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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Rocks Fall To P-Nats In Thursday's Opener, Nightcap Suspended Due To Rain

July 10, 2014 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Woodbridge, VA - Wilmington dropped the opener of Thursday's doubleheader against Potomac, 4-3, while the nightcap between the Blue Rocks and Nationals was tied, 1-1, after five-and-a-half innings when rain forced the suspension of play. The P-Nats walked off on the Blue Rocks in game one courtesy of an RBI single from Tony Renda. With the loss, Wilmington fell to 42-45 overall and 9-10 in the second half. The suspended game will be resumed on Wednesday, July 16, prior to the originally-scheduled meeting between the two clubs.

Game one was deadlocked at three entering the home half of the seventh inning, but Tony Renda's walk-off single handed the P-Nats a 4-3 victory. Pedro Severino led off the frame with a single up the middle. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Eury Perez and to third on a passed ball by Zane Evans. Reliever Zeb Sneed intentionally walked Stephen Perez to put runners at the corners for Renda, who ripped a single to left to end the game.

The Blue Crew evened the score of the opener, 3-3, with a pair of tallies in the top of the third. Daniel Rockett, Jack Lopez and Raul Mondesi hit consecutive singles to start the inning, loading the bases with nobody out. After Bubba Starling lined to second for the first out of the frame, Mark Threlkeld reached on a fielding error by third-baseman Cody Dent. That allowed Rockett and Lopez to head plateward and even the score.

Both clubs scored single tallies in the second. In the top half of the frame, Evans connected with the first pitch he saw from Dakota Bacus for his second home run of the year. In the bottom half, Renda lifted a sacrifice fly to center, allowing Eury Perez to score. He had reached on a one-out single off of Sean Manaea.

Potomac struck first with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Eury Perez singled and stole both second and third. Stephen Perez then walked to put runners at the corners for Renda, who hit a sacrifice fly to center. After Shawn Pleffner walked, advancing Stephen Perez to second, and Randolph Oduber flew out, Khayyan Norfork drew a base on balls to load the bases. Estarlin Martinez sent home Stephen Perez with an RBI single to left, making it 2-0 Nationals.

In the nightcap, both teams remained hitless until the fifth inning, when Ramon Torres and Cam Gallagher hit back-to-back two-out singles. However, the Blue Rocks did not score in the frame.

In the bottom half of the fifth, Potomac managed to break through and score a single tally against reliever Johnny Walter. Norfork singled to center with one out and then advanced on a walk by Mike McQuillan. Martinez drove home Norfork with an RBI single to make it 1-1, Nationals.

The Blue Rocks answered in the top of the sixth with a tally of their own to draw even at 1-1. Terrance Gore reached on a bunt single and then stole second. He advanced to third on a groundout by Jack Lopez and scored on a sacrifice fly by Raul Mondesi.

After five-and-a-half innings, rain forced the suspension of play. Statistics will not count until the game is completed on June 16.

Sneed (3-2, 2.38) took the game-one loss for Wilmington while Gilberto Mendez (5-3, 2.50) picked up his fifth win for Potomac in the opener.

The Rocks return to action Friday night at Frawley Stadium as they kick off a four-game set against the Salem Red Sox. Wilmington will send righty Glenn Sparkman (4-2, 1.56) to the mound while Salem will counter with lefty Corey Littrell (5-4, 3.99). First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m. and fans can listen to the broadcast on 89.7 WGLS-FM. For tickets, call 302-888-BLUE or visit BlueRocks.com.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Brandon Finnegan made his professional debut for the Blue Rocks in Thursday's nightcap. The hard-throwing southpaw was fantastic and threw two perfect innings while striking out one. However, because the game was suspended, his statistics will not count until the game is competed on June 16. The Kansas City Royals selected Finnegan No. 17 overall in the First Round of the 2014 Draft. He played collegiately for TCU and dazzled across three excellent seasons there. With TCU, Finnegan posted a career 13-16 record and 2.77 ERA. He struck out 276 and walked 94 there across 247.1 innings. However, his final season is the one that really stood out. Finnegan went 9-3 with a 2.04 ERA, 234 strikeouts and 29 walks in 105.2 innings pitched this spring. He was a standout performer while leading TCU to just its second College World Series berth in school history. Finnegan was named First-Team All-Big 12 for his efforts. The honors did not stop there. Louisville Slugger, Baseball America and Perfect Game all named him a third-team All-American. Finnegan was also drafted out of high school in the 45th Round of the 2011 Draft by the Texas Rangers.

