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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Late Offensive Fireworks Give Rocks Come-From-Behind Win

May 16, 2015 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


LYNCHBURG, VA - A three-run pinch-hit homerun off the bat of Dex Kjerstad in the top of the ninth inning propelled the Blue Rocks to a come-from-behind win over the Lynchburg Hillcats, 4-2. The homerun came just after the Hillcats had jumped out to the lead in the last half inning. The two teams have now split the first two games of their three-game series, as they are set to play the rubber match on Sunday afternoon.

After Robert Pehl drew a walk off of Delvy Francisco to start the ninth, Dominique Taylor laid a bunt down in an attempt to get the tying run into scoring position. Fortunately for the Rocks, it was not a good bunt from Taylor. The ball went right back to the mound and Francisco tried to get the lead runner at second, but he threw the ball away allowing Pehl to move up to second and Taylor to be safe at first. After a Logan Moon sacrifice bunt that moved both runners into scoring position, Brian Buchanan decided to implant Kjerstad in favor of the struggling Daniel Rockett. Kjerstad thanked his skipper for the opportunity by planting one over the wall in left field to give the Rocks the lead back, which they would not surrender.

The Rocks took the lead first in this game, but Lynchburg looked poised to upset Wilmington. Frank Schwindel led off the Rocks' half of the seventh with his third homerun of the season, giving Wilmington a 1-0 lead. The Rocks would get a runner all the way to third in that inning, but they would be unable to add any insurance. Lynchburg got the run back in the bottom of the inning. Nick Green replaced Eric Skoglund out of the bullpen and, after getting a strikeout of Mike Papi to start his day, Green gave up a double to James Roberts that went off the wall. Ivan Castillo singled him in in the very next at-bat to tie the score at one apiece. Lynchburg was also unable to get the man in from scoring position after scoring the first run. That would not matter, though, as Bradley Zimmer took a page out of Schwindel's playbook and led off the Lynchburg half of the eighth with a solo shot of his won to make it 2-1. That was Zimmer's sixth homerun of the season.

Until the late offensive outbursts, the story of this game was the pitching of Skoglund. Skoglund got through six innings in line to take the win before Lynchburg tied the game in the bottom of the seventh. His six shutout innings were highlighted by a career-high season 10 strikeouts. He allowed just four hits and a walk over those six innings along with the 10 punch-outs. The start was exactly what the Royals' number 14 prospect according to Baseball America needed after recording his shortest outing of the season last time out against the Hillcats. Despite not getting the win, Skoglund now has his ERA down to a very respectable 2.50.

The rubber-game of this three game series will be this Sunday at 2 p.m. in Lynchburg, Virignia. After a very successful outing from the piggyback combo of Cody Reed and Luke Farrell In the series finale against Potomac on Thursday, the Rocks will turn to their other piggyback rotation of Luis Rico and Yender Caramo. The lefty Rico will get the start. He is 2-1 with a 2.42 ERA this season, splitting time as a starter and a reliever. The Hillcats have not yet announced a starter for Sunday's matinee game.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Eric Skoglund's ... strikeouts on Saturday were not just a season-high for the Rocks southpaw, but a professional career-high. Skoglund, known more for pitching to contact than missing a lot of bats, previously had a season-high mark of five, which he recorded on April 29 against Myrtle Beach. Those five strikeouts against the Pelicans also tied his previous career-high, which came last season at Rookie-Level Idaho Falls. He struck out five batters on July 4 against Ogden. In his nine appearances last season, Skoglund only struck out four-plus batters on two occasions. Skoglund's 10 strikeouts were not just a career-high for him, but a high-mark for Rocks pitchers in 2015. Skoglund became the first Wilmington hurler to strikeout 10 or more batters in a single game this season. Although Skoglund was the first to reach double-digits, he was not the first to flirt with a 10-strikeout performance. On Friday night, Alec Mills struck out nine batters in a losing effort to Lynchburg. Mills also struck out eight batters two starts ago on May 10 against the Hillcats. Cody Reed also came just one away of the 10 strikeout mark as he struck out nine in the series finale between the Rocks and Nationals on Thursday.

