CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Early Offense Enough as Rocks Take Series over Keys

Published on July 12, 2018 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Frederick, MD - Three runs through the first two innings were enough as the Wilmington Blue Rocks (42-47 / 11-8) earned a series victory over the Frederick Keys (40-51 / 5-17) with a 3-2 win Thursday night at Nymeo Field. Gabriel Cancel and Blake Perkins provided the offense while four different pitchers kept Frederick in check to help the Rocks win their third straight game. In turn, the Blue Rocks finished their road trip winning five of their eight games.

Wilmington wasted no time and plated a run in the opening inning against Frederick's starter Cristian Alvarado. Perkins started the game off with a double and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by D.J. Burt before Cancel lofted a fly ball to left field to plate Perkins. In the second inning, Perkins ripped a two-run single to right field to score Rudy Martin and Oliver Nunez to give the Blue Crew a 3-0 lead.

Frederick got on the board in the bottom of the second inning when Jake Ring singled home Cole Billingsley to make it a 3-1 ballgame. That score held until the fifth inning when the Keys pulled within a run when Wilson Garcia smacked a solo home run to make it 3-2.

The combination of Cristian Castillo, Josh Mitchell and Julio Pinto protected the one-run lead to help the Rocks earn the series victory and a winning road trip. Castillo earned his fourth win of the season with three innings of work and allowed just one earned run on four hits. Mitchell followed with two scoreless innings before Pinto entered in the ninth inning and tossed a scoreless frame to earn his fifth save of the season.

The Blue Rocks return to the Riverfront to host the Salem Red Sox for a wraparound series starting on Friday, July 13 with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Wilmington will send righty Ofreidy Gomez (2-8, 3.87 ERA) to the mound while Salem answers with lefty Darwinzon Hernandez (5-5, 4.33 ERA). Fans can listen to the game as Matt Janus and Cory Nidoh will have the call on 89.7 WGLS-FM.

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With the win, the Blue Rocks won their third straight game, matching their season-high road winning streak. Wilmington has won three straight road games for the fourth time this season. The last time came back on June 16-21 when they won the final two games of the first half at Winston-Salem and the first game of the second half at Potomac. The Rocks also put together a winning road trip, taking five of the eight games against Lynchburg and Frederick. One of the games were postponed at Lynchburg and will be made up as part of a doubleheader on July 19. The Rocks also used a pair of extra-inning victories to help earn the winning trek away from the First State.

Blake Perkins has put together a pair of big games for the Rocks. He is a combined 6-for-his-last-11 during that span with three runs scored, a double, a home run and has driven in five RBI during that stretch. Perkins entered the game leading the league with 54 walks and second with 56 runs scored. The outfielder is hitting .262 with four extra-base hits along with a .385 on-base percentage through his first 17 games as a Blue Rock.

Infielder Gabriel Cancel continues to average a little over a run drive in per game. With another RBI in Thursday's win, the first-year Blue Rock has knocked in 28 runs over his last 27 games. He has put together nine, multi-RBI games during the stretch and leads the team with 12 multi-RBI games on the season. He leads the team with 48 RBI and ranked third in the Royals' farm system.

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Carolina League Stories from July 12, 2018


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