CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Rocks Shutout for Second Straight Night as They are Swept by Sox

Published on June 14, 2015 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


SALEM, VA - The Wilmington Blue Rocks were shut out for the second consecutive night as they lost their fourth straight game on Sunday by a 7-0 final against the Salem Red Sox at Lewis Gale Field. The loss, coupled with a Lynchburg loss and a Frederick win, puts the Rocks just three games ahead of both the Hillcats and the Keys in the Carolina League North with just seven games left in the season's first-half. The magic number for the Rocks to clinch a first-half crown is down to five.

Salem reached the scoreboard first against starter Yender Caramo. In the third inning, Kevin Heller led off the frame with a double and moved to third on a ground ball to the right side off the bat of Jordan Weems. Jose Vinicio, who scored the winning run on Saturday night, then sent a grounder down the first base line. Frank Schwindel made a diving attempt on the ball, but it kicked off of his glove allowing Heller to score and make it 1-0 Red Sox. The Sox would extend their lead in the very next inning as another leadoff double, this one from Sam Travis, set up Salem for some insurance. A wild pitch from Caramo moved Travis up to third with one out, and with two outs Forrestt Allday sent a grounder into right, scoring Travis and making it 2-0 in the fourth. Caramo would end up loading the bases after the RBI knock from Allday, but he would strand them loaded and escape with no further damage.

Heading into the fifth inning, Dex Kjerstad worked a four-pitch walk before the tarp was called for by the umpires due to some light rain and lightning in the area of Salem. After a 1:08 delay, the two teams resumed and both starting pitchers' days were done. Williams Jerez replaced Salem starter Trey Ball who worked a 3-0 count on Dominique Taylor before the tarp was pulled. Jerez worked all the way back and got Taylor to strikeout. He would give up a single to Logan Moon, but Jerez would work around it and strand two men on to maintain a 2-0 lead.

Salem took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the eighth, and they proceeded to blow things wide-open against reliever Ashton Goudeau. Salem loaded the bases thanks to a hit batter, a walk, and a single with one out. Heller then sent a groundball to Ramon Torres at second that looked like it might be an inning-ending double play, but the ball got under Torres and into the outfield, scoring two runs on the error. Goudeau would get a strikeout of Weems, but Vinicio would then send a ball out to right field that initially looked like a three-run homerun, but the umpires called it two-run double as runners scored from first and second. After arguments from both managers, the call stood and it was 7-0 Red Sox, which would end up being the final as Austin Maddox worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his ninth save of the season.

The Rocks and Sox both head up I-95 as the two teams will meet on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series at Frawley Stadium. The Rocks will turn to the 14th prospect in the Royals' organization according to Baseball America, Eric Skoglund. Skoglund will have Luis Rico coming into the game behind him from the bullpen. The Red Sox will send Teddy Stankiewicz to the mound to counter Skoglund. Stankiewicz has struggled this season for Salem, as he currently stands at 1-7 with a 4.06 ERA. First pitch from Wilmington, Delaware is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Things went from bad to worse for the Wilmington offense on Sunday afternoon. After being shut out for the eighth time in 2015 on Saturday, the Rocks did it again and were shut out on consecutive days for the second time this season on Sunday. Another nine-inning scoreless performance also sets a new season-high for consecutive scoreless innings by the Wilmington offense. The Rocks have not scored since Santiago Nessy hit a solo-homer leading off the fifth inning of Friday night's game, 23 innings prior to the end of Sunday's game. The Rocks previous high for consecutive scoreless frames was 20, which they set between May 11-13 against Lynchburg and Potomac. They were previously shutout on consecutive days by Carolina on May 30 and 31. A huge part of the struggles has been the Rocks inability to hit with men in scoring position. After Sunday's game, the Rocks were 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position dating back to June 11 against Winston-Salem. That has been uncharacteristic for the Rocks, as they came into Sunday batting a good .274 (145-for-530) with men in scoring position this season.

Despite the offensive struggles for Wilmington, Jack Lopez continues to hit in the month of June. After batting .230 in April and then following that up with a .171 average in May, Lopez has turned it around batting .400 (14-for-35) in 11 games this month. Lopez has also scored nine runs and knocked in three runs in the month of June, while also reeking havoc on the base paths. Lopez is six-for-six in stolen base attempts this month, as well. Lopez now has his overall average up to .236 with a homer, 12 RBIs, and an on-base percentage of .318. He currently leads the Blue Crew with 18 walks.

Lopez isn't the only Blue Rock who has found his stroke at the plate. Santiago Nessy went hitless as the designated hitter on Saturday, but he got his legs right back under him on Sunday as he went 2-for-4 while catching for the Rocks. Since going hitless in his first two games with the Rocks after being called down from Double-A Northwest Arkansas, Nessy is batting .333 (14-for-42) with two homers and nine RBIs. Nessy has also done an exceptional job when it comes to handling the pitching staff. Wilmington hurlers pitch to a 2.59 ERA when throwing to Nessy, well below their team-average of 2.98. Wilmington is now 8-6 with Nessy as their backstop.

The Blue Rocks continued to struggle on the road this season. With the loss on Sunday, Wilmington now holds a record of 11-20 away from the Riverfront. That mark stands in stark contrast with their 23-9 record in games at Frawley Stadium, the best home record in the Carolina League. The biggest difference between home and the road has been the pitching, with Rocks hurlers throwing to a 2.34 ERA at Frawley. That number balloons to 3.73 in away games. Rocks' hitters are also struggling on the road, though the difference is not nearly as noticeable. Rocks' hitters are batting .259 at home, compared to .250 on the road. The Rocks struggled on their most-recent road trip, going just 1-6 after losing three-of-four to Winston-Salem and then being swept in three games by the Red Sox. Wilmington scored just 19 runs in those seven games, 11 of which came in their only win of the trip, and 11-7 victory over the Dash on June 10.

THEY SAID IT:

Manager Brian Buchanan

"(We will) absolutely (take our situation). We're still in it and not by any means out of it. We're still a first-place team so we're not going to panic. Some of those games in Winston-Salem, we hit some balls hard and they caught them. Today...I don't think the score indicates how the game went. Right now, we just can't seem to get the big hit when we need it. Those guys played well. I don't think we beat ourselves this series, I think they beat us. I don't think we played poorly. We could have swung the bats better but those guys made plays when they needed to and they made pitches when they needed to."

"I think (one big hit could break the slump). We get runners up there and either we're hitting the ball hard and they're catching it or we're just having a poor at-bat and swinging at some balls we shouldn't. We're going home and we play well at home and that's where we want to be right now; to get home and play these guys tough and take our chances."

"It's a little awkward (to play Salem six games in a row) but that's how the schedule's played out and that's what we're going to do. We can't change it. We should know these guys, we obviously do. We know the hitters now. We don't know all the starting pitching, but we kind of know what they do and we should be able to go home and play well and, hopefully, get some ground between us and the second place team."

"We're fine with pitching, (the rain delay) wasn't a big deal. (Nick Green) hasn't pitched in awhile so it was good to get him in there. We're fine, depth wise, as far as the bullpen is concerned."

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Carolina League Stories from June 14, 2015


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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