 12, 2014 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


SPARKMAN SPARKLES AGAIN: Glenn Sparkman dazzled again for Wilmington Friday night with six scoreless frames as he led the Blue Rocks to a 2-0 victory over the Salem Red Sox at Frawley Stadium. The reigning Carolina League Pitcher of the Week punched out three and did not walk a batter while extending his scoreless-innings streak to 17.2 frames. With the win, Wilmington improved to 10-10 in the second half and 43-45 overall.

BLUE ROCKS BLANKINGS: The Blue Rocks picked up their ninth shutout win of the year in Friday's 2-0 victory over the Salem Red Sox. Wilmington is now 9-3 in shutouts this year and those nine shutout wins are tops in the Carolina League. Salem is second in the circuit with eight blankings. Glenn Sparkman was also involved in the Blue Crew's most recent shutout. He threw seven shutout frames on July 4 and took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Sparkman also fanned nine, yielded just one hit and did not issue a free pass. That performance earned Sparkman his first Carolina League Pitcher of the Week award. Wilmington has now shut out Salem once, the Winston-Salem Dash three times, the Carolina Mudcats three times and both the Frederick Keys and the Potomac Nationals once.

FULL HOUSE AT FRAWLEY: Friday night's sellout crowd of 6,631 was the largest of the 2014 season at Frawley Stadium. It edged the 6,385 who attended the California League/ Carolina League All-Star Game, Presented by Bank of America, on June 17. The largest regular-season crowd this year for the Blue Rocks had been 5,955 on June 27 against the Lynchburg Hillcats. Friday's crowd at Frawley was the biggest for the Blue Crew since 7,155 were in attendance on July 13, 2013, against the Lynchburg Hillcats.

GORE SHOWS SIGNS OF LIFE: Terrance Gore continued to break out of a prolonged slump Friday night at Frawley. Gore went 1-for-2 with a run. He scored after reaching on a throwing error in the fifth and singled to left over a drawn-in infield in the sixth. Entering game two of Thursday night's twin-bill, Gore had been mired in an 0-for-23 stretch. However, he went 1-for-2 with a run and a steal Thursday. Gore's base hit in Thursday's nightcap was a bunt single; he then stole second and ultimately scored the tying run. That was a critical run, because the game would be suspended in the bottom half of the inning. Had Gore not scored, the Blue Crew would have fell in a rain-shortened 1-0 defeat. Instead, the game will be picked back up at Potomac on Wednesday. Gore is now batting .190 on the season with seven doubles, no homers, 12 RBIs and a team-leading 27 steals in 29 tries.

SECOND-HALF STAR: Bubba Starling stayed hot with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate Friday against the Salem Red Sox. It was the talented center fielder's second three-hit game of the week and his seventh multi-hit game in 20 contests since the All-Star Game. Since the break, Starling is batting .291 (23-for-79) with three doubles, a triple, three homers and 11 RBIs. He has compiled a .341 on-base percentage and is slugging .468. In the month of July, Starling is hitting .281 (9-for-32) with four runs, a double, a homer and five RBIs. Overall this year, he is batting at a .211 clip with 16 doubles, three triples, 41 RBIs and 29 free passes.

THEY SAID IT, MANAGER DARRYL KENNEDY: "[Glenn Sparkman] just keeps locating his pitches, keeping the ball down. He elevates when he wants to get swing and misses. He's just commanding the zone right now and has a lot of confidence in his pitches. His breaking ball is getting better and better...I wouldn't say [he's exceeded expectations]. I hated losing him in the bullpen. He was one of our big guys in the bullpen to get us to [Mark] Peterson and when we decided to make that change I was wondering who was going to fill that void and what I was going to get from him as a starter but he's made the transition very easy and has thrown some good ballgames for us...Even when [Bubba Starling] has gone [hitless] in his last few outings, they've been very good [at-bats]. I know that sounds crazy but he's been putting good consistent swings on the baseball and tonight he was able to find some holes and got a big hit for us there to drive in that first run which proved to be the game-winner...I thought, defensively, we had a very good ballgame. Jack Lopez with that [diving] play at second, [Terrance] Gore running down a couple out there in the outfield. I thought it was a good all-around ballgame on both sides...[Mark Peterson] starts out the inning there hitting the guy but was able to control it and gathered himself and made some good pitches on the next three hitters to get the save. [Yender] Caramo hadn't pitched in four days, comes out of the bullpen and is excellent to get us to [Kyle] Bartsch. We bring Bartsch in, he did a great job too...We had our fair share of rain there in Potomac, even in Winston-Salem a little bit even though we got those games in. It was nice to get back here and had a nice clear night and the moon was shining bright. Any time you get rained out on back-to-back nights you never know what you're going to get but I thought yesterday we played pretty good and then got suspended that last game. Luckily we got home early enough, those guys came out and did a really good job."

