CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

[rocks Media] Marks Stellar in Shutout Setback

Published on May 31, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Kinston, NC - Blue Rocks southpaw Justin Marks carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning on Tuesday night. With two outs in the frame, a just-fair double by Adam Abraham scored Jeremie Tice from first base, and made for the game's only run as Marks (2-3) and the Blue Crew (28-22) took a tough-luck at Kinston against the Indians (26-24), 1-0. The Blue Rocks have lost a season-high five in a row scoring just six runs in that time. They finished the month of May with a losing record as a result (14-15).

A pitchers' duel saw Kinston's Giovanni Soto tie his career-high with 10 strikeouts over six scoreless innings. While he whiffed with regularity, he also allowed a number of two-out baserunners. A bruise and a walk to Rey Navarro and John Whittleman put a pair on in the first. Strikeout No. 2 followed. Joey Lewis stroked a single to right-center field in the second. Deivy Batista then flied out to left. Tim Ferguson doubled in the fourth, only to see Jose Bonilla bounce out to Soto. Whit Merrifield never left first after he walked in the fifth, as Alex McClure's swinging strikeout concluded a three-whiff frame.

Meanwhile, what Marks lacked in strikeouts, he made up for with perfection through three frames. Tyler Holt walked at the start of the fourth for the only baserunner against Marks over the game's first six innings.

Reliever Jose Flores (2-3) struck out the side despite a two-out walk to Lewis in the top of the seventh. Marks retired the first two in the bottom of the seventh before Tice drew a walk. Marks still attacked, jumping ahead of Abraham 0-2 in the count. But the former University of Michigan Wolverine doubled just inside the third-base line to score Tice. Abraham attempted to leg out a triple, only to be gunned down by McClure's relay throw to end the inning.

Navarro, who collected the Rocks' lone hit that knocked in the team's only run on Monday, singled with two down in the seventh. That prompted Kinston skipper Aaron Holbert to lift Flores in favor of the league's top closer, Preston Guilmet. Whittleman gave Guilmet a good ride with a fly-ball out to deep center field.

Marks rebounded by facing the minimum in the eighth. He worked around a one-out infield hit by inducing a groundball double play. Alas, the offense withered against Guilmet in a 1-2-3 ninth as the former University of Arizona Wildcat notched his 12th save in as many tries.

The four-game series shifts to a morning start on Wednesday at 11 a.m. A battle of highly-touted prospects will pit Wilmington right-hander Jake Odorizzi (4-0, 2.31) against Kinston lefty Drew Pomeranz (1-1, 2.09). Broadcast coverage begins at 10:30 a.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:

In scoring six runs during their five-game losing streak, the Blue Rocks have hit .123 (19-for-154) with just seven extra-base hits. That span includes a 4-for-25 (.160) mark with runners in scoring position.

The Blue Rocks were the last Carolina League team to suffer a shutout defeat when Myrtle Beach blanked them on Saturday, 4-0. Three days later, they became the last CL squad to get blanked at least twice.

Wilmington last lost five in a row from July 29-Aug. 3, 2010. Coincidentally enough, the first three losses came against Kinston.

The team's last five-game road skid came from July 22-30, 2008.

Kinston's three pitchers combined on 16 strikeouts.

Five of Justin Marks' eight innings were perfect. He struck out a season-high-tying seven, walked two and allowed one run on two hits. The lefty logged the Blue Rocks' first complete game of the season. Marks lasted at least seven innings for the third time this season. No other Blue Rock has done it more than once.

The K-Tribe left just one man on base all night.

After winning their first four clashes with Kinston, the Blue Crew has dropped four in a row against the Indians.

The Blue Rocks' played their 20th one-run game of the season and fell to 10-10 in such affairs. No Carolina League club has played more one-run games than the Blue Crew.

By hitting team game No. 50 on Tuesday, the Blue Rocks are more than 71% of the way through the season's first half.

The game took just two hours and 13 minutes to complete.

After playing most of the season in unseasonably cool temperatures, the Blue Rocks saw the game-time thermometer read 95 degrees.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from May 31, 2011


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