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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Rocks Stay Hot and Sweep Double-Header from Potomac

May 27, 2015 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


WOODBRIDGE, VA - The Wilmington Blue Rocks have now won a season-high six games in a row after taking two games of a double-header from the Potomac Nationals by 3-1 and 5-1 finals on Wednesday. Wednesday was the second double-header between the two teams this season, after they split the first double-header of the year back on May 7. During their current winning streak, Rocks pitchers have held opponents to just six runs.

In game one, the Rocks did something very atypical of them: they scored early. Jack Lopez got the Rocks on the board in the top of the first inning, as he stepped up with one-out in the frame and yanked a long fly ball over the wall in left and made it a 1-0 Rocks lead. That was the first homer of the season for Lopez who picked up his ninth RBI of the young season.

After Potomac tied the game on a two-out RBI single from Craig Manuel in the bottom of the second, the Rocks took a lead they would not relinquish in the fourth inning. With one-out, Mauricio Ramos reached on a groundball single to the right side. Logan Moon then stepped up and laced an extra-base hit past Narciso Mesa in centerfield, which chased Ramos all the way home from first base and made it a 2-1 Wilmington advantage. With two gone in the frame, Cam Gallagher continued his recent hot streak by reaching on an infield single and making it 3-1. Gallagher reached but came up limping and had to be taken out in favor of Santiago Nessy in the bottom of the inning.

Three runs would be all Alec Mills needed, as the righty recovered from giving up the one run in the second and shut down the P-Nats through the next five frames. Mills ended up getting through all seven inning, allowing one run on four hits, a walk, and another eight strikeouts to follow up his 10 strikeout performance last time out. Mills moves to 3-3 with the win, while his ERA shrinks to a very respectable 3.02.

Game two was defined by one big inning. A five-run top of the fifth paced the Rocks on their way to a 5-1 victory. After being kept off-balance by starter Tyler Mapes through the first four innings, Wilmington got to reliever Jake Johansen in the fifth with relative ease. After an out to start the inning, the Rocks recorded four straight hits to jump out to a 3-0 lead. Nessy and Dex Kjerstad got back-to-back singles and left it to Ramon Torres to double in the first run of the game, as Kjerstad was stopped at third. Carlos Garcia then stepped up and singled on a line into center, scoring both Kjerstad and Torres. For Garcia, it was his first Advanced-A hit and his first two RBIs in the Carolina League. Johansen's defense then let him down as Frank Schwindel reached on a throwing error by third baseman Drew Ward, which allowed Garcia to score making it 4-0. Cody Stubbs then recorded his third hit of the game, an RBI double making it 5-0.

Luis Rico was the starter for Wilmington in game two, and he had a nice day aside from the sixth inning when he gave up an earned run, the only of the game for Potomac. Rico gave up back-to-back base runners to start the inning before being replaced by Matt Alvarez out of the bullpen. Alvarez gave up a sacrifice fly to Stephen Perez to bring in the first run for the Nationals, but then Alvarez induced a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Isaac Ballou to end the inning without any further damage.

The Rocks and Nationals are back in action on Thursday, as Wilmington looks to make it seven wins in a row. Wilmington will turn to Yender Caramo, who will pitch for the first time this season without his piggyback partner Rico behind him in the bullpen. Caramo is 2-2 with a 2.40 ERA as he has split time between the starting rotation and the 'pen this season. Caramo will be matched by John Simms for Potomac. Simms is one of Washington's Top-30 Prospects according to Baseball America. Simms is 1-4 with a 4.44 ERA in 2015. First pitch from Pfitzner Stadium is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Jack Lopez has been hitting the ball hard this year, but he's also been hitting into a lot of bad luck. On Wednesday, the hard hit ball off the bat of Lopez in the first inning of game one would not find the glove of any Nationals as he jacked his first long ball of 2015. For Lopez, this is his first homerun since May 12 of last season, when Lopez hit a homer to walk-off on the Salem Red Sox at Frawley Stadium. That was Lopez' only hit of the ballgame. Lopez is now batting .209 this year with the lone homerun, nine RBIs, and 18 runs scored. Despite the low batting average, Lopez has walked 13 times, giving him a good .287 on-base percentage.

Cam Gallagher maintains his hot-streak after an RBI single in game one, and it all seems to be because of taking off the batting gloves. Since Gallagher made the choice to use his bare hands when gripping the bat, he's gone 7-for-10 in three games, including a homerun, three doubles, and seven RBIs. Unfortunately for the Rocks, Gallagher came up limping after hustling out an infield RBI single in game one and was replaced defensively by Santiago Nessy. Good news for the Rocks is that the injury does not appear to be as serious as the lower-back injury Gallagher dealt with earlier this season. Gallagher helped warm up pitchers for game two.