While it does not seem like any team in the Carolina League can stop the bat of Frank Schwindel, the Lynchburg Hillcats have had an especially difficult go at the first baseman. After going 2-for-4 on Saturday night, Schwindel is now batting an astronomical .478 (11-for-23) against Lynchburg pitchers this season. He has two homeruns, four doubles, six RBIs, and a walk in those games. Robert Pehl has also been a Hillcat hunter this season. Pehl went 2-for-3 on Saturday and is batting .462 (6-for-13) against Lynchburg this year. He drove in the only run of the game for the Blue Rocks on Friday night and scored the tying run in the ninth inning.

Dex Kjerstad's pinch-hit homerun was truly a rare occurrence for the Blue Rocks. When Brian Buchanan sent Kjerstad up to hit for Daniel Rockett in the ninth inning, it was the first pinch-hitter Buchanan had summoned since back on opening day in Myrtle Beach. Both Robert Pehl and Kenny Diekroeger were used as pinch-hitters in the opening day loss. The fact that Kjerstad went deep is even more obscure. Kjerstad's homerun was the first by a Rocks' pinch-hitter since September 6, 1998 when Kendrick Moore did it at the Prince William Pirates, a team no longer in the CL.

The Rocks troubles avoiding the double play this season have been almost unbelievable, and on Saturday then found new ways to add to their league lead. After Jack Lopez grounded into a double play in the first inning, the Rocks became the first team to reach 40 double plays this season. They would add to that total in the sixth when Lopez singled with one-out. Brian Buchanan tried to help his offense avoid the double play by putting Lopez in motion, but Mauricio Ramos would strikeout and Eric Haase would gun down Lopez at second giving the Rocks their second double play of the game.

THEY SAID IT:

Manager Brian Buchanan

"(Daniel) Rockett hasn't been swinging the bat that well and I was just trying to put us in a situation where we could a guy in there who has been swinging the bat well. During the game, if a guy is on the bench but he's been swinging the bat okay, you're going to use them later in the game. The situation came up where we could use him and we did. Dex (Kjerstad) had a good year last year in Lexington. The kid is one of the hardest workers on the team. He plays the game the right way. He plays hard. He's got a decent swing and when he gets a pitch he can drive he puts a good swing on it. He's just a good kid. If he continues to do that, I think he's going to be a decent ballplayer."

"(Mitch Brown), his numbers weren't that eye-popping but tonight he threw the ball well. He could throw his curveball for strikes and he kept his fastball down. Anytime a guy is going to throw two pitches like that for strikes, it's going to be a long night. He threw the ball well, so it's always nice to get a big hit like (Kjerstad's)."

"The first inning was key (to Skoglund's day). He had runners at second and third and he struck out two guys. That was huge for his confidence throughout the whole game. He made some really good pitches in that situation early in the game when he needed to. In the second inning he got into a little bit of trouble, but again made pitches. I think he just went on from there. That's the kind of pitcher that he can be. He's got good stuff, he's tall and lanky, he's deceptive, and he throw outstanding."

Left Fielder Dex Kjerstad"(Buchanan) told me that inning. He said, 'you might hit here so be loose.' I ran down the right field line and ran back in, did some stretching...and just started to get my mind right. Then he said I was in there. I just went in there, I was looking for something with that infield in because they were up by one and I was looking for something up that I could drive."

"I knew it was at least (a) sac fly, but I didn't know if it was a no-doubter or not. I just put my head down and ran. I did (notice I caught up to Dominique Taylor on the bases). He was tagging up and Pehl was tagging up and I started to come up on them there. Of course, (Brian) Bocock was yelling at first and the umpire gave the little circle."

"It's a lot different (to pinch0hit). Whenever you're in the game, you're in sync with things, versus being on the bench for nine innings and coming in. At first I was super amped but I was able to calm myself down really fast. It's nothing I've really ever done. It's not something you see very often. I remember the last time I pinch-hit was when I was a sophomore in high school. We had the bases loaded and I think I hit a double...that was the last time that I can remember pinch-hitting.

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