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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Rocks Rally to Halt Dash, Win 3-2 in 14 Innings

June 14, 2016 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - Even when their all-star is not having the best of games, Wilmington Blue Rocks' (23-39) shortstop Humberto Arteaga finds a way to come through for his team. Tied 2-2 in the bottom of the 14th inning, Arteaga, who was 0-for-6 at that point in the game, came to the plate with men at first and second and two down. He took the first pitch of the at bat and bounded a ball up the middle to drive in the game winning run and give the Rocks a 3-2 win over the Winston-Salem Dash (25-40).

Before Arteaga could provide the heroics, the Blue Crew needed outstanding pitching performances from their pitching staff and they got it. Foster Griffin bounced back after two bad outings to tie a career high in innings pitched with seven frames of two run baseball. However, the offense was held off the board until the seventh, when they finally got to Dash starter Thad Lowry and cut into their 2-0 deficit. Elier Hernendez led off the inning with a single and proceeded to steal second for just the fifth time this year. He was still there with two outs when Austin Bailey fought off an inside fastball and placed it down the left field line to drive in Hernandez and cut the game in half at 2-1.

It looked like the Dash were going to get an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning, but Brandon Downes proved why he is one of the most feared outfielders in the league. With a man on second base and two outs in the 2-1 ballgame, Cleuluis Rondon hit a shot between first and second and into right field for a base hit. Downes charged the ball and threw home in an attempt to get Michael Suiter at the plate. The throw was a one-hopper slightly up the first base. Catcher Chad Johnson reached out to grab the ball and quickly retreated to the plate and applied the tag on the sliding Suiter to end the inning and keep the game at 2-1.

Thanks to the tremdounds defensive effort, the Blue Crew had a chance to tie it in their last at bats and they did just that. It was Hernandez again who started things with a single. The steal from earlier in the game was still on the mind of reliever Kelvis Valerio who threw over to first. The pick-off attempt got away and Hernandez collided with first basemen Nick Basto while getting up. Hernandez proceeded to move up to second base, round the bag and head for third. The throw ended up beating Hernandez and he was tagged out on the play, but interference was call and he was awarded the bag. The Rocks made the double-miscue hurt when Bailey came through with a sacrifice fly to center to knot the game at two.

As the game headed into extras it turned into a battle of the bullpens and both sides refused to yield. Derek Gordon was masterful in three innings of work, striking out five while allowing just one batter to reach. However, the Dash's bullpen was just as good with Connor Walsh matching him zero for zero. Brennen Henry took over for Gordon and tossed a perfect 13th and 14th, which set the scene for Arteaga.

The game-winning rally started with two outs thanks to an old-school play from Joshua Banuelos. The burly first basemen had a 1-1 count and reacted to an inside breaking ball by jutting out his left elbow. The pitch struck his elbow guard and he was awared first base on the hit by pitch. Cody Jones followed with his usual patience and took a four pitch walk to push the runners to first and second. Rocks Manager Jamie Quirk inserted Robert Pehl as a pinch-runner and Arteaga, who was 0-for-6 up to that point in the game, made it all worthwhile with a groundball single up the middle to plate Pehl and end the marathon affair.

Henry gets a win in his first decision of the year to move to 1-0 while Jacob Morris drops to 0-2 by giving up the run in the 14th. It is the first time this season the boys from Frawley have won a seven game homestand and they look for the sweep on Wednesday when RHP Zach Lovvorn (0-6, 3.54) will take on RHP Jordan Stephens (1-7, 4.68). For tickets 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

Foster Griffin came into Tuesday night's game trying to forget his previous two outings. The lefty was 0-2 in his last two starts, pitching just five total innings and allowing 11 runs while walking eight. He looked like an entirely new pitcher against the Dash. The native of Florida tied a career high in innings pitched by going seven frames and giving up just two runs with three strikeouts and a single walk. The only other time he recorded 21 outs in his career was back on April 23 when he was a member of the Lexington Legends. In that game, he went seven innings versus the West Virginia Power, giving up two runs on three hits in a loss.

The 14 Innings played by the Wilmington Blue Rocks and Winston-Salem Dash were the most frames for any Blue Crew affair this season. They had played to 12 innings on two separate occasions earlier in the season, both losses, with the most recent 12 inning game coming on April 30 against Potomac in a 3-2 loss. Tuesday's walk-off 3-2 victory was the third walk-off of the season and the first since May 18 when the boys from Frawley scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning against Frederick in a 3-2 win. The Blue Crew is now 3-4 in extra inning games.

