Rocks Drop Series Opener against the Red Sox
July 13, 2018 - Carolina League (CarL) - Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release
Wilmington, DE - The Wilmington Blue Rocks (42-48 / 11-9) had their modest three-game winning streak come to an end in a 10-1 loss to the Salem Red Sox (45-45 / 13-9) in the series opener Friday night at Frawley Stadium. Angelo Castellano led the offense with a pair of hits and reached base three times while D.J. Burt also got on base three times with a single and two walks.
Salem tacked on a run in the second inning on an RBI single from Trenton Kemp to make it a 1-0 deficit for the Blue Rocks. In the fourth, Salem extended its lead with a two-run homer from Jerry Downs to make it a 3-0 ballgame. The Red Sox ultimately broke the game open in the top of the seventh inning when they scored six runs in the frame.
The scoring started with a two-run homer from Kemp to widen the deficit to 5-0 before C.J. Chatham added two more runs with a single to score Chris Madera and Tyler Hills to make it a 7-0 game. Michael Osinski followed two batters later with a two-run double to make it a lopsided 9-0 hole for the Blue Rocks. Salem tacked on one more run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly from Tyler Hill to make it 10-0.
Wilmington's run came across in the bottom of the eighth. Travis Jones led the inning with a double, moved to third on a ground out, and scored on a passed ball.
Andres Sotillet made his Wilmington debut and suffered a tough-luck loss. Aside from a soft RBI single and the home run allowed to Downs, the righty worked five innings, allowed three earned runs on five hits, walked one and struck out five.
The Blue Rocks and Red Sox will play the second game of the four-game series on Saturday, July 14 with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. Wilmington will send righty Ofreidy Gomez (2-8, 3.87 ERA) to the mound while Salem answers with righty Daniel Gonzalez (7-3, 3.43 ERA). Fans can listen to the game as Matt Janus and Cory Nidoh will have the call on 89.7 WGLS-FM.
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With a single in the second inning on Friday night, Nick Heath extends his season high on-base streak to 14 games. During that stretch, he is hitting .265 (13-for-49) with 10 walks, but is hittng .304 (7-for-23) with five runs, a double, a triple, a home run, four RBI and two stolen bases over his last nine game. The streak started all the way back on June 25 against the Lynchburg Hillcats. Heath went 2-for-3 in that game with an RBI and a walk.
Andres Sotillet, the newest addition to the Blue Rocks, had a solid Carolina League debut. The right-hander pitched five full innings giving up only five hits and one walk for three earned runs and five strikeouts. Sotillet was not phased by the call up to Advanced-A. In 16 games with the Lexington Legends, Sotillet racked up five or more strikeouts in 10 of them with his 11th of the season coming on Friday night.
The loss on Friday night was just the fourth game of the season where the Blue Rocks gave up 10 or more runs. Wilmington now falls to 17-28 on the year when the opponent scores first. The Rocks have struggled in low scoring games this season. The team is now 12-37 when scoring three runs or less in games this year. With the lone-run being scored in the bottom of the eighth, the Rocks avoided what would have been their fourth shutout loss of the season.
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