CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Fifth straight loss costs Rocks first place

August 4, 2010 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Winston-Salem, NC - Call it a tailspin. The Wilmington Blue Rocks (52-56, 20-18) lost their fifth straight game Tuesday night, falling in Winston-Salem to the Dash (62-45, 19-18), 8-5. The team's 10th loss in 14 games has it on the verge of a second straight sweep defeat. Demoted prospect Aaron Crow (0-1) struggled mightily in his Blue Rocks debut. The two-time first-round pick allowed all eight runs (six earned) on 10 hits over 6.1 innings including two homers. Prospect catcher Wil Myers went 4-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored, but also departed the game early with leg cramps while catching while catching in the seventh inning.

Successive run-scoring hits by Ernesto Mejia and Nick Francis made it 2-0 Wilmington in the first inning. However, it would not take Winston-Salem long to respond. Its leadoff man in the bottom half of the opening frame, Brandon Short, took Crow out of the park with a homer to left-center field for a 2-1 margin.

With a man on and two down in the third, Francis smashed a ball to center. Short, the center fielder, raced toward the fence while he looked over his right shoulder. The Carolina League All-Star came to an abrupt halt when he crashed face first into the padded wall as Francis raced to third standing with an RBI triple for a 3-1 score. After lengthy examination from Dash athletic trainer Josh Fallin, Short stayed in the game.

In fact, he reached on an Adam Frost throwing error to start the bottom of the third. One out later, Jon Gilmore's hit-and-run single put men on the corners. A Seth Loman RBI double just fair down the left-field line combined with a pair of Crow wild pitches to plate three runs in the inning for a 4-3 Winston advantage. Jordan Cheatham replaced Short defensively in the fourth.

Rey Navarro and Frost tripled and doubled respectively to start the fourth and tie the game, 4-4. But the Blue Crew would waste numerous scoring chances from there forward. Patrick Norris sacrificed Frost to third that inning before Winston's Joe Serafin (1-2) struck out Adrian Ortiz and Christian Colon flied out to center.

The first two Blue Rocks reached in the fifth only to see neither man get beyond second. A one-out error allowed Frost to reach in the sixth. Alas, Norris bounced into a double play to end the threat.

During that time, Loman homered to left-center with two down and the bases empty in the fifth and Kenny Williams, Jr. singled past a drawn-in Frost at third to plate a run in the sixth.

Reliever Garrett Johnson started the seventh for the Dash and induced a groundout of Ortiz. Consecutive men reached thereafter, as Colon was hit by a pitch and Myers doubled. A Mejia groundout pushed home Colon for a one-run game, 6-5. On the next pitch, Francis grounded out to short to end the threat.

In the bottom half of the seventh, Drew Garcia singled to right and stole second. During the swipe, Myers attempted to pop from his crouch and fire to second. Thereafter, he beckoned out athletic trainer Dave Iannicca along with manager Brian Rupp. After a short chat on a humid Carolina night, Rupp lifted the cramping prospect and called on Joey Lewis to make his professional catching debut. The former University of Georgia catcher routinely catches in the bullpen and was doing so at the time.

Gilmore walked and a passed ball on Lewis moved the men up before Loman iced the game with a two-run double to center. Crow got the hook and Brendan Lafferty finished the game with 1.2 innings of one-hit ball. Dash sidearmer Tyson Corley fired a 1-2-3 ninth for his fifth save, striking out two.

The three-game series concludes on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Southpaw Will Smith (0-1, 1.29) gets the ball for the Blue Crew against right-hander Terry Doyle (5-7, 3.39).

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics



Carolina League Stories from August 4, 2010


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