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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Lopez, Santos Lead Blue Rocks to 4-2 Win over Hillcats

July 30, 2014 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Lynchburg, VA - Timely hitting by Jack Lopez and an outstanding relief appearance from Luis Santos helped lead the Wilmington Blue Rocks to a 4-2 victory over the Lynchburg Hillcats on Wednesday night at City Stadium. With the win, Wilmington improved to 19-18 in the second half and 52-53 overall. The victory also snapped the club's three-game losing streak.

Lopez delivered a two-out bases-clearing double in the top of the second to give the Blue Rocks a 3-0 lead. Base hits by Cam Gallagher, Logan Davis and Terrance Gore set up Lopez's heroics.

Lynchburg answered with a single tally in the home half of the second. With the bases loaded and one out, David Nick lifted a sacrifice fly to left, plating Kevin Ahrens. Jonathan Dziedzic struggled with his command and walked four in the frame.

Dziedzic completed only three innings on Wednesday in his roughest outing of the second half. The southpaw yielded one run, but gave up three hits and walked five. He also fanned five.

Bubba Starling extended the Blue Crew lead to 4-1 in the top of the eighth inning with a solo homer. It was his ninth long ball of the campaign, tying him with Cody Stubbs for the team lead.

The Hillcats drew to within two in the eighth on a solo homer by Will Skinner. The long ball came on a 1-0 pitch from Santos and was Skinner's 10th of the campaign.

Santos turned in five solid frames after replacing Dziedzic. The right-hander yielded just two hits, including the solo homer to Skinner. Santos punched out five and did not walk a batter.

Santos (3-2, 5.48) picked up the win for Wilmington while Jarrett Miller (7-7, 3.79) took the loss for Lynchburg. Kyle Bartsch earned his second save with a perfect ninth.

The Rocks return to action on Thursday night in Lynchburg for the rubber match of their three-game series against the Hillcats. Right-hander Miguel Almonte (6-6, 4.77) will take the mound for Wilmington. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m., and fans can listen to the broadcast on 89.7 WGLS-FM.

Wilmington will next play at Frawley Stadium on Friday, when they welcome the Frederick Keys to town for three games.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Jack Lopez went 1-for-5 at the plate on Wednesday, giving him hits in nine of his last 11 contests. Lopez's double was a crucial one for the Wilmington offense, as it cleared the bases with two outs in the second inning to put the Blue Rocks ahead, 3-0. During his current hot stretch, Lopez is batting .288 (15-for-52) with five doubles, five runs and six RBIs. Lopez is batting .302 against Lynchburg in 2014 and is the only Blue Rock this year with at least 15 at-bats to hit over .261 against the Hillcats. Lopez also has three runs, five doubles, four steals and nine RBIs in 14 games against Lynchburg this year. Overall in 2014, the right-handed hitting infielder is batting .222 with 28 runs, 19 doubles, one homer and 23 RBIs in 91 games.

Bubba Starling launched his ninth home run of the year on Wednesday, tying him with Cody Stubbs for the team lead. Starling has shown tremendous improvement at the plate in the second half, both in the power department and when it comes to getting on base. Starling is hitting .290 in the second half with six homers and 19 RBIs in 36 games. In the first half, he batted just .184 with three long balls and 30 driven in across 65 contests. In the month of July, the slugging outfielder owns a .286 average to go along with four homers and 13 RBIs. Overall this season, Starling is batting .223 with nine homers and 49 RBIs.

Luis Santos dazzled across five fantastic relief frames on Wednesday night. The right-handed hurler gave up just one run on two hits. The single tally came on a solo home run by Will Skinner in the bottom of the eighth inning. Santos did not walk a batter and he struck out five. It was the longest relief outing of the year by a Blue Crew pitcher this year, eclipsing the 4.1 innings that Johnny Walter threw on July 2 against Potomac. The right-handed hurler has had an up-and-down year for the Blue Rocks after his promotion from Low-A Lexington in late May. Santos began his stint on the Riverfront as a member of the Blue Rocks' starting rotation. In eight starts, he went 2-2 with a 6.25 ERA. He was then moved to the bullpen and has performed drastically better. In two relief appearances, Santos has allowed just one run on two hits across 7.1 fantastic frames. He has struck out eight and walked only one. Overall for the Blue Rocks, Santos is 3-2 with a 5.48 ERA in 10 appearances (eight starts). He has fanned 35 and walked 17 in 47.2 innings pitched.

Despite the team's struggles with Lynchburg this season, the Blue Rocks were able to pick up a win against the Hillcats on Tuesday night at City Stadium. Wilmington has now won two of the last three meetings after they had lost five in a row. Overall, the Rocks are 7-12 against Lynchburg this ear. The Blue Rocks own just a .210 batting average against the Hillcats and a 3.96 team ERA. Conversely, the Hillcats are batting .253 against Wilmington and have posted a 3.75 team ERA. Earlier in the second half, the Rocks had gone 21.1 consecutive innings without a base hit and 14 straight frames without a run. The Rocks became the first professional baseball team since 1972 to get no-hit in consecutive nine-inning games when the Hillcats turned in back-to-back no-nos at Frawley Stadium, June 25-26.

THEY SAID IT:

Manager Darryl Kennedy:

"It was big [to hold on to the lead]. It was apparent in that second inning that [Jonathan Dziedzic] didn't really have much control tonight. Just off in his game. It was big to get out of that inning. He threw a great pitch to get [Jose] Martinez who beat us the night before. Then, I wanted to send him back out there to see if he could right the ship. By then it was apparent he wasn't on his game."

"[Luis] Santos came in and did a great job. He picked us up big time tonight, going five innings and only giving up that home run in that last inning that he worked. He threw the ball really well...The key for him was his fastball command. He was able to spot and get 0-2, and then work his curveball in there. It buckled a few of them and they took a lot of them for strike three. He was in control tonight, no doubt about it."

"Unbelievable, right there. I knew the ball was hit hard. Bubba [Starling] came up and threw a perfect strike to Zane [Evans] there and got the runner by quite a few steps. We've talked about Bubba all year, about his defense in the outfield. It was a big run to stop, simply because these guys have handled us pretty good."

"I think the biggest play of the night was that two-out base hit by [Jack] Lopez there to drive a ball into the gap. We get three runs right there and get an early lead. I thought that was big."

"We didn't hit the ball hard, but they fell. Sometimes that's better than hitting the ball hard. [Logan] Davis, playing for the first time since he came back with us got a nice hit. Then Terrance [Gore] with a two-out base hit right there. With [Cam] Gallagher running the bases at second and the way they play the outfield, I didn't really want to take a chance. I wanted to give Jack [Lopez] a chance to do it and it paid off for us."

Outfielder Bubba Starling:

"[Benino Pruneda] has pretty good stuff and I wanted to jump on him early in the count and I saw a good pitch and put a good swing on it."

"It was a good hit by Justin Bloxom. He put a good swing on it and I was anticipating him hitting the gaps. Fortunately, I got that one hop right to me and made a good throw and Zane [Evans] got him from there."

"[Jonathan] Dziedzic has been pretty good all year. Unfortunately, he was missing his spots a little bit. We had [Jack Lopez] come up there and get that nice line drive to right-center and before that getting guys on base was huge."

"[Luis] Santos was just pounding the zone. He was just throwing strikes. That's what you like when you're playing the outfield, not walking guys and making them put it in play. He was getting outs and it was easy for us, really."

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