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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Offense Erupts Early for Win

June 5, 2018 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - Coming off a quick road trip where they came away with two wins, the Wilmington Blue Rocks (24-33) returned home to Frawley Stadium and surged early offensively and scored nine runs in the first two innings of the ballgame to beat the Lynchburg Hillcats (26-26) by a score of 9-2. Khalil Lee hit his third homer of the season and drove in three runs in the offensive onslaught while eight different Blue Rocks picked up a hit. With the win, the Rocks have won three straight games for just the second time this season.

Lynchburg got the ball rolling in the first frame of the game. After a Jodd Carter triple, Conner Capel doubled down the first-base line to put the Hillcats on top 1-0. The Rocks responded in their half of the first. D.J. Burt singled with one out and stole second base before Lee slugged his third homer of the season over the fence in centerfield to give Wilmington the 2-1 lead.

The Hillcats wasted no time on their turn to score in the top of the second with a lead-off single by Luke Wakamatsu. Trenton Brooks hit a pop-fly to third to bring up Dillon Persinger who hit a perfectly-placed ball into the gap in left-center to leg out an RBI triple to tie the game, 2-2.

Wilmington looking to break the stalemate in the bottom of second, instead blew the game wide open. After Gabriel Cancel singled and Chris DeVito walked to set the inning, Nick Heath put the Rocks back on top with a one-out RBI double to make it 3-2. Kort Peterson put the game out of reach with a two-run RBI double of his own to extend the lead to 6-2. The Blue Rocks tacked on another run on a wild pitch that allowed Lee to score from third, a run-scoring single by Meibrys Viloria and Chris DeVito capped the seven-run inning with an RBI sacrifice fly to right field en route to the 9-2 victory.

The offense for both teams hit an immediate stop in the third inning. Arnaldo Hernandez settled in nicely for the Blue Rocks after the first two frames. Hernandez went five full innings gave up only two runs and one walk along with seven hits and struck out out six batters. The Hillcats used a combination of three relievers to keep Wilmington at bay. Blue Rocks' reliever Carter Hope earned his second, save of the season and threw four scoreless innings to close out the game.

The Rocks will be back in action on Wednesday, June 6 with game one of a doubleheader scheduled for a 5:05 start time at Frawley Stadium. Wilmington will call on southpaw Daniel Tillo (1-1, 2.87 ERA) for his fourth start of the season. Tillo will be opposed by fellow lefty Sam Hentges (3-4, 3.83 ERA) on the mound for Lynchburg. Fans can tune in to the game with Matt Janus and Cory Nidoh on 89.7 WGLS-FM.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

The seven-run, second inning matched the biggest offensive output by the Blue Rocks in a single inning this season.  The Rocks sent 12 men to the plate, scored the seven runs on five hits to pull away from Lynchburg.  The first time the Blue Rocks scored seven in an inning was on April 19 at Frederick when the scored seven runs in the fourth inning on the way to a 15-4 rout of the Keys.

Khalil Lee launched his third homer of the season to dead center in his first at-bat Tuesday night in the series opener.  It was his first homer since April 13 which also came against the Hillcats at Frawley Stadium.  With the homer, Lee has reached base in 10 straight games, has picked up a hit in five straight games.  The 19-year-old is now second on the team with three home runs, trailing Kort Peterson and Chase Vallot who each have six.

The Blue Rocks have won three straight games for the first time since April 19-21 when they took the first three games of a four-game series at Frederick.  Wilmington earned a series win over the weekend at Salem winning two of three games after starting the 2018 season 0-7 at Salem.  During the three-game winning streak, the Blue Rocks are outscoring opponents 21-13.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics



Carolina League Stories from June 5, 2018


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