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Wilmington Blue Rocks

Opportunistic Keys Defeat Blue Rocks

June 26, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Frederick, MD - Tyler Sample deserved a better fate. He certainly pitched better than his final line would indicate. Perfect and pitch-efficient though five frames, he lost the perfecto and the lead in a two-run sixth. But the seventh made the biggest difference. Former Royals farmhand Adam Donachie continued his recent power surge, thundering his third homer in two days over the fence in left. His two-out shot drove in three runs as the Frederick Keys (43-30, 2-2) beat the Wilmington Blue Rocks (38-35, 2-2) in a series opener, 6-2.

The Blue Crew grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third inning. Gerard Hall worked a one-out walk, stole second, took third on a deep fly-out to center by Whit Merrifield, and scored on a Bobby Bundy wild pitch. Bundy (7-5) faced one over the minimum thereafter as the Carolina League All-Star struck out six men over seven frames of one-run ball.

Sample (5-5) notched seven outs on two pitches or less and struck out a man, Donachie, on three, through his five perfect innings. Donachie then opened the sixth with a single. Dale Mollenhauer followed with a double to right and Brian Ward tied the game with a groundout to first. Steve Bumbry's subsequent sacrifice fly to right put Frederick ahead to stay, 2-1.

Delaware native Tyler Townsend and Miguel Abreu connected on consecutive one-out singles in the seventh. Their presence added to the clout of Donachie's homer. Jonathan Schoop tripled in a run against piggyback reliever Justin Marks in the eighth. John Whittleman drove in the Rocks' lone run in the ninth before Sean Gleason entered with the tying run on deck and struck out two for his league-leading 20th save.

The three-game set continues on Monday night at 7 p.m. Wilmington right-hander Elisaul Pimentel (4-4, 4.10) faces repeating righty Oliver Drake (5-3, 2.79). Broadcast coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. as studio host Adam Dobrowolski brings fans the Rocks Report Pre-game Show, presented by Wawa, on 89.7 WGLS-FM and online at wgls.rowan.edu.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Both Rey Navarro and Nick Francis finished the game 2-for-4. Navarro doubled and scored as he posted multiple hits for the third time in five games. Six of his last 10 hits have gone for extra bases. Since returning from his brief stint in Double-A on June 6, Francis has gone 26-for-62 with seven doubles, a triple, two home runs and 11 RBIs in 17 games. His slashes over that time are .419/.463/.661/1.124. With his four plate appearances on Sunday, Francis now qualifies for the league leaderboard. That has allowed him to jump over Townsend for the league lead in hitting at .321.

All of Adam Donachie's three homers this season have come over the last two days. On Saturday night, he finished with multiple homers for the first time since he played with High-A High Desert in the California League in 2006. Had the Blue Rocks not strayed from Kansas City and spent 2005-06 as a Boston affiliate, he would have been a Rock that season.

Delaware native Tyler Townsend, a Carolina League All-Star and the league's top hitter entering Sunday at .317, got activated off the disabled list before the game. Four hamstring injuries made for stays on the DL in 2010. He had been on the DL with another hamstring injury since June 9. He finished the game with a hit, a bruise and a run scored.

Frederick left just two men on base in the game.

While Gerard Hall's steal factored significantly in the Blue Rocks' first run of the game, the Rocks also ran out of scoring chances. In the fourth, Nick Francis reached on a one-out single only to be picked off/caught stealing 1-3-6. Tim Ferguson began the next frame with a walk and promptly was caught stealing at second by catcher Brian Ward. Navarro suffered the same fate after his two-out single in the sixth. Ward ranks second in the league with 29 men caught stealing in 57 tries (.509). The Keys lead the loop as a team by cutting down 34 would-be base stealers in 68 attempts (.500).

Balitmore's top prospect according to Baseball America, Manny Machado, went 0-for-4 in his first game against the Blue Rocks. He made a spectacular diving catch of a Jose Bonilla line drive in the second that brought about thunderous applause from the paid crowd of 6,133.

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Carolina League Stories from June 26, 2011


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