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Wilmington Blue Rocks

Rocks Sneak Past K-Tribe

April 19, 2010 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - It is not often you see a game where the teams combine to total as many runs as hits. But that is exactly what the 3,110 fans in attendance at Frawley Stadium on Monday night witnessed, as the Wilmington Blue Rocks outlasted the Kinston Indians, 4-1.

Wilmington ended the night with just two hits. For a time it looked like they might finish the night without any. The Blue Crew was being no-hit through six innings, as Kinston starter Kelvin De La Cruz kept them at-bay.

De La Cruz exited the contest prior to the seventh, which is exactly when the Wilmington offense went to work.

Kinston reliever Santo Frias struck out the first batter he faced, but could not get a fastball by the second. Eric Hosmer turned on Frias' 1-2 offering and lofted a fly ball just over the right-field fence to even the game at 1-1.

In the eighth, the bottom collapsed from under the K-Tribe, as Wilmington scored three runs on only one hit to go ahead for good.

The frame began innocently enough as consecutive fly outs put the Rocks in a two-outs nobody on hole. But walks by Salvador Perez and Patrick Norris sandwiched a Juan Rivera single up the middle, and the bases were loaded for J.D. Alfaro.

The third baseman hit a sharp grounder to Kinston shortstop Ronald Rivas. Rivas booted the ball, and then compounded the mistake by throwing errantly to first. The error allowed two runs to score and gave Wilmington its first advantage of the night. The Rocks put another tally on the board courtesy of Frias' wild pitch to Hosmer.

The late runs overshadowed what began as an intriguing pitchers' duel between Wilmington starter Michael Montgomery and Kelvin De La Varra. De La Varra allowed only one baserunner, as he walked Hosmer with two outs in the fourth.

Montgomery was not quite as effective, but was more overpowering. The 20-year-old left-hander allowed only a single unearned run on two hits in six frames. He fanned eight, meaning in back-to-back starts against Kinston, Montgomery struck out 21 K-Tribers in 13 innings pitched.

The lone run he allowed came on a bit of a fluke. Jason Kipnis led off the fourth with a grounder to second. Ryan Wood bobbled the ball, but still had time to get Kipnis at first. He hurried his throw though, which got past Hosmer.

Kipnis then went to second on an errant pickoff throw and to third on a wild pitch. Karexon Sanchez brought him home with an RBI single.

Montgomery gave way to Buddy Baumann in the seventh. Baumann mowed Kinston down, allowing only one hit and striking out six to pick up the win.

Wilmington will host Kinston again on Tuesday night at 6:35 p.m. Tim Melville (1-0, 7.94) takes the hill for the Blue Rocks against K-Tribe southpaw Nick Hagadone (0-1, 0.00).

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Eric Hosmer extended his season-opening hitting streak to 11 games with the homer on Monday night. On the season he is hitting a blistering .447.

Before the game the Carolina League announced that Michael Montgomery had been named the CL Pitcher of the Week for the period ranging from April 8-18. Over that time Montgomery made two starts, going 1-0 with a 0.75 earned run average. It marked the second time Montgomery has been honored as the league's Pitcher of the Week. The left-hander was the CL Pitcher of the Week during the final week of the 2009 season, which ironically enough, was the last time the CL doled out the award.

Before Hosmer's homer in the seventh, the Rocks had gone 15.2 consecutive innings dating back to Saturday night, without scoring a run.

Ronald Rivas' critical eighth-inning error was the shortstop's Carolina League worst eighth error. No one else in the loop had more than four entering the night, and the total matches the team-total for the Salem Red Sox coming into Monday. Not coincidentally Salem enjoys the league's best record at 9-2, while Kinston is a league-worst 3-8.

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Carolina League Stories from April 19, 2010


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