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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Blue Rocks Give Up Double Digit Runs, Losing Streak Hits Double Digits

May 2, 2016 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - Although the Wilmington Blue Rocks (6-17) got on the board first, it was almost all Frederick Keys (9-16) from there on out as the Keys scored the next eleven runs, pulling away from the Rocks for an 11-2 win. It was the tenth loss in a row for the Blue Crew and they are now just four away from tying the franchise long 14 game streak from last year.

After a 1-2-3 inning from Pedro Fernandez (2-1) in the top of the first inning, Corey Toups tripled to deep left and over the head of outfielder Tad Gold to put a man on third base with nobody out. He came home the next batter when Austin Bailey hit a sharp grounder to first and Toups was able to slide in ahead of the throw for a 1-0 Rocks lead. The lead would last until the third inning when Frederick started to come up with some clutch hits.

Fernandez allowed a leadoff single to begin the third and appeared on his way to getting out of the inning unscathed, but Jay Gonzalez stroked a double to left to knot the game at one. It was the first two out RBI of the game for the Keys, but it would not be the last. The next inning the Keys got back-to-back triples with two outs from Jomar Reyes and Jonah Heim for a 3-1 advantage and then moved to 4-1 on a doubles steal with runners at the corners. Frederick plated another with a single in the fifth after back-to-back walked with one out and then tore the game open with a five run sixth inning, capped by an Aderlin Rodriguez two run home run.

The Keys would score their eleventh unanswered run in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly. The Rocks responded with a run in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI double by Austin Bailey, but it was much too little, much too late as the dropped the series opener 11-2. Fernandez took the loss in the outing while giving up five runs in 5.1 innings pitched and Cory Jones was credited with the win to move to 1-1 with the Keys.

The Rocks will look to snap the ten game losing streak Tuesday night when they take on the Keys for the second game of their three game series. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 and will feature the Blue Crew's Matt Tenuta (2-1, 4.29) against Mitch Horacek (1-3, 5.73) for the Keys. Fans can listen to the game on 89.7 WGLS-FM and can buy tickets at the Frawley Stadium Ticket Office or call 302-888-BLUE.

Pebbles of Knowledge

Wander Franco was the only Blue Rocks to get multiple hits on the evening and it was the infielder's third straight game with a hit. The three game hitting streak is Franco's longest of the season and comes at a time when the Rocks need all the hits they can get with the departure of Ryan O'Hearn. Franco, who is listed as a switch hitter, has been batting exclusively from the right side since injuring his shoulder two weeks back, but is starting to regain his swing from last season.

Pedro Fernandez was the starter for the Blue Crew out on the mound Monday night and for the first time this season, the righty struggles. Fernandez was coming off of his best outing of his career last time out when he went seven innings of scoreless baseball while striking out seven, but in the series opener against Frederick he had much more trouble. He allowed five runs in 5.1 innings pitches after not allowing more than one run in any of his four previous starts. The five runs allowed were the most he had surrendered since he allowed six runs, five earned back on September 1 of last season.

Despite the losing streak stretching to ten games in an 11-2 loss, it has mostly not been the fault of the pitching. The offense is now batting .171 (48-for-281) during the ten game slide overall while the numbers with runners in scoring position are worse. The Rocks went 0-for-7 during Monday night's game with runners in scoring position, which drops their number to 3-for-42, an .071 mark. The team has also not been able to score runs in bunches as they have scored more than two runs on just one occasion. That game was the 4-3 loss in game one of the doubleheader against Potomac on April 21.

With O'Hearn now gone the Rocks need to find their offense from somewhere else. They might not have to look any further than the top of their lineup. Corey Toups tripled to begin the bottom of the first inning and came home one batter later to score the game's first run. It was Toups third triple of the year while the rest of the team just has two (lone singles for Brandon Downes and Elier Hernandez). Toups is also second on the team in doubles, one behind Downes who clubbed his eighth of the season in the bottom of the ninth to push across the Rocks second and last run of the game. Unfortunately for the Blue Crew, O'Hearn leaving means the current roster has just five home runs, of which Toups has one.

They Said It

Blue Rocks Managers Jamie Quirk

"Well (Pedro Fernandez) wasn't really in rhythm at all tonight. He was long in his stride and he couldn't correct it and everything was up. It was really the first time he had done that this year and Charlie (Corbell) was talking to him about it, but he just couldn't find his delivery tonight. And that happens. He had been great up until today, but it was just one of those things where he just couldn't get the ball down. Even his outs were hit pretty hard and he was battling it, but they finally got to him."

"We didn't pitch well and we didn't hit. Derek (Gordon) wasn't himself tonight either. He left some balls right in the middle of the plate and they hit them hard. I wouldn't say that play from (Humberto Arteaga) was the turning point, it was just one of those things that went wrong in the game. It all starts with your starting pitching unfortunately, that's why they're the stars and the guys that get paid all the money cause they're your momentum for the day. If your starting pitcher gives you momentum and gives you some zeroes, it gives you a chance and gives your offense a chance and we just didn't have that tonight."

"I would think it's pretty difficult, but Wander (Franco) hit right handed all of last year and had a good year with the RBI and did really well. In his case it is nothing new because he did it all of last year and he feels very comfortable with that. It was nice to see him get a couple of hits. Obviously losing Ryan (O'Hearn) is a big blow to our offense, but I look at it and told the guys, it's just somebody else's opportunity to hit third and have a chance to be the guy."

Blue Rocks Infielder Corey Toups

"That was the first time I faced that guy (Frederick Keys Starter Cory Jones), and he had thrown me two fastballs prior to that, one was a ball, one was a strike, and I just figured he was coming back with the same pitch. I put some good wood on it and thankfully it got over the left fielder's head and I got three bags out of it."

"I didn't think the play at home (on Austin Bailey's RBI groundout) was going to be that close. I don't think I was actually supposed to go because he was playing in, but I just kind of read it off of the bat like it was a slow roller and I knew I had a pretty good chance because of my speed and thankfully I got in there safe."

"There's really nothing we can do differently. Just try to go out there every day and just give it our all. Take it day by day, pitch by pitch and at bat by at bat and just play hard. We can't do anything else, but play hard. Hopefully we'll get things turned around and I know they will. We're not going to go 0 and 140, we're gonna start winning some games and have a win streak here before too long."

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