CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Lamb Leads Wilmington to Win

June 24, 2010 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - John Lamb dazzled and the Wilmington offense provided just enough bite for the Blue Rocks to earn a 2-0 victory over the Salem Red Sox on Thursday night at Frawley Stadium. The win ended the Blue Crew's nine-game losing streak against the Sox.

Lamb (3-2) enjoyed his longest outing as a Blue Rock. The left-hander worked 6.2 scoreless frames, equaling a season-high with nine strikeouts. He surrendered only four hits, and walked just two men.

The closest Salem came to a run against Lamb came in the second frame. Lamb issued an inning-opening walk to catcher Tim Federowicz. But the 19-year-old hurler retired the next two men he faced while keeping Federowicz at first. Ryan Dent followed with a ripped liner towards the right-center field gap. Wilmington center fielder Patrick Norris got over to cut the ball off deep in the alley and quickly fired a perfect throw to cutoff man Fernando Garcia. The second baseman twirled and tossed a pea to the plate that arrived home right as Federowicz did. Catcher-on-catcher crime ensued, as Federowicz tried to dislodge the ball from Blue Rocks backstop Salvador Perez's glove. He failed, as Perez absorbed the contact, and held onto the ball to end the inning.

From that point forward, Lamb shifted to cruise control. He retired six in a row and 15 of the final 18 batters he faced. Salem would move only one more man into scoring position the rest of the way, as an errant pickoff toss by Lamb moved Mitch Dening to second base in the sixth. The starter gave way to reliever Harold Mozingo after a two-out walk in the seventh.

His offense did just enough meanwhile, as the Wilmington bats broke through against Salem starter Caleb Clay for single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Jamar Walton led off the fifth with a line-drive single to left, and moved into scoring position on Rey Navarro's sacrifice bunt and to third on Garcia's grounder to second. Norris brought him home when his grounder got under the glove of Clay and off the leather of hard-charging second baseman Luis Segovia.

One inning later, Eric Hosmer provided Wilmington with some insurance. He sent a Clay fastball soaring over the right-center field fence. The solo shot was Hosmer's fourth dinger of the season and it put Rocks on top, 2-0.

The Wilmington bullpen made the lead stand up. Mozingo got the final out in the seventh. He then gave way to Henry Barrera who fanned a pair in a 1-2-3 eighth. Barrera kept Salem off the board in the ninth as well, picking up his first save of 2010 with the effort.

Clay (2-5) took the hard-luck loss for Salem. The right-hander dropped his fifth straight decision despite allowing only two tallies on seven hits in 6.2 frames of work.

Wilmington will host the Sox again on Friday night at 7:05 p.m. Tim Melville (2-7, 5.93) takes the hill for the Blue Crew against Salem right-hander Stolmy Pimentel (5-5, 3.63). After the game, fans will enjoy fireworks courtesy of Grotto Pizza. For tickets call 302-888-BLUE.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Wilmington had not beaten Salem since the teams' first meeting of 2010. The Rocks took a 7-6 win from Salem on April 26, but had dropped nine straight decisions to the Sox since.

Thursday's win marked the third shutout tossed by the Wilmington pitching staff this season.

The Blue Rocks earned their first win of the season's second half on Thursday. It took the Rocks four tries to pick up their first victory in the campaign's opening half.

Jamar Walton sparkled at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a double and scoring one of Wilmington's two runs. It marked Walton's first three-hit game of the season. The second year Blue Crewer had not posted that many hits in a single contest since recording a four-knock day on September 6, 2009. With the effort he raised his batting average to .199 on the year. That is the highest Walton's average has climbed all season.

Walton's sizeable splits between when he plays left field and when he serves as the DH continued to grow as well. In 43 at-bats as a designated hitter, Walton is hitting .419. In almost three times as many trips to the plate as a left fielder, he is hitting just .148.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics



Carolina League Stories from June 24, 2010


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