CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Crushing Sweep Costs Wilmington First Place

Published on August 16, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE- It was another three-base hit that did in the Wilmington Blue Rocks on Sunday. Less than 24 hours after watching a pair of triples propel the Potomac Nationals to a three-run seventh inning in their 3-1 victory over the Blue Crew on Saturday, an RBI triple by Jesus Valdez in the top of the 10th gave the P-Nats a 4-3 extra-inning victory on Sunday. The Potomac win completed a three-game sweep of the Rocks and allowed the P-Nats to regain first place from Wilmington in the Carolina League North.

The decisive inning began with a groundball double past a diving Mike Moustakas at third and into the left-field corner. Moustakas was playing shallow in an attempt to guard against a possible bunt. After Danny Espinosa laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Martinez to third, Valdez striped his triple into the right-center field gap. Martinez was able to walk home with the winning run. The damage came off of Wilmington closer Brandon Sisk (2-3).

In the home 10th, Wilmington tried to battle back against reliever Dan Leatherman (6-1). After having their first two batters retired with relative ease, Eric Hosmer kept the game alive with a walk. That was followed by a Paulo Orlando shot that bounded off the glove of Chris Marrero and into right field for a single that moved Hosmer 90 feet away from tying the game.

But Jamar Walton fell behind 1-2, and after fouling a pitch off, went down gawking on a called third strike.

The deflating finish spoiled what was actually an exciting seesaw game.

Potomac got the scoring started in the fourth. Martinez led off the frame with a solidly smacked double. That was followed two outs later by a Michael Burgess RBI single, and a 1-0 P-Nats lead.

Wilmington responded in the bottom of the fifth. The Blue Crew put a pair on the board courtesy of a couple Potomac mistakes. Ryan Eigsti opened the inning with a double into the left-center gap. He was followed by Wilmington shortstop Anthony Seratelli who was looking to lay down a sacrifice bunt.

But Seratelli's bunt was so good it forced Potomac third baseman Jesus Veloz to take an unnecessary risk. The charging fielder grabbed the ball with his barehand, and even though he had no chance of getting Seratelli at first, he still fired it across the diamond. The throw bounced off the glove of Martinez into right field and allowed Eigsti to circle all the way around and score.

Seratelli then moved to second on Derrick Robinson's sacrifice bunt, and would advance to third on Johnny Giavotella's groundball out. That allowed him to score on a wild pitch off the arm of Potomac starter Will Atwood. The left-hander's hurl in the dirt bounced only a few feet behind catcher Brian Peacock, but the Potomac backstop could not locate it. Seratelli aggressively broke for home, and scored to give Wilmington a 2-1 advantage.

Potomac responded in the very next half-inning however. Boomer Whiting tripled and then scored on a Martinez single to left to pull even. Martinez would circle around to the plate four batters later on Chris Marrero's single up the middle. The RBI knock put the P-Nats back in front, 3-2.

Wilmington would tie the game in the seventh on Derrick Robinson's solo home run to right. It was Robinson's third home run of the season, all of which have come over the last 16 days.

Wilmington gets Monday off before embarking on a quick three-day, four-game road trip to Frederick, with a doubleheader slated for Tuesday at 5:00 p.m.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Wilmington lost nine of 10 games to the Potomac Nationals at Frawley Stadium in 2009. The Blue Crew were outscored 45-18 by the P-Nats on the Riverfront. The Rocks and Potomac do not meet again in 2009.

Saturday's loss marked the first time the Rocks have dropped four straight games since May 6-8.

Mike Moustakas busted out of his mini-slump on Sunday. The Wilmington third baseman reached base three times, including with his first hit over five previous games.

Sunday's loss marked only the second time Wilmington has been swept in 2009. The last time it occurred came ironically enough against the Potomac Nationals. The rain-plagued May series saw not one game go a full nine innings.

Chris Marrero's RBI single in the sixth was his first hit off of Wilmington pitching since June 26. The game-changing knock broke an 0-for-28 slump for the first baseman against Wilmington.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from August 16, 2009


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