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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Rocks Offense Opens Up Against Hillcats, Take Series Finale 7-5

June 29, 2016 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE- The Wilmington Blue Rocks (29-47/2-5) offense had trouble getting out of the gates to start the second half of the season, but finally woke out of its slumber with seven runs against the Lynchburg Hillcats (47-29/2-4) on Wednesday night to take the finale 7-4. The biggest swing of the game came off of the bat of Samir Duenez who crushed a three run home run to right field for his first dinger of the season to help galvanize the offense.

Although the Rocks were down 1-0 before they even had a chance to swing the bats, they quickly turned the deficit into an advantage with a four run first. Raul Mondesi whacked a one out single off of the pitcher and proceeded to steal second base. Alfredo Escalera followed with a single to center to put runners at the corner with one out. It looked like the Blue crew might waste the opportunity when Wander Franco struck out, but Elier Hernandez tapped a ball down the third base line to drive in a run and tie the game at ones. That led the way for Duenez's big fly. The first basemen sat on a 1-1 breaking ball and deposited it well over the wall in right for a three run homer run and put the Rocks up 4-1.

Blue Crew starter Corey Ray had some issues in the second and allowed a two run blast to Taylor Murphy as the Hillcats cut the lead to 4-3, but Ray would settle down in the third in fourth. After reaching the fifth inning still nursing the 4-3 lead, Ray walked the first two batters of the frame and allowed a bunt single to load the bases. A sac fly by Tyler Krieger tied the game at four, but a groundout to first and a groundout to second allowed Ray and the Rocks to escape the fifth tied 4-4.

The boys from Frawley took advantage of the minimal damage by scoring a run of their own in the fifth. After the first two men were retired, Cody Jones hit what appeared to be a slow rolling routine groundball to third. However, Hillcats third basemen Mark Mathias' throw went directly into the sun and first basemen Anthony Santander dove out of the way. The ball rolled to the wall and with the third basemen out of his position after charging the ball, Jones hustled all the way to third on the play. He came home two batters later when Escalera hit his own swinging bunt single to third for a 5-4 Rocks advantage. They tacked on two more in the sixth inning on a Brandon Downes double and an Austin Bailey fluke triple that tipped off of the first base bag and rolled into the corner.

Rocks reliever Jake Newberry took the ball from Ray after the starter went the first six inning and Newberry had little trouble in the seventh. He had to work around a pair of baserunners in the eight inning though, but snared a one-hopper comebacker to retire the side. He handed the ball to Derek Gordon and while Gordon allowed a run and watched the tying run reach second base, a routine fly ball to center ended the game as the Blue Crew prevailed 7-5.

Ray improves to 4-2 on the season by tossing six innings of four run baseball in the win while Anderson Polanco gets saddled with the loss to drop to 3-1. With the series against the Hillcats now over, the Rocks welcome the Winston-Salem Dash for four games. Game One of the series will take place at 6:35 p.m. on Thursday with LHP Colin Rodgers (2-4, 3.86) up against the Dash's LHP Tanner Banks (2-0, 2.79). Fans interested in attending the game can call the Blue Rocks ticket office at 302-888-BLUE or get tickets online at BlueRocks.com. Fans interested in listening to the game can tune in to WGLS-FM 89.7 or go to BlueRocks.com for all the game action.

Pebbles of Knowledge

Raul Mondesi continued his rehab assignment with Wilmington on Wednesday. The 20-year-old is returning from a 50-game suspension by Major League Baseball for violating the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Barring rainouts, he will be eligible to resume his season at Double-A Northwest Arkansas on Monday, July 4. Mondesi, who was hitting .250 with five doubles, a triple, five homers and 11 stolen bases in his first 25 games in Double-A this year, went 1-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base and a run scored. He is now 3-for-19 during the rehab stint with two runs scored and a stolen base. Mondesi last played with Wilmington in 2014 and batted .211 with 34 extra-base hits and 33 RBI in 110 games as the only teenager in the Carolina League that season. He spent most of last year in Double-A, but was added to the Royals roster during the postseason and made his Major League debut during the World Series. He was the first ever player to get his first career at bat in the Fall Classic. The top-ranked prospect in the Royals system, according to Baseball America, joins the Rocks during their weekend series in Winston-Salem, before coming to Wilmington for a seven-game homestand at Frawley Stadium.

