CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Bullpen Holds Strong as Rocks Prevail

Published on June 24, 2017 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Salem, VA - The Wilmington Blue Rocks (40-32/ 1-1) scored four unanswered runs late in the game against the Salem Red Sox (41-30/ 1-1) to win 4-3 and gain their first victory of the second half on Friday night. Nathan Esposito paced the offense with three hits and an RBI, while Wander Franco knocked in the go-ahead run on one of his two singles. All four Blue Rock runs came with clutch two-out hits down the stretch.

The Rocks mounted a slow comeback in the sixth and headed to the top of the eighth inning tied 3-3. Cody Jones led off the frame with a double and was moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. After a walk and a strikeout, Franco came to the plate and lined the first pitch he saw into left field to score the go-ahead run and give the Blue Rocks a 4-3 lead.

Salem jumped out front in the second inning, when Jeremy Rivera singled home a run from third to make it 1-0. In the bottom of the third inning, the Red Sox took advantage of an error, a single, and three wild pitches to score two runners and add to their lead 3-0. With runners on first and second and two-outs in the sixth frame, the Blue Rocks finally tallied a run to make it 3-1 on a single from Roman Collins. An inning later, after two straight walks, Chris DeVito laced an RBI single into right field, and Nathan Esposito followed suit by doubling home a run to tie the game 3-3.

The Blue Rocks bullpen was back on track Friday night, pitching six shutout innings of relief. Matt Tenuta threw three scoreless frames, while All-Stars Yunior Marte (W, 3) and Richard Lovelady (S, 7) closed the door in last three innings. Jared Ruxer, who started the game and did not factor into the decision, surrendered three runs on six hits and picked up three strikeouts over three innings or work.

The Blue Rocks face Salem for game three of the four-game series on Saturday June 24 with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at Hayley Toyota Field. LHP Cristian Castillo (4-3, 2.80 ERA) takes the hill for Wilmington while southpaw Matthew Kent (5-3, 4.37 ERA) gets the start for Salem. Fans can listen to the game as Matt Janus will have the call on 89.7 WGLS-FM.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Friday night's 4-3 victory marks another one run win for Wilmington. The Blue Rocks have played in a Carolina League-high 30 one-run games so far in 2017. No other club in the ten-team loop has played in more than 25 single-score affairs. Incredibly for Wilmington, the Rocks are now 16-14 in such contests, after having won 12 of the last 13. The Rocks also tallied 14 hits on the night, making it the sixth time in seven games Wilmington has recorded double digit hits. In those games, the Blue Rocks have a commanding 20-9 record.

Wander Franco continues to be a run producing machine for the Blue Crew. After driving in the go-ahead run in Friday's win, he now has driven in eight runs over his last five games while hitting a ridiculous .555 (10-for-18) in that stretch. In his last ten games, he has hit .371 (13-for-35) and has recorded a hit in all but two games during that span. The two hits collected in Friday's game makes it the fifth multi-hit game for Franco during his seven game hitting streak.

Matt Tenuta has continued his late inning success as an arm out of the bullpen. In his sixth appearance for the Rocks, he allowed no earned runs while striking out three batters in three innings of work. It marks the third relief outing in which Tenuta has not surrendered a run and pitched three frames. In his six appearances, the lefty has not allowed more than one run in an outing, totaling a 1.84 ERA in his time with the Blue Rocks.

The Blue Rocks picked up their sixth win against the Red Sox in the twelve games played between the two Northern Division rivals. As of late, the Blue Rocks have had the edge, winning six of the past seven meetings, dating back to the home-stand sweep by Wilmington at the end of the first half. Over those seven games, the Blue Rocks have outscored Salem 34-to-15. Overall, through the first 12 meetings between Salem and Wilmington, the Blue Rocks have scored 63 runs, while the Red Sox have tallied 49. Friday's 4-3 win also marked the first one-run victory for the Blue Rocks over Salem, who had won the previous four one-run games.

THEY SAID IT: Jamie Quirk

"I loved (our team's reaction to Thursday night's loss). Getting down early like we did, we had baserunners but we just couldn't get that big hit early. We kept pressure on them offensively. We finally came through and got some big hits. The bullpen was outstanding. Matt Tenuta was absolutely huge for us. (Jared) Ruxer was off, he didn't have his changeup tonight and it hurt him. Tenuta came in and did a great job. Of course, (Yunior) Marte and (Richard) Lovelady did their thing. When you can throw that many innings out of your bullpen and get zeroes, you have a good chance of catching up.

"They keep coming at you. We had runners early, we just couldn't get a big hit. We knew that we could get on base and that was the big thing, we just kept coming. The resiliency is awesome. We talk about it all the time, the one-run games that didn't go our way earlier have been in the last two months. We are battle tested. Defensively we played great. Huge double play by Nicky Lopez and D.J. Burt in the seventh inning, that was huge. Wander Franco has been great. He has been a different guy the last three weeks.

"(Nathan Esposito) has been great, I have no fears playing him. I've been picking left handed pitchers for him. He has really been hitting well off of left handers, but he got the big hit tonight off the right hander! Esposito has been playing great, I have no problems when he is in there. It allows us to rest Chase Vallot and get him in the DH spot. He has been great for us."

Nathan Esposito, Catcher

"(Rallying late) is huge, especially against a good team. We started off hot (on Thursday) and (Salem) came back and stuck it to us pretty good. For us to find the momentum and the power to come back in game two and beat them like that in a close game, that's huge for the rest of the series and road trip. (Matt Tenuta) did a great job tonight, they couldn't hit his stuff, it was moving around a lot. For him to come in and pound the zone, that's so big out of the bullpen. If you can throw strikes with multiple pitches, it's pretty hard for the hitters to guess. Tenuta did a great job for us tonight and kept us in the ball game.

"(On the double play in the seventh inning) It was a huge play. I knew the pitch that we threw got in on the hitter a little bit and then I saw it off the bat and I thought, uh oh. Nicky Lopez is just so unbelievably quick. The way he gets to the baseball is so grace and remains me of A-Rod in his good old days. D.J. Burt got rid of it quickly and it was an unbelievable double play, huge momentum builder.

"I'm just trying to do my thing. You aren't trying to do too much, not trying to pull off. Just keep getting the barrel on the ball and catch as well as I can."

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Carolina League Stories from June 24, 2017


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