CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Rocks Lose in Walk-Off Fashion

Published on July 6, 2016 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Woodbridge, VA- The rally Rocks once again reared their heads, but this time it was in Woodbridge, VA as they stormed back in the seventh inning to score two runs and knot the game at 3-3. However, the Wilmington Blue Rocks (32-51/5-9) could not find the decisive run after tying the game and fell 4-3 when Max Schrock ended things with a solo home run in the bottom of the tenth inning. Brandon Downes regained the active team lead in homers with a solo blast of his own on a night where six members of the Blue Crew recorded hits and three registered multi-hit affairs.

Wander Franco rocked a home run on Monday night to put him at five on the season, but Downes did not let his teammate stayed tied with him for long. The product of the University of Virginia walked to the plate in the top of the second inning and waited on a 2-1 pitch before lining it out to center for an early 1-0 Rocks lead.

The game stayed that way until the third inning when Potomac took advantage of a couple of miscues. Rocks starter Josh Staumont hit Khayyan Norfork with one down and the third basemen proceeded to steal second base. That brought up Victor Robles who hit a ball to Austin Bailey at second, but Bailey could not handle it and with Norfork running hard the entire way, he scored from second to knot the game at one. With the Blue Crew unable to muster a run in the fourth, the P-Nats once again profited from a Blue Rocks mistake in the bottom of the frame.

Jose Marmolejos started the inning with a single and moved to second when Alec Keller was able to work a walk. Drew Vettleson came to the plate next, but while he was taking a swing during the at-bat, Rocks catcher Chad Johnson made contact with him resulting in a catcher's interference. That loaded the bases with nobody out and back-to-back run scoring groundouts to second allowed the P-Nats to jump ahead 3-1.

The boys from Frawley threatened in both the fifth and sixth innings by getting multiple men on base, but a popout by Alfredo Escalera ended the fifth and a Chad Johnson lineout in the sixth ended the threats. They did more than threaten in the seventh inning and finally pulled even when Cody Jones bunted his way on base. Brian Bien followed with a single before the duo pulled off a double steal to put men at second and third with one out. Escalera came through with an RBI groundout of his own and Samir Duenez singled to left to bring the game even at three a piece.

With the game turned over to the bullpens neither side looked like they were going to yield. The P-Nats got a runner to second in the eighth inning against Jake Kalish, but he induced a routine flyout to right to get out of the frame. It appeared as though Potomac would end it in the ninth inning against Kalish when they got runners on second and third and two outs, but Rocks manager Jamie Quirk turned to Derek Gordon who struck out his man to escape the jam. The Blue Crew got a man on in the top of the tenth inning, but could not do much with him and that is when the Nationals finally ended it. Gordon quickly recorded the first out of the inning, but got into a battle with Schrock and on the eighth pitch of the at bat, Schrock got a hold of one and cleared the right-center field wall to end the game.

Despite not getting the win, Staumont pitched superbly by going seven innings and allowing just one earned run (three total) on seven strikeouts while matching his lowest walk total for any start of the season, one. By allowing the walk-off home run, Gordon loses his first game of the season to drop to 2-1 while R.C. Orlan moves to 5-2 with the win in relief. The two teams will finish their four game set on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. with the Rocks tossing LHP Foster Griffin (1-4, 5.98) against the P-Nats RHP Mark Blackmar who is making his 2016 affiliated ball debut. Fans interested in listening to the game can catch all the action on 89.7 WGLS-FM or BlueRocks.com as well as the TuneIn Radio App.

Pebbles of Knowledge

Josh Staumont put together probably his best performance of the season on Wednesday night. The righty out of Asuza Pacific University tied a career high in innings pitched with seven strong frames. He allowed three total runs, but only two of the runs were earned while he also struck out seven batters. It was his control that was the most impressive though. He walked just one batter in seven innings to match a season low for any start. By issuing just the one free pass he broke a string of 12 starts in a row of allowing three or more walks. He also got better the longer he went. The fire throwing righty retired the final 12 batters he faced on the night. With the seven innings and just two earned runs, Staumont dropped his ERA from 5.20 to 4.93, which should not be that much of a surprise as his only other start with one walk allowed also came against the P-Nats.