Samir Duenez thumped six home runs in 68 games with the Lexington Legends and drove in 49 runs in his time at Low-A. He drove in two in his very first game with the Blue Rocks on a double, but went the next 22 games without an extra base hit or an RBI. That wait is now over after he hit a massive three run home run on Wednesday evening. The blast came in the bottom of the first inning and was his first home run with the Rocks to push his career total to nine. The long ball turned a 1-1 game into a 4-1 win and was the Rocks third home run in the last four games.

The Blue Crew has had a tough time scoring runs in the second half of the season. The squad was shut out on Tuesday night and had a total of 10 runs in the second part of the season entering Wednesday. They almost reached that total in one game on Wednesday night. They scored seven runs against the Hillcats en route to the 7-4 win. In the previous six games, they scored three runs on two separate occasions and were either shutout or scored just a lone run. They passed the three run mark in the bottom of the first inning when they scored four, the last three on the first home of the year by Samir Duenez. It was not just the long ball leading the way, but clutch hitting as well. after stumbling in the first six games in the runners in scoring position department, the Rocks went 6-for-10 on Wednesday.

The bullpen once again did its job in holding on to a lead. After starter Corey Ray went the first six innings on Wednesday he had to hand it over to the pen to preserve the lead and they did just that. Jake Newberry came on and pitched two scoreless innings to lower his already impressive ERA to 1.37. The Rocks then turned to Derek Gordon to slam the door and the tall righty was up to the task for the fifth time in five chances. Gordon leads the team with the perfect 5-for-5 and the pitching staff as a while is now 13-for- 16 in putting the final nail in the coffin. The save also adds another tally to the win column in games in which the Rocks lead in the late innings. When they are up after seven they are now 24-2 and that mark improves to 24-1 when leading after eight frames.

They Said It

Blue Rocks Manager Jamie Quirk

"The big hit was (Samir Duenez)'s three run homer in the first, that was huge. They scored in the first but we came back with a four spot and a three run homer, it was huge. We haven't been scoring many runs, to get a three run homer and a lead like that was big for us."

"He is beginning to find his timing here. He did well in low-A Lexington, when he got here he had 51 RBIs. He's been noted to drive in runs, he's coming around. He's a big bat for us, he's a left-handed hitter. He's hit homeruns he's a guy we hope to drive in runs, he's starting to find it."

"(Corey Ray) did have a rough start to the game, he had a little trouble finding the strike zone. It's nice to win games like that. Six innings four runs he didn't cave in. We got the lead and he held it there for us. It wasn't pretty but he did his job. Starters need wins like that once in a while. We got him some runs and he held up for us."

"He's got the ability to throw a curveball to get back in the count. He's got three weapons that are good. He's in a good place with his delivery right now and confidence. He's been pitching really well since we got him."

"It was very pivotal to allow only one run in the fifth. We call it stop the bleeding. They came back at us, took a shot at us, we controlled the damage to one run which was huge. Sometimes they get those extra crooked numbers and that's what hurts us but we kept it to one run which was big."

"It was nice to be on the other side of an unfortunate play. I could see the play happening, if he didn't get out of the way it would have hit him right in the face. We also got a break on the ball (Austin Bailey) hit. It hit the bag on the triple and caromed and got down the line for a triple even though the first basemen looked like he was literally right there and it caromed off. It's nice to get a break once in a while. You play a long season and some go against you, some go with you, Wednesday night we got some breaks."

Blue Rocks First Baseman Samir Duenez

"I was looking for the pitchers pitch. I got a breaking ball and got all of it. I just want to help the team out."

"It felt really good coming off the bat. I'm happy to help the team win."

"It was definitely good. The morale went up in the dugout as soon as I hit the ball. After the shot the team was boosted. I'm a new player here and I just want to help out the team as much as I can."

"It's pretty much impossible to see the ball coming at you sometimes at first. There's a certain point in the game when the sun is right there in the view. It's something you either have to wait it out if not you have to get out of the way because the sun is right there."

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