CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Rocks beat Nats, "Rock" gets 300th

Published on September 2, 2007 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - On Sunday afternoon at Frawley Stadium, a strong effort from Dan Cortes and a two-run fifth inning rally were enough to get the Wilmington Blue Rocks a 2-1 victory and give John Mizerock his 300th victory as Wilmington manager. Cortes went five innings, allowing just an unearned run on five hits, while Mario Lisson and Jeremy Cleveland collected RBI singles in the fifth inning to wipe out a one-run hole. Mizerock, who improves to 300-254 in four years at the helm of the Rocks, joins Jeff Garber (307-250) as the only skippers to amass 300 wins on the Riverfront.

Cortes (8-8) becomes the fourth Wilmington hurler to win six consecutive decisions, as the 20-year-old phenom is 6-0 with 0.77 ERA over his last eight starts. His last loss came back on July 23, when he allowed six runs over four innings at Salem.

Wilmington stafffers Rowdy Hardy, Julio Pimentel, and Blake Johnson have also sustained six-game winning streaks, which are tied for second longest in the Carolina League this season.

Cortes tied a season-high both personally and for all Wilmington pitchers with eight strikeouts.

The Nats opened the scoring with an unearned tally against Cortes in the second.. Justin Maxwell doubled to lead off the frame and scored on a Cody Clark error with two outs.

With runners at the corners and one out, Cortes fanned Brian Peacock on a payoff pitch. Matt Rogelstad, the runner at first, took off on the pitch and was caught in a rundown between second and first. Maxwell broke for home during the chase, promptiong a throw by first bagger Miguel Vega to the third baseman Lisson. Lisson threw a strike to home in plenty of time to nab Maxwell, but Clark dropped the ball on the tag attempt. The Blue Rock backstop was charged with an error on the play.

The Rocks took the lead with a pair of runs in the second against P-Nats reliever Eddy Baeza (0-3). Marc Maddox led off the frame with a single and raced home on Lisson's second double of the game. Cleveland, the next batter, hit a high pop up that right fielder Marvin Lowrance lost in the sun. The ball dropped in for a hit, chasing Lisson home and extending Cleveland's season-best hitting streak to eight games.

The recently bulletproof Blue Rocks bullpen sustained the slim margin the rest of the way, as Patrick Green, Yovany D'Amico and Arthur Santos combined on four scoreless innings of relief.

D'Amico came on with two on and one out in the sixth when Patrick Green took a line drive off his right foot and had to leave the game. D'Amico stranded both runners and wound up firing 2.2 innings with one walk and one strikeout.

In the ninth, Santos converted his 10th save in 11 chances when he set Potomac down in order.

The Rocks conclude their regular season slate with a 1:05 p.m. Labor Day contest against the Nationals. Right-handed prospect Blake Wood (0-0, 0.00) makes his second Wilmington start, opposing lefty Ross Detwiler (2-2, 4.42)

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Carolina League Stories from September 2, 2007


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