CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Missed opportunities mar second comeback

Published on May 22, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Myrtle Beach, SC - A sluggish squad showed signs of its travel weariness as the Blue Rocks (20-21) dropped a 5-1 series opener to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (15-26) on Friday night. Just like its single-score setback the night prior, the Blue Crew struggled to capitalize on scoring chances, going 1-for-9 with men in scoring position. Johnny Giavotella drove in the lone run, Adrian Ortiz posted a couple of hits and Mario Santiago (1-5) took the loss despite pitching better than his line would indicate. Top Royals' prospect Mike Moustakas lost his team-best hitting streak at 12, going 0-for-4 with a couple of strikeouts. The Blue Rocks are 4-4 through eight games on their season-long 10-game road trip.

Just like they did on Thursday, the Blue Rocks loaded the bases with one out in the second inning. And just like Thursday, they failed to post a run. This time, Cole Rohrbough (2-1) wiggled out of the jam by striking out Matt Morizio and getting a groundout to second from Ortiz. Derrick Robinson led off the second with a bouncing double over the head of third baseman Donell Linares and scored when Giavotella stung a single to left. The Blue Rocks would place only one man beyond second the rest of the way and never score again on the night.

Home runs surged the Pelicans into the driver's seat in the fourth. With one down and the bases empty, Jason Heyward barely cleared the short wall of shallow left field for his eighth homer of the season. Two batters later, Cody Johnson's first-pitch swing destroyed a good Santiago pitch. A ball well down in the zone was sent to straightaway center 400 feet away and cleared a 40-foot tall batter's eye for Johnson's league-leading 16th home run of the year. It put Johnson on pace to tie the CL record for home runs in a season. Leo "Muscles" Shoals, a career minor leaguer, hit 55 with Reidsville in 1949.

Wilmington missed another splendid scoring chance in the fifth. Morizio walked and Ortiz bunted for a base hit with a perfectly placed ball nearly halfway between the mound and first base. Pitcher, first baseman and second baseman all converged, but none could get to it and nobody covered at first base. Derrick Robinson attempted to bunt the men up three times, but fouled off a full-count pitch on a bunt try for a strikeout. Giavotella flied out to center and an alert Morizio tagged up, going to third. An errant throw in by C.J. Lee eluded the cut-off man and Ortiz advanced as well, taking second. But Moustakas, the team leader in homers and RBIs, grounded out to first base.

The Pelicans chased Santiago and put the game away in the sixth as all nine men in the order batted. With two on and one out, Freddie Freeman drove in a run with a single to right. Right fielder Jamar Walton threw to third where Heyward arrived safely from first and the throw allowed Freeman to take second. With first open, the Blue Rocks intentionally walked Johnson and lifted Santiago in favor of Juan Abreu.

Alas, Abreu came out erratic, walking Linares on four pitches for a 4-1 score. Jon Mark Owings followed with a full-count walk and back-to-back free passes with the bases loaded made it 5-1. Abreu struck out the next two batters to leave the bases loaded, but the damage was already done.

All five runs went on Santiago's line. The right-hander went 5.1 innings, also giving up six hits, two walks (one intentional) and two homers while striking out one. Rohrbough went 5.2 innings and allowed one run on five hits and three walks while striking out five. Rowdy Hardy survived a scoreless but scary eighth inning that saw four baserunners. But a caught stealing, fly out and force play left the bases loaded. The Pelicans' Lee Hyde looked impressive over the final two frames, striking out six of the seven batters he faced.

The three-game series continues on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. Southpaw Everett Teaford (4-1, 2.56) will face fellow lefty Edgar Osuna (3-3, 3.54).

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Matt Morizio was the lone man to reach base against Hyde, recording a two-out single in the ninth off the glove of first baseman Freddie Freeman. It marked Morizio's first hit since April 24, a span of seven games played and 26 at-bats.

Mike Moustakas hit .340 (18-for-53) during his team-best 12-game hitting streak.

With two hits on Friday, Adrian Ortiz now owns the squad's longest active hitting streak at seven. During that time, he has hit .391 (9-for-23), lifting his average from .252 to .278.

Both of Cole Rohrbough's victories this year have come against Wilmington. In three career starts against the Blue Rocks, he is 3-0 with a 1.02 ERA and a .177 batting average against.

The Blue Rocks fell to 2-9 with a 6.08 ERA with Matt Morizio as the starting catcher.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from May 22, 2009


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