[Rocks Media] Rallying Magic Runs out in One-Run Loss
Published on May 29, 2017 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release
Rallying Magic Runs Out in One-Run Loss
Rocks Strand Tying Run at Third
Wilmington, DE - For the third straight game, the Wilmington Blue Rocks (26-25) tried to formulate another late-inning victory, but ultimately fell short in a 3-2 loss to the Potomac Nationals (24-27) Monday afternoon at Frawley Stadium. Wilmington had multiple opportunities to score throughout the game, but went 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position on the day. Wilmington loaded the bases three different occasions and left the tying-run at third base in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The rallying Rocks contested for another late-inning rally, this time in the ninth inning. Nicky Lopez drew a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch with one out. He moved to third base on a groundout, but was left stranded when Wander Franco struck out to end the threat and ballgame.
The contest started as a pitching duel through the first four innings between Blue Rocks' starter LHP Cristian Castillo (3-3) and Nationals' LHP hurler Hector Silvestre (5-1). In the fifth inning, Potomac's offense ended the scoreless stalemate with a two-run homer from Victor Robles to take a 2-0 lead. Austin Davidson padded the advantage with an RBI single to right field to make it a 3-0 ballgame.
The Blue Rocks threatened multiple times in the ballgame, including two bases loaded rallies in the seventh and eighth innings. They were able to get on the board with a Lopez RBI single to make it 3-1. However, with the bases still loaded, Potomac's second baseman Bryan Mejia turned a slick double play to on a ground ball up the middle off the bat of Anderson Miller to end the threat and inning. In the eighth inning, the Rocks loaded the bases again with nobody out and scored a run on a Travis Maezes RBI groundout to make it a one-run ballgame, 3-2.
The Blue Rocks return to the diamond on Wednesday, May 31 when they begin a seven-game tour of the Southern Division starting with a four-game series with the Winston-Salem Dash. RHP Andres Machado (1-4, 4.15 ERA) makes the start for Wilmington. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Fans can listen to the game as Matt Janus will have the call on 89.7 WGLS-FM
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
With another game decided by a single run, the Rocks and Nationals have now played in 13 games that have been decided by a two-run margin or less in 19 of their total contests. The Rocks have taken 10 of the last 15 games against Potomac and four of the last six contests that have been decided by a pair of runs or less. Overall, the Rocks lead the head-to-head matchup 11-8. The Rocks have played the Nationals more times (19) through the first month-and-a-half of the season than the rest of the Northern Division combined (15 games).
Nicky Lopez extended his on-base streak to 28 games with a walk in the first inning. The shortstop ultimately reached base three times, adding a hit and a walk to his ledger in the loss. He smashed the game-tying triple into centerfield on Saturday night to tie the game at 6-6 in the bottom of the eighth inning. Lopez continues to chase teammate Anderson Miller for the longest on-base streak for any Blue Rock hitter and for any hitter in the Carolina League. Lopez strung together a 30-gamer of his own last year in his first year in professional baseball with the Burlington Royals. Lopez has hit in all but six games this season and has reached in every game but two.
Wilmington wrapped up the seven-day homestand with a 4-3 record. They started with a rain-shortened series against Lynchburg in which each team split a game before the finale was rained out. The game will be made up on June 13 in part of a doubleheader when the Rocks visit the Hillcats. Wilmington lost the resumption of the suspend game on Friday by the score of 3-2 before winning a seven-inning contest in the back end of a quasi-doubleheader 4-2. The Rocks rattled off two more wins afterwards before ultimately falling short on Memorial Day.
The Blue Rocks will enjoy an off day on Tuesday, May 30 before embarking on a seven-game road trip to take on Southern Division opponents in the Winston-Salem Dash and Down East Wood Ducks. The Rocks begin with a four-game set against the Dash, who owns the worst record in the league, Wednesday, May 31 before finishing the trip with a three-game set against Down East.
THEY SAID IT: JAMIE QUIRK
"We were very poor executing on offense. Getting runners in, getting them over, little things that win ball games. That how you lose one-run games. Our situational hitting was poor. Just taking what they give you, that is the key to me. We failed at that aspect of the game (on Monday), 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position, and that's not counting the guys getting them over and getting them in. When you do those things, like we have been doing, you win the game. When you don't do them, it shows."
"(Cristian Castillo) pitched really good. He did his job. We didn't score for him at all and he was grinding out there. (Potomac) was going to get a couple of runs. I wasn't worried about the three runs (that Castillo surrendered). We were getting runners out there every single inning off of (Hector) Silvestre and we had chances off their bullpen. We just didn't get it done. Castillo pitched fine."
"I love our bullpen. Matt Tenuta was here last year as a starter, made the Double-A team and started. He had a couple hiccups and they sent him down. He is going to be in the bullpen with us and they will see how he does out of the bullpen. He was absolutely outstanding today. I saw a good fastball, he was more aggressive (on difference in Tenuta between last year and this year). He ended up getting a lot of strikeouts and was just trying to throw strikes. He gets in trouble when he starts misfiring and getting in hitter's counts. He was in pitcher's counts almost the whole time out there. I loved his aggressiveness, he came out and made his pitches. That was a big difference from what we saw last year."
"It's a great mindset to have (on never being out of ballgames), but we left a lot of runners out there way too early in the game. We can't rely on coming back from three runs, two runs, you can't rely on that. We have to rely on getting runners in earlier in the game, getting on the board, trying to play with a lead. It's very tough to keep trying to come from behind. We had runners out there all day long and didn't execute."
"You can't look anything past Wednesday's game (on biggest focus for the road series). That's the next one. You have to show up, be ready to go, no matter who you are playing or where you are playing it's just that game at hand. Like I always say, we have to get a good effort from the starting pitcher and play good, solid, correct baseball. I like to say you play the game hard, you play the game right and everything will take care of itself. When you don't play it right, it doesn't take care of anything."
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Carolina League Stories from May 29, 2017
- [P-Nats Media] P-Nats Hold on for Win in Final Game of Series - Potomac Nationals
- [Rocks Media] Rallying Magic Runs out in One-Run Loss - Wilmington Blue Rocks
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