CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Blue Rocks Shut out by Pelicans for Second Consecutive Night

Published on August 6, 2014 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - The Wilmington Blue Rocks were shut out for the second consecutive night on Wednesday in a 5-0 loss to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans at Frawley Stadium. The Blue Rocks have now been held scoreless in 22.1 consecutive frames. Prior to Wednesday, they had not been blanked on back-to-back nights this season. With the loss, the Rocks fell to 20-23 in the second half and to 53-58 overall. Wilmington sits in third place in the CL North, five games behind the first-place Potomac Nationals.

The big blow for Myrtle Beach was a three-run homer by Nick Williams in the fifth inning, which helped the Pelicans open up a 5-0 lead. Williams' home run, his 12th of the campaign, plated Eric Garcia from third and Christopher Bostick from second. Garcia singled off of Luis Santos with one out in the frame and the moved to second when Santos drilled Bostick. Both runners advanced 90 more feet on a wild pitch by Santos, before Williams drilled the first pitch he saw out of the ballpark to right.

Single tallies in the second and the fourth innings helped Myrtle Beach jump out to an early 2-0 lead. Kevin Torres' RBI single in the second scored Williams, who crossed the plate twice on Wednesday. Torres also drove home Lewis Brinson with an RBI single in the fourth.

The Blue Rocks had a chance to even the score at 1-1 in the second inning but, on a Daniel Rockett single, Michael Antonio was gunned down at the plate by Williams with a perfect throw from left.

Wilmington's bullpen was once again excellent and kept the game from getting further out of hand. Santos threw five innings and once he departed, Yender Caramo, Johnny Walter and Zeb Sneed combined to throw four scoreless innings. The Blue Crew 'pen allowed just three baserunners in their collective four frames of work. Walter yielded a single and hit a batter in the eighth, but was able to escape the jam. In the ninth, Sneed walked a batter but no further damage was done.

Luis Parra (9-6, 4.98), who threw five shutout innings for the Pelicans, picked up the win. Santos (3-3, 5.81) suffered the defeat for the Blue Rocks after giving up five runs on seven hits over five innings of work.

The Rocks return to action on Thursday night at Frawley Stadium, and will attempt to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of the Pelicans. Southpaw Sean Manaea (4-7, 3.61) will take the mound for the Blue Rocks while the Pelicans will counter fellow lefty Chad Bell (4-1, 3.57). First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m. and fans can listen to the broadcast on 89.7 WGLS-FM. For tickets, call 302-888-BLUE.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

After a brief stint in the bullpen, Luis Santos returned to the starting rotation on Wednesday. The righty pitched reasonably well, despite giving up five runs on seven hits. Though he did hit two batters, Santos did not walk anyone and he struck out six. His only mistake was a ball he left up in the zone that Nick Williams crushed for a three-run homer in the fifth. Santos was significantly better in his two relief appearances than he has been as a starter. The 6-foot hurler owns a 1-0 record and a 1.23 ERA in a pair of relief outings totaling 7.1 innings. As a starter, Santos is 2-3 with a 6.55 ERA in nine games. His home-road splits are also pretty significnat. Santos, surprisingly, has struggled more at Frawley Stadium than he has on the road. He is 1-2 with a 6.58 ERA in six contests (five starts) at home. Away from Frawley, Santos is 2-1 with a 5.06 ERA in five games (four starts). Lefties are hitting Santos at a .262 clip while righties are batting .240 off of him.

The Blue Rocks were shut out in Wednesday night's loss to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans for just the fifth time this season. Wilmington was also held scoreless on Tuesday night. It was the first time in 2014 that the Rocks had been blanked in back-to-back contests. Even when the Lynchburg Hillcats no-hit the Rocks on consecutive nights June 26-27, the Blue Crew managed to score a run in the first game. They were, however, shut out in the second no-no. Wilmington hadn't been held scoreless in back-to-back games since September 2-3, 2012, at Frawley Stadium against the Potomac Nationals. The Rocks lost, 4-0, in 11 innings on September 2, 2012 and fell, 3-0, in a six-inning rain-shortened contest the next day. Wilmington's two other shutout losses this year came on April 13 against the Winston-Salem Dash and April 24 against the Carolina Mudcats and June 27 against the Lynchburg Hillcats. On the flip side, the Blue Rocks lead the Carolina League in shutout victories. The Blue Crew is 13-4 overall in shutouts this year. Salem is second in the circuit with 10 shutout wins. The Rocks have blanked Frederick twice, Winston-Salem four times, Carolina three times, Potomac twice, Lynchburg once and Salem once.

