CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Epic Rally Routs Rocks, 15-5

Published on April 27, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Salem, VA - Wow. It was one of those nights for the Blue Rocks. The sting of three different leads lost paled in comparison to the 12 unanswered runs allowed as the Salem Red Sox (13-6) batted around in both the seventh and eighth innings to hand the Blue Rocks (9-10) an ill-tasting 15-5 blowout defeat.

It had the feeling of an odd night from the start when right fielder and leadoff man Adrian Ortiz was a late scratch from the lineup. That said, the Blue Rocks took their first lead in the second on an RBI double from the red-hot Eddie Prasch. A right-side groundout courtesy of catcher Ben Theriot, in his first action since rejoining the team from Double-A Northwest Arkansas, made it 2-0 later in the inning.

Salem responded with a two-spot of its own in the bottom half against starter Chris Dwyer. Among the scores was Oscar Tejeda's fifth home run of the season, a solo shot to left. Ryan Wood's right-side groundout made it 3-2 in the fourth only to see Salem answer again in the fifth.

A two-out error on second baseman Fernando Garcia allowed Tejedato reach. The speedster stole second and Ryan Dent followed by drawing a full-count free pass that meant the end of the night for Dwyer. The recently activated James Thompson entered for his first outing since April 10 and jumped ahead 0-2 on Mitch Dening. What followed is one of the oddest plays the Rocks have seen in some time.

Dening's batted ball bounced hopped slowly to first, but bounded off the bag itself and over the full-extension leap of Eric Hosmer and into right field for what turned out to be an RBI double and a 3-3 draw.

While Prasch drove in another go-ahead score with a two-out single in the sixth to chase Caleb Clay, the Red Sox more than made up for it.

First they chased Thompson while batting around for four unearned runs on three hits and three Wilmington errors in the seventh. Riquy Pena ended the bleeding and the inning by getting Anthony Rizzo to fly out with the bases loaded. However, the ninth would not prove so kind to Pena as eight more runs scored on nine hits. Pena's ERA inflated to 13.50 as all of that harm came over just 1.1 innings.

The Rocks' six-game road trip concludes with a series rubber match Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. Right-hander Alex Caldera (1-0, 3.68) tosses for Wilmington against fellow righty Alex Wilson (1-0, 6.08).

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

The Blue Rocks finished an ugly night with a season-worst five errors, all on the infield.

Salem went a ridiculous 11-for-21 (.524) with runners in scoring position. In contrast, the Blue Rocks posted a 1-for-10 (.100) showing in the same situations.

Jason Taylor finished the game with two hits, including a double, in stretching his hitting streak to seven games. He scored twice as well but appeared to limp slightly after pulling into second standing with his fourth-inning double. He would later leave the game in favor of Juan Rivera.

Taylor was forced to start in left field with the late scratch of Adrian Ortiz. Only once in 252 prior professional games had Taylor started in the outfield. Rivera also had just one game in the outfield over his 309 career contests entering Tuesday night.

While James Thompson was tagged with four runs, none were earned. His two innings pitched thus lowered his ERA from 9.82 to 6.35.

Eric Hosmer reached base twice including a double and his second intentional walk of the season. He finished 1-for-4 though to lower his batting average to .435.

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Carolina League Stories from April 27, 2010


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