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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Carolina Wakes up in the Fifth, Evens Series with Wilmington at a Game Apiece

July 20, 2015 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


ZEBULON, NC - Despite a fast start, the Wilmington Blue Rocks could not hold down the Carolina Mudcats who evened their three-game series with an 8-2 win on Monday night from Five County Stadium. The Carolina bullpen worked eight innings of shutout baseball in relief of starter Max Povse who gave up two runs in his lone inning of work. Jacob Schrader keyed the Carolina offense with two extra-base hits and a couple of RBIs, as well.

Rocks' starter Matthew Strahm was dealing through the first four frames, retiring all 12 batters he faced to start his day. However, Schrader proved that all good things must come to an end when he led off the bottom of the fifth with a towering solo homerun, his ninth of the season, cutting the Wilmington lead down to 2-1. Carolina wasn't done yet as Carlos Franco followed up the homer with a walk and then, with one out, Jose Briceno lined a ball into centerfield that caromed off the glove of a diving Dominique Taylor, which allowed the tying run to score. A throwing error by shortstop Humberto Arteaga put runners on the corners with one out and a successful safety squeeze from Reed Harper gave the Mudcats their first lead of the day, 3-2. Connor Lien put the proverbial, "cherry on top," with a two-RBI double ripped down the right field line to make it 5-2. The Mudcats' offense put the game out of reach in the bottom of the eighth when they put three runs on the board against reliever Yender Caramo, but because of two errors in the inning they were all unearned.

Carolina's bullpen was the story of the game. Povse's day lasted just the first inning before he was taken out in favor of Justin Jackson. Jackson got through four innings, allowing just one base runner on a walk while striking out three. Andrew Waszak was the next arm out of the pen', and he picked up right where Jackson left off. Waszak went three strong frames, giving up a hit with three strikeouts. Kyle Kinman was the third arm out of the bullpen for Carolina and he would close it out, pitching a scoreless ninth while striking out the side.

Wilmington's offensive attack started early when they got to Povse in the first inning. He did not help his cause when he hit the first batter of the game, Jack Lopez, on a 1-2 pitch. He proceeded to walk Arteaga and then Mauricio Ramos picked up his fourth RBI in two days when he singled through the left side of the infield. Arteaga, who moved to third on the Ramos single, would come in to score on a groundball double play off the bat of Ryan O'Hearn to make it an early 2-0 lead for the Rocks.

Tuesday morning will be the rubber-match of this three-game series. The matinee game will feature Brooks Pounders making his 2015 Advanced-A debut for the Rocks. Pounders, who spent parts of 2012 and 2014 with Wilmington, posted a 1.00 ERA in five starts between the Arizona League Royals and Idaho Falls Chukars before getting the call. Wes Parsons will take the ball for the Mudcats in the series finale. Parsons will also be making his first appearance at Advanced-A in 2015. He spent all of 2014 with the Lynchburg Hillcats where he went 4-7 with a 5.00 ERA in 23 starts. First pitch from Five County Stadium is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Mauricio Ramos continues to rake in the second half. The third baseman produced a 2-for-4 night on Monday, which included two singles and the lone Wilmington RBI. Since the All-Star break, Ramos is batting an amazing .383 through 21 games, including four homers, seven doubles, 21 RBIs and 14 runs scored. He is the current team-leader in total home runs (6), doubles (16), RBIs (41), and runs (39). He has also played the most games for the Blue Crew this season with appearances in 83 contests. Wilmington's last four RBIs have all come from Ramos.

Defense, a category the Rocks had excelled at all season, has become a bit of a problem recently. Their four errors on Monday night meant the team has committed multiple errors in four of their last eight games. Those two errors also led to two unearned runs for Matthew Strahm in the fifth inning and three for Yender Caramo in the eighth. Unearned runs are also a rarity for the Rocks who have allowed the third fewest unearned runs of any team in the Carolina League. Coming into Monday, Wilmington was tied with the Mudcats for second-fewest unearned runs (40), 11 behind Myrtle Beach's 29, which is good for tops in the eight-team League. Defensively, their four-team errors on Monday tied a team-high for errors in a game, a total they last recorded on July 2 against Lynchburg. The Rocks have now committed 79 errors this season, good for a .977 fielding percentage. Jack Lopez' 15 miscues are by far the most of any current Blue Rock. Ramon Torres committed 10 errors before getting the call to Double-A Northwest Arkansas. Wilmington's defense is clearly missing Cam Gallagher while he is at the Pan-Am Games. Gallagher had a .991 fielding percentage, committing just three errors in 43 games behind the plate.

