CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Rocks Offense Blanked for Second Straight Night

Published on July 30, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - For the first time in 2010 the Wilmington Blue Rocks offense failed to plate a run in consecutive games. One day after being blanked in the series opener by the Kinston Indians, the Rocks dropped a 4-0 decision to the K-Tribe on Friday night at Frawley Stadium.

There were a couple of significant differences between the two losses however. One was the Rocks had just three nights in Friday's loss as opposed to seven the night before. The other was more significant. On Thursday, Wilmington had multiple scoring opportunities and came close to tying the game in each of its final three trips to the plate. On Friday night Wilmington managed only one true scoring threat over the first eight innings.

The Rocks' best chance at a run came in the fourth when they loaded the bases with two outs. Wil Myers walked, Ernesto Mejia singled and Salvador Perez got hit by a pitch, but Rey Navarro flied out to left to end the inning.

The only other man Wilmington put in scoring position before the final frame came in the fifth. Adam Frost singled and then stole second with only one out. But Frost got greedy and tried to break for third on first movement from starter Joe Gardner. But Gardner stepped off and Frost was gunned down.

Gardner had himself a solid start. The right-hander, who allowed six runs on seven hits in only four innings just last week to the Rocks, kept Wilmington off the board over five frames on Friday. Gardner (9-5) allowed just two hits while fanning five and walking two.

Meanwhile, Kinston jumped all over Blue Crew starter Bryan Paukovits (3-3) . The reigning Carolina League Pitcher of the Week allowed four runs on eight hits in just five frames of work.

He was greeted by a pair one-out doubles in the first inning. Karexon Sanchez got the game's first hit when he sliced a liner into the left-center field gap. That was followed by an RBI double by right fielder Abner Abreu.

Four straight Kinston hits extended the K-Tribe lead in the third. Sanchez and Abreu each singled to put men at first and third with one out. Sanchez then came home on Chun Chen's run-scoring single to left-center. After Chen was thrown out trying to sneak to second on a ball in the dirt, Kyle Bellows tripled home Abreu to put the K-Tribe ahead, 3-0.

Kinston added its final tally of the night on Sanchez's solo home run in the fifth.

Things got interesting in the ninth when Wilmington put its first two batters of the inning on base. Myers was hit by a pitch while Mejia reached courtesy of two Kinston errors. The first baseman saw his fly ball dropped in foul territory by Abreu, and then received a second reprieve and ended up on first base courtesy of a Juan Diaz miscue at short.

But the Wilmington momentum stalled when closer Cory Burns entered the game. He shut the door on the Blue Crew by inducing a soft grounder to the mound by Nick Francis and a line-drive double play off the bat of Perez to end the game.

Wilmington looks to avoid the sweep as it hosts the K-Tribe again on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. Southpaw Buddy Baumann (3-1, 2.24) toes the rubber for the Rocks against Kinston piggybackers Austin Adams (2-0, 1.69) and Marty Popham (1-4, 4.62).

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

With the loss, Kinston clinched at least a split of the season-series between the squads. Kinston has taken 10 of the teams' 19 meetings so far this year. Saturday's contest marks Wilmington's final encounter of the season with the K-Tribe. Wilmington also failed in its bid for the 200thwin in franchise-history over Kinston. The Rocks enjoy a 199-158 record all-time vs. the K-Tribe.

The Rocks had not been blanked in back-to-back games since August 28, 2009 when they failed to score in both ends of a doubleheader against the Potomac Nationals. Wilmington had not been shut out in consecutive nine-inning games since July 11-12, 2001.

Kinston had not authored consecutive blankings since holding Wilmington scoreless in both halves of a double dip on July 7, 2006.

K-Tribe second baseman Karexon Sanchez finished the night, 3-for-5, and was just a triple shy of the cycle. Wilmington has not allowed an opponent to hit for the cycle since Mark DeRosa did it on September 2, 1997.

Wil Myers reached base all four times he came to the plate on Friday. The catcher walked twice, got hit by a pitch and singled in the sixth. In 25 Advanced-A games Myers has an on-base percentage of .431.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from July 30, 2010


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