Wednesday night marked the ninth time this season the Rocks played the regulation nine innings without a victor. This was the fifth loss of the year for the Blue Crew when going into extra innings and their record now stands at 4-5. With just a little more luck the boys from Frawley could have a much better record against the Potomac Nationals this season. The 4-3 loss was the third time during the 2016 campaign that the Rocks and P-Nats needed at least one extra frame to figure out the winner. The Blue Crew is now 0-3 against the P-Nats in extras this year with the two previous instances both ending after 12 innings. Wilmington lost in Delaware in 12 innings on April 24 (3-1 defeat) before once again dropping a tough one in 12 frames in Virginia on April 30 (3-2 defeat).

The Rocks are swinging the big sticks to begin the second half of the season. After hitting just 25 home runs in 69 games in the first half of the season, the Rocks have smacked seven through the first 14 games. Tonight it was Brandon Downes doing the honors for the Blue Crew. It was his sixth long ball of the season and put him atop the active team lead in dingers. Coming into the game he was tied with Wander Franco with five each, but Downes' second inning blast broke that tie. It was Downes' first homer since Game One of the doubleheader against the Carolina Mudcats on June 16 and he is now the total team leader in traditional home runs; Ryan O'Hearn still leads the team with seven long balls, but two of his were of the inside-the-park variety.

One man who has been reaching base with more frequency than any other is outfielder Cody Jones. Jones picked up a pair of hits on Wednesday night while going 2-for-5 as the speedy centerfielder now has reached in 15 of 16 games. His bunt single in the seventh inning jumpstarted the two-run rally that let the Rocks tie the game in the late innings. While Jones' average might appear to be low at .211, his on base percentage has hovered over .350 over the last couple of games and is now at .360 thanks to 29 walks in 39 games at the Advanced-A level. In the last 16 games he has reached multiple times in nine of those affairs and his stolen base numbers are improving with six swipes in his last seven games while not get getting caught in any of those attempts.

Brian Bien is loving the friendly confines of Pfitzner Stadium. The utility infielder began the series with a 3-for-4 night on Monday that included two runs scored and an RBI. He had a down night on Tuesday going 0-for-4 before racking up four hits on Wednesday for his first four hit performance of the season. Bien scored another run in the affair to give him three runs scored through the first three games of the series. With Bien it is almost a 50/50 proposition that if he picks up one hit, he is going to pick up at least another. Bien has now appeared in 21 games for the Blue Crew and collected a base knock in 11 of those. However, with the four singles on Wednesday night, Bien has now posted five multi-hit games on the season. Before the start of the series he was batting at .273, but with the seven hits in three days he has ratcheted up his average to .333 on the year.

THEY SAID IT

Blue Rocks Manager Jamie Quirk

"It stings because we played well. (Josh) Staumont was outstanding. As a team we played well and we battled. Left some chances out there, but rallied and got out of some tight spots late as a bullpen. We played well we just didn't quite do enough."

"That was Staumont's best start. I pushed him to his pitch limit. He worked as deep into the game as he has all season. His composure was better. He worked a little bit quicker. He has a tendency to slow the game down some times, but he just got the ball, got his sign and kept things moving. I think the tempo got him going. He never showed any signs of wildness. The curveball was sharp, as sharp as it's been. Sometimes he's too hard on himself, which is natural, but he keeps going to the post. He keeps his head up, works and keeps improving. It's certainly good to see we're in July and he's headed in the right direction."

"I know Cody Jones' average isn't where he wants it to be, but the guy does everything you'd want as a leadoff hitter. He walks like once a game it seems. He's always on base. He'll get hot here eventually and that batting average will come up, but I'm very pleased with what he's done."

"(Samir) Duenez doesn't try to out-think the game. He sees the ball and hits the ball and then it goes where it goes. He's not trying to guess, he's just going with it. And you'll see him hit the ball hard to all parts because of that. He also runs better than you'd think. He goes first to third. I have no problem if he wants to try and steal a base. He has good baseball instincts."

"I think (this finale) is important because these guys have had their way with us. We need a win and a split. We played better (Wednesday) but we've got to find a way to win. If we plan on being in this race at the end this is one of the teams we've got to beat because they're going to be in it the whole way."

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Carolina League Stories from July 6, 2016


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