THEY SAID IT, STARTING PITCHER GLENN SPARKMAN: "I just go out there and focus on throwing low pitches, giving the batter something to hit and letting my infield and outfield work for me. I really went to my slider and my curveball. The changeup wasn't really there tonight but it was more of a rollover pitch to get batters to reach out and rollover on it...The curveball breaks down and it's really more of a strikeout pitch. That slider can get guys to rollover on it if you've got a guy on first for a double-play...To start the [third] inning, I left a slider over the plate and he just got a hold of it. The catcher, I just left him a changeup right on the side and he just poked it up the middle to give them runners on the corners. I just went out there and really wanted to throw strikes. If I was going to leave it over the plate I was hoping they'd hit a short popup."

Today's Starters

WIL: LHP Jonathan Dziedzic (5-5, 2.92)

vs.

SAL: RHP Joe Gunkel (1-2, 4.87)

Lefty Jonathan Dziedzic has been one of Wilmington's best starting pitchers in 2014. The southpaw takes the mound on Saturday for his 16th start of the campaign and will look to pick up his sixth win. Dziedzic has struck out 72 batters in 77 innings pitched this season while delivering a 2.92 ERA and a 5-5 record. His ERA ranks fifth in the Carolina League. The crafty lefty has been better within the pitcher-friendly confines of Frawley Stadium than on the road. He is 3-3 with a paltry 1.80 ERA in six starts at home and 2-2 with a 3.86 ERA in nine outings on the road. Left-handed hitters are batting .271 against Dziedzic, while righties are hitting .250. Those spectacular overall numbers earned Dziedzic a spot on the 2014 Carolina League All-Star Team. His most recent start came on July 5 in Winston-Salem. The southpaw tossed five fantastic frames that night and yielded just one run on five hits and two walks. Dziedzic, who is Lamar University's all-time strikeouts leader, was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 13th Round of the 2013 Draft. He was also taken by the Boston Red Sox in the 37th round of the 2012 Draft, but elected to return to school. As a high school senior, Dziedzic threw a no-hitter.

West Chester, Pennsylvania, native Joe Gunkel was selected in the 18th Round of the 2013 Draft by the Boston Red Sox. Gunkel began his pro career immediately with a single appearance for the Gulf Coast League Red Sox and then 14 outings for the Lowell Spinners of the New York-Penn League. With the Spinners he went 3-0 with a 1.35 ERA in 14 appearances. Gunkel began the 2014 campaign with the Low-A Greenville Drive in the South Atlantic League. His 3-0 record and 2.28 ERA in 17 appearances (five starts) earned him an All-Star Game nod. Since his promotion to the Salem Red Sox, Gunkel has experienced his first struggles as a pro. He is 1-2 with a 4.87 ERA in four starts for the Red Sox and has given up 24 hits in 20.1 innings pitched. Gunkel has also struck out 14 and walked five for Salem. Gunkel has made one solid start for Salem. That was on June 26 against the Carolina Mudcats. He hurled six shutout innings that day and allowed only four hits. Last time out, on July 7 against the Frederick Keys, Gunkel yielded nine runs (six earned) on 10 hits across five frames. The right-hander played collegiately at West Chester University, where he won a Division II National title during his sophomore year.

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Carolina League Stories from July 12, 2014


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