Wilmington's struggles with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans this season continued on Wednesday night. The Blue Rocks are now 3-12 against the Pelicans in 2014 and they have been outmatched both at home and on the road this season. The Rocks are 2-6 at Frawley Stadium against the Pelicans and 1-6 at TicketReturn.com Field. The Blue Crew's numbers against Myrtle Beach this year are not pretty. As a team, the Rocks are batting just .199 with 45 runs scored and three home runs in 15 games against the Pelicans. Conversely, the Pelicans are batting .267 with 77 runs scored and 11 home runs against Blue Rocks pitching. The Pelicans' 11 long balls against Wilmington are far and away the most allowed to any team by the Blue Rocks. No other club has hit more than six dingers off of the Rocks' pitching staff. Pelican pitchers have a 2.22 ERA in 129.2 innings during the head-to-head series. Blue Crew hurlers, on the other hand, have a 5.26 ERA in 125 innings against the Pelicans.

After getting shut out on back-to-back nights, the Rocks have now been held scoreless in 22.1 consecutive frames, a new season-high. Previously, Wilmington had been held without a run for 18.1 straight innings June 26-28. That streak began in the fifth inning of Wilmington's June 26 game against Lynchburg, the first of back-to-back no-nos for the Hillcats against the Blue Rocks. It ended in the sixth inning on June 28 in Salem. During that June 26 no-hitter against the Hillcats, the Rocks managed to scratch and claw a run in the fifth inning off of Lucas Sims. Jack Lopez drew a walk and advanced to second on a passed ball. He moved to third when Daniel Rockett reached on a fielding error. Lopez came plateward on a groundout by Terrance Gore.

THEY SAID IT:

Manager Darryl Kennedy:

"Well, first of all, that team over there is second in the league in pitching behind us, so they've got some very good arms. They know how to pitch us. They've seen us a bunch of times, not only here during the season but they see us during spring training, they see us during the instructional league, they've seen us the last three years in each league [that has Royals and Rangers farm teams]. They know us. As far as August [struggles], this is the time of year when everyone is tired and now you've got to dig deep, and we really need to dig deep. We have to dig down deep and find something deep in the heart to finish out this year good."

"Without a doubt [this team is capable]. We're capable of winning 10 in a row, 12 in a row. We're capable; we've just got to do it. That's been our thing, we go really good for four or five games and then we go really bad for four or five games. We've got to find [something] within to get us over that hump and keep going."

"[Luis Santos] went five his last outing in Lynchburg when he came in behind [Miguel] Almonte, who came out early, so it wasn't a matter of hoping to get five out of him. We kind of expected to get five out of him because he had been a starter and he went to the bullpen for a very short time. I went into today with the mindset of just having a regular starter. I don't think it was a big adjustment to go five innings for him. He left balls up too many times. That was the big thing, location up. He's not a high-ball pitcher and he let some fastballs get up in the zone and a couple of changeups up in the zone that hurt him. He's got to be a guy that's on top of his command."

Infielder/Outfielder Cody Stubbs:

"Only thing I can say is it's baseball. We come out hard and work everyday and take the same approach. As far as hits coming and going, I don't anybody could ever tell you that. I know we don't change anything. We keep the same approach and we go out there and work hard everyday. Unfortunately, sometimes it just doesn't happen. You've just got to keep pushing and know there's a bright, sun-shiny day ahead."

"There's still plenty of baseball left in the season. We've got turn the corner and get things going and things will be just fine."

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Carolina League Stories from August 6, 2014


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