Rocks See Winning Streak Stall in Fayetteville
May 30, 2019 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release
Fayetteville, NC- A four-run second inning for the Fayetteville Woodpeckers, coupled with a rough night at the plate for Wilmington led the Blue Rocks to a 5-2 loss on Thursday at Segra Stadium. The setback ended the Blue Crew's four-game winning streak and cut their lead in the CL North to 5.5 games over Lynchburg. Wilmington's magic number to clinch a first-half CL North crown remained at 13 with 16 contests left to play.
Marcelo Martinez kept Fayetteville off the scoreboard in four of his five frames, but was victimized by the crooked number in the second. The inning began innocently enough. With two down the Woodpeckers had just a seemingly harmless runner at first base, but Michael Papierski's two-run bomb to left gave Fayetteville the lead. Miguelangel Sierra followed with a single and then Martinez surrendered another two-out, two-run homer, this time to Ramiro Rodriguez.
Dennicher Carrasco provided all of the Rocks' runs in the losing cause. The designated hitter launched a two-run dinger in the fourth. Unfortunately, the only other hit of the night came from Nick Pratto in the seventh. Wilmington got just two at bats all nights with runners in scoring position.
Fayetteville starter J.P. France allowed two runs on one hit over five frames to earn the win. Jojanse Torres held the Rocks scoreless over the final four frames to nail down his first save of the year.
The Blue Crew continue their seven-game road trip at Fayetteville on Friday. Left-hander Daniel TIllo takes the mound for Wilmington as first pitch is slated for 7:00 p.m. Fans can catch all the action with the Voice of the Blue Rocks, Cory Nidoh on 89.7 WGLS-FM.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
The Blue Rocks have taken a weird path offensively to first place in the CL North standings for 46 of the first 56 days of the 2019 season. The Blue Crew managed just two hits on Thursday and were out-hit on Wednesday despite getting the win. The Rocks have produced fewer hits than their foe in 17 of the team's 33 victories this season. They also have finished with five hits or less 26 times on the year, yet have won 13 of those affairs. Overall, the Blue Crew are last in the CL in runs, hits, batting average slugging percentage and on-base percentage.
Four has been the magic number for the Wilmington offense in 2019. When the Rocks score four times in a game they are 19-2 on the year. Conversely, when Wilmington manages just three scores or fewer in an affair the team is only 14-18.
The Rocks were vying to equal their longest winning streak of the season on Thursday. Wilmington won five straight from April 6-11. Since then the team has won four in a row four times, but have been out-scored by a combined 25-6 in their bid for a fifth straight victory.
Dennicher Carrasco had gone 10 full months without hitting a home run when the month of May began. Evidently the turn of the calendar was all Carrasco needed, because the 23-year-old Dominican Republic native has launched four long balls in the season's second month. Carrasco hit a two-run homer on Thursday at Fayetteville, which accounted for all of the Blue Crew's offense on the night. As a team Wilmington has had much better success hitting dingers on the road in 2019. Seventeen of the team's 21 home runs this season have come outside of the First State.
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