Blake Wood made his first appearance of the season in a Blue Rocks uniform in Thursday's nightcap. Wood hurled a pair of perfect frames and struck out three of the six batters he faced. Like Finnegan, his numbers will not count until the game has been completed on June 16. The hard-throwing reliever began the 2014 campaign in the Major Leagues as a member of the Cleveland Indians' bullpen. He made the club out of Spring Training and went 0-1 with a 7.11 ERA in 7 appearances. The righty fanned seven and walked seven in 6.1 innings before being sent to Triple-A Columbus. After posting no record and a 1.12 ERA in nine appearances with the Clippers, Wood was designated for assignment by the Indians on May 27. On June 2, he was claimed by the Kansas City Royals and assigned to Triple-A Omaha, where he walked 10 and yielded five runs on five hits over 4.2 innings pitched. Wood, who is on Kansas City's 40-man roster, had his option transferred to Wilmington on July 9. The Atlanta, Georgia, native has spent parts of four seasons in the Major Leagues. He owns a career 6-7 record and 4.39 ERA in 115 relief appearances in the Big Leagues. The 2011 campaign was a standout one for Wood. He went 5-3 with a 3.75 ERA in 55 games as a middle reliever for the Royals. Wood last appeared with the Blue Rocks in 2008. That season, he was 3-2 with a 2.67 ERA in 10 starts for the Blue Crew prior to a promotion to Double-A Northwest Arkansas.

Potomac's walk-off win in Thursday's opener was the sixth by a Blue Rocks opponent this season. It was also the second of the year by the Potomac Nationals. On June 6, the last time the P-Nats walked off on the Blue Crew, Wilmington held a 10-6 lead entering the bottom of the ninth. The Nationals proceeded to score five times off of Daniel Stumpf and Johnny Walter to win in dramatic fashion. The Myrtle Beach Pelicans, Winston-Salem Dash and Salem Red Sox (twice) have also walked off on the Rocks. Wilmington also has four walk-off victories this year. The Rocks have won in such fashion against the Pelicans, Red Sox, Carolina Mudcats and Frederick Keys. Thursday's doubleheader was the seventh of the campaign for the Blue Crew. The Rocks are 1-2-3 in twin-bills, thus far, with the result of Thursday's doubleheader still hanging in the balance.

Sean Manaea allowed two first-inning runs and a second-frame tally before settling in to throw five solid innings in Thursday's opener for the Blue Crew. Only two of the runs were earned and the 6-foot-5 southpaw also punched out seven while walking four. Last time out, on July 2 against the Nationals, Manaea had to depart the game after just one frame because of a two-hour rain delay. Excluding that outing, he has gone five-plus innings in three consecutive starts. Manaea has now completed five or more frames in seven of his 16 starts this season. Overall, he is 2-7 on the year with a 4.66 ERA, the lowest his ERA has been since April 14, when it registered at 3.24. Manaea has also allowed 69 hits, fanned 86 and walked 34 in 65.2 innings. His 86 strikeouts are third among active Carolina League pitchers.

THEY SAID IT:

Manager Darryl Kennedy:

"You combine [the weather] with constantly being on the road and home for a short bit and back on the road, it's really been a crazy month. You can't mess with Mother Nature. You deal with rainouts as much as you can. We came out in the first game and I thought we competed pretty well, swung the bats pretty well. [For Sean] Manaea, those first two innings really did him in. He did a very good job of righting the ship and throwing three solid innings to go five innings."

"It was very important. If we had to get [Sean Manaea] after that first inning, we're talking the second game being a lot different. We knew we only had [Brandon] Finnegan going only two innings. Blake Wood was only going to go two innings. Then we had [Johnny] Walter, which, if we didn't get [five innings from Manaea], then...it kind of takes away the flexibility we had in the second game. [Johnny] Walter had plenty of pitches to go with but, right before the rainout, I felt good about [Kyle] Bartsch coming in and facing [Khayyan] Norfork. But the rain came and the skies opened up and we've got to come back here and, basically, play five games in three days."

"[Brandon Finnegan threw well], especially in an unusual circumstance, where he comes to the ballpark [Wednesday] thinking he's going to pitch, then we get rained out, then he comes [Thursday] and has to wait for the second game. He handled it very well and threw the ball very well...He's going to pitch two innings again in his next outing and I think we're going to bump him up tot here innings. He's not going to be out there like a normal starter because of the number of innings he threw in college."

"[Blake Wood] threw the ball great. He threw the ball like I remember watching him pitch when he was here in 2008, the last time we were both here together. [He's a] power arm, [and is] just down here to get some work in and I don't expect him to be here too long."

"You look at that [fifth inning] and Gore has really struggled lately with being able to put a bunt in play. He lays down a perfect bunt and then he steals second. Then Lopez gives himself up, does a great job with two strikes to get him to third. Mondesi comes in and gets a sacrifice fly. It kind of goes unnoticed but [it's] huge. That whole inning there is why we still have a chance to win this ballgame."

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