While Matthew Strahm has shown signs of brilliance, he does exhibit one major weakness: the long ball. The homerun off the bat of Jacob Schrader in the fifth inning was the fourth homer allowed by Strahm at Advanced-A this season in just seven appearances. The trend is certainly an odd one for Strahm, who never allowed more than a single homerun at any level in professional baseball before getting to the Riverfront. The homeruns may be attributed to Strahm's new role as a starter for Wilmington. In his four relief appearance at Advanced-A, Strahm has allowed just one long ball, while the other three have come in his three starts. The lefty's numbers are still impressive at Advanced-A. The loss on Monday was his first at this level, where he is 1-1 with a 2.86 ERA. In 28.1 innings pitched, he has given up just 17 hits and seven walks while striking out 43.

Humberto Arteaga reached base twice on Monday, a good sign for the middle-infielder who had gotten on base just nine times through his first 38 plate appearances. Arteaga now has his batting average up to .184 at Advanced-A after batting .259 in 70 games with Low-A Lexington this season. What was concerning for Arteaga on Monday was the two errors he committed in the field, a rarity for the second baseman who was ranked as the, "Best Defensive Infielder," in the Royals organization according to Baseball America. Those errors were his first two since joining Wilmington at the beginning of July. At Low-A, Arteaga made 10 errors in 68 games he played in the field (67 of those at shortstop). His .967 fielding percentage was the best of any Lexington shortstop who had played at least 10 games at short, and it was second to only Corey Toups (.976) among middle-infielders.

THEY SAID IT:

Catcher Santiago Nessy

"Obviously, it was the homer (that made Matthew Strahm's appearance go south) and then a couple of errors. That becomes a five-run inning. He made his pitches. It's not like he wasn't executing his pitches. He executed his pitches, you've just got to tip your hat. (The Carolina Mudcats) is there trying to hit the ball and that's going to happen."

"After (the first four innings) I think everyone was just like, 'what's going on,' (in the fifth). He was maybe starting to have more stuff in his head and that's when he made the mistakes. It's not like he was leaving the ball up or missing his spots, they hit the ball and we weren't able to make the plays. That's going to happen, that's baseball."

"It was men at first and third and one out and we want to get the groundball and you get the squeeze. I couldn't catch the ball. That's going to happen. When things happen like that, it happens fast. You don't have enough time to think and that's what is going to happen."

"After you see that (first) inning, you're thinking, 'We've got this guy,' and then we don't see the same pitcher (in the second). The reliever works different than the starting pitcher. The reliever comes in throwing...everything they have because that is their game. In the second inning, we weren't prepared for that but we were expecting that."

"(Ryan O'Hearn) I think figured out that the League is different. Pitching is different. They know he is hitting in the four-hole. He's not going to get too many cookies like in Lexington. He'll figure it out. He's a good guy, good teammate, and he's a good player, too."

"Every League is different. They're going to pitch you different You have a scouting report from you're pitching coach, but when you're there you have to figure out how they're going to pitch you. They pitch everybody different and you need to figure out...how they're going to pitch you and make adjustments. For example, for me they threw a lot of off-speed today. I only saw one fastball and I got hit in the ribs. You need to make that adjustment and the game is going to dictate what you need to do."

"I like morning games. I like day games. It kind of reminds me of when I was young and we used to play at 9 a.m. on Sundays. You need to be mentally prepared for that and mentally tough, too. You don't get enough sleep and you don't get enough time to recover. We have to mentally tough and mentally prepared for that, it's going to happen."

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