CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Hillcats Split Series, Beat Blue Rocks 9-2

Published on May 20, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Lynchburg, VA - Lynchburg starter Matt Fairel (4-1) was on his game as the Wilmington Blue Rocks (17-24) dropped a 9-2 decision to the Hillcats (17-24) on Thursday night, splitting their four-game series. The southpaw starter allowed two runs over seven innings, while Jordan Hotchkiss tossed two scoreless frames to close it out. Outside of a two-run fourth frame that gave the Blue Crew a short-lived one-run lead, Lynchburg pitching faced the minimum seven times, hurled six perfect innings and allowed just five total hits. Both Wilmington runs crossed courtesy of RBI infield singles. Wilmington returns home after a 3-4 road trip with wins in two of its last three.

A pair of doubles plated the Hillcats' first run in the second inning against Manauris Baez (1-3). Jose Gualdron knocked in Neftali Soto for a 1-0 score. In the fourth, infield hits by Wilmington's Patrick Norris and Rey Navarro each drove home scores for a brief 2-1 advantage. The Hillcats responded, however, with a two-spot of their own in the bottom half of the frame for a 3-2 deficit the Blue Crew would never remove. Former University of Delaware Blue Hen Alex Buchholz singled in the first score, and a groundball double play off the bat of Jose Gualdron plated the second.

Five consecutive hits ended the night for Baez in the sixth. Buchholz drove in two runs that inning, but was also caught stealing by the starter at third base. Brendan Lafferty entered with two runners on and one out, and retired successive batters to strand both men. Baez allowed five runs on 11 hits over 5.1 innings, walking none and whiffing one.

Cody Puckett homered to begin the seventh while three runs crossed in the Lynchburg eighth to round out the scoring. Kevyn Feiner's single to second drove in one while Devin Mesoraco's double to third plated a pair.

A six-game homestand gets underway on Friday night at 7:05 p.m. It will mark the Advanced-A and Blue Rocks debut of top-10 prospect John Lamb. Baseball America calls the 19-year-old the system's seventh-best chip and gave him its "Best Control" label for the organization. Lamb went 2-3 with a 1.58 ERA at Low-A Burlington (MWL). He will become the youngest active Carolina Leaguer, surpassing his teammate and catcher, Salvador Perez.

It will be Wizard of Oz night at the ballpark and post-game fireworks will follow. Every Friday home game is a fireworks night at Frawley Stadium in 2010.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

In his third start, Manauris Baez fell to 0-2 in that role with a 7.53 ERA. He has allowed at least nine hits in all three of his starts making for a .441 batting average against.

A rehabbing Jairo Cuevas threw before the game and stated he felt great. Cuevas has not pitched since May 5 as he mends shoulder inflammation that placed him on the DL.

Matt Fairel and Jordan Hotchkiss combined to induce 14 outs on the ground against two in the air against Wilmington bats.

Nearly exactly one year ago, Fairel tossed seven innings and Hotchkiss two in a 5-0 Dayton defeat of the Burlington Bees, the Royals' Low-A affiliate. Three of the men in the Bees lineup that night were in the Wilmington nine on Thursday: Fernando Garcia, Eric Hosmer, and Patrick Norris. Current Blue Rock Salvador Perez also saw action in that earlier game played on May 23, 2009.

The game lasted just two hours and 14 minutes.

Norris joined Adrian Ortiz as the only Blue Rocks with double-digit steals on his theft of third in the fourth inning.

Ortiz took the team lead in triples with his fourth of the season in the fourth inning.

Hosmer added to his team lead in doubles with his 16th in the ninth.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Carolina League Stories from May 20, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central