It took a while for Chad Johnson to find his swing this season, but all of a sudden the catcher is hitting his groove. The first-year Blue Rock chipped in with a 1-for-5 performance with a walk to move his hitting streak to 11. He is just the second member of the squad to reach double digits and is one behind Ryan O'Hearn's 12-gamer from April 15-25. He is piling up the extra base hits during that time, racking up two dingers, three doubles and his only triple of the year. Overall during the last 11 affairs, Johnson is 15-for-42 with six extra base hits, eight RBI and three runs scored. He has also walked four times during the streak, upping his team-leading total of free passes to 27 on the season-ten more than any other teammate.

It was not long ago when Alfredo Escalera was floundering at the plate, but the outfielder has turned things around in a hurry. The outfielder had yet another productive night at the plate on Tuesday. He collected two more hits on a 2-for-6 night and has now hit safely in nine of his last 11 games while reaching in ten of those affairs. In that span his average his jumped from .256 to .278 thanks to going 17-for-44 in the last 11 games. The three-hole hitter has racked up multiple hit games in six of those contests including two three-hit outings. He has scored five times, driving in six, in addition to collecting a home run, three doubles and also walking three times while stealing a base.

The Rocks have had issues with runners in scoring position against the Dash. In the first game of their season series versus Winston-Salem, the Blue Crew went 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position. However, since that time, getting a hit with a runner at second and or third has been a difficult task. They went 0-for-21 to complete the series down in North Carolina and while Elier Hernandez did pick up an RBI single on Monday, they ended the game without a base knock in their next five attempts. Tuesday was worse, but felt much better at the end. The boys from Frawley were 1-for-12 entering the 14th inning before Humberto Arteaga ended the night with a single up the middle. They are now 6-for-49 in the six contests this season against the Dash.

They Said It

Blue Rocks Manager Jamie Quirk

"It was outstanding first of all. They kept coming at it. Anytime you play 14 innings it's a grind. The big thing I look it is seven shutout innings out of the bullpen. That's outstanding it's going to win you a lot of games when you do things like that. The bullpen was great, (Foster Griffin) was great. He pitched very well. We just kept coming. The seventh inning is our inning, at least this home stand. We get that run in the seventh and then the one in the ninth to tie it which was great. We just kept coming but the key was the pitching, it kept us in the game and gave the offense a chance to get a run and win the game."

"Yes I saw the inference call. When he threw over I saw the umpire point so I knew right away what he was talking about. I wanted him to keep coming because I knew he would be safe but if he just goes to second and stops the interference would just be second base. He has to make an attempt to get to third. I kept waving him to come on over once I saw the umpire point I knew what he was talking about. With that being said I knew once the play was dead and over he was going to have third base but he had to attempt to get to third base."

"It's huge that was a big play in the game right there. It's funny how things work out, this afternoon we had the outfielders throwing to the bases and sure enough it comes into play. (Brandon Downes) made throws from right field today. It's something weird that when you practice things they get confidence and then he let one go and it was a perfect one hop to (Chad Johnson) and it was a big play in the game."

"(Foster Griffin) pitched with confidence. I talked to him yesterday just about not worrying about mechanics and the little things pitchers worry about when they're out there. I said just worry about getting the guy out who's in the batter's box. Have some energy and some confidence act like you want to be out there. He's been down a little bit his last few outings. He hasn't pitched the way he'd like to and I just said don't go out there and think about mechanics think about getting outs and he did a good job today."

"First of all it's hard. (Humberto Arteaga) knows he's 0-6, it's a long day but that's part of baseball. No one cares he went 0-6 he went 1-1 and won the game. He came through at the right time. He stayed within himself and tried to stay through the middle, which he did, and got himself a base hit. Now he ends up with a great day. 0-6 ends up 1-7 with a game winner. He had a great day."

Blue Rocks Infielder Humberto Arteaga

"In that last at bat I was sitting on off-speed. The last two games they've been throwing me that way and I finally went to look for that."

"That's the biggest thing I have going for me right now is I'm not giving away at bats. What happened happened but I feel really glad I had that hit there."

"I knew they would do something to me after I got the game winning hit. I saw (Brandon Downes) coming with a bucket and I was just waiting like okay. I feel happy, we needed that win and that's two in a row right now."

"I think it's confidence why we're playing so well and we're just battling better. Last series, with (Salem) we were battling. We're playing good."

"Getting hit in the face with the shaving cream does not really sting. It feels kinda good actually."

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Carolina League Stories from June 14, 2016


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