Cody Stubbs made his 2015 debut for the Blue Rocks in game two of this double-header, his first game for Wilmington since September 1 of last season. Stubbs played in 92 games for Wilmington last year, batting .223 with 10 homers, 39 RBIs, and 27 runs scored. Stubbs joins the team late after spending time in extended spring training for the Royals. Stubbs replaces Daniel Rockett on the active roster, as Rockett was released by Kansas City after Sunday's game. Stubbs is listed as a first baseman, but he played outfield last season for the Rocks, playing 35 of his 92 games in either right or left. With the start by Stubbs and the fact that a righty in Tyler Mapes was on the mound for game two, Wednesday marked the first time this season the Rocks had three lefties in the starting lineup. Stubbs was the only true left-hander, but Ramon Torres and Carlos Garcia are switch-hitters who batted from the left side against the right-hander.

Alec Mills seems to have really found himself over his last few starts. Despite taking a loss his last time out against Winston-Salem, Mills recorded a career-high in strikeouts (10). On Wednesday, Mills didn't quite reach his career-high in strikeouts as he only recorded eight against Potomac, but he did become the first Blue Rocks hurler to pitch a complete-game. Jakob Junis pitched nine innings in that last series against the Dash, but the game ended up going into extras as Junis took a no-decision. Mills' complete-game was the first for Wilmington since Sean Manaea did it for the Rocks on August 13 against the Frederick Keys, also a seven-inning game.

THEY SAID IT:

Manager Brian Buchanan:

"(Alec Mills) did a great job. He gave up that single in the second for an RBI, and then pitched out of that jam in the fifth with the walk and the double. To punch-out those two guys and then get the fly out to left...that was huge in a 3-1 game for him to be able to do that in that situation."

"You like to put up big numbers every inning, but obviously that's not going to happen. We've been scratching and clawing to gets runs across. It's nice to have one or two innings where you can out up three or four. That kind of puts the dagger in them, and today they did that. I think they're just sticking with the same approach. The extra-base hits will come. We tell them all year, 'Just keep hitting line drives.' They're swinging the bats well. Those extra-base hits will come as time goes on."

"(Cody Stubbs) swung the bat really well. It's nice to have that left-handed hitter just to kind of switch it up a bit. He did a great job in his first game back... He looks healthy. It's nice (to have three lefties now). If guys need a day off you can plug these guys in. For the most part, everyone on the roster is going to be playing. Everyone needs to play and everyone is going to play. (Carlos) Garcia can hit one, two, or nine. Stubbs can hit in the middle of the order. If they want to bring in a lefty to face Stubbs, he can hit them and he's got righties behind him."

"They can run. We've got some fast guys on the team. A lot of the time that doesn't correlate into stolen bases, but we're working on it. We've got to keep trying. With Garcia here and (Ramon) Torres; they can run."

"It's fun (to be in a playoff race). It's getting close to the end and we're a couple games ahead of Frederick and we play them eight more times. It's literally one day at a time and we've got those guys eight times. It can change in the blink of an eye. We've just got to keep playing our game and doing what we're doing: pitching well, playing defense, and getting some big hits."

Starting Pitcher Alec Mills

"It's actually funny, I had probably one of the worst bullpens, before the game, of the year. That's happened to me before. It's one of those things where you've just got to clear it (from your memory) and pretty much just know that it's just a warm-up. First inning they swung early and I didn't get to throw too many pitches, but in the second inning I could really tell that I was going to be able to throw everything for a strike today."

"I definitely (feel like I have a high ceiling). For me...there's many pitches (I) can throw to guys. As far as lefties, (I) have more than just a changeup to throw to them to get them out. I've always had trouble with lefties. My curveball has developed a little bit more lately and I can kind of use that more towards lefties."

"100 percent I wanted (to pitch) all seven (innings). Walking off the mound in the sixth, they asked how I was feeling. It was hot, but I definitely felt good. I had enough juice to finish it. I definitely wanted it."

"Everything is clicking right now. We're scoring a lot of runs lately and we're pitching really (solidly). Our starters are going out there and getting the job done (and) going pretty deep. They're handing it off to the bullpen and the bullpen has been solid all year. As a whole everything is clicking. It feels good."

"(Competing with each other) is the mentality you have to have. If the guy before you goes out there and (shuts them out), you just want to do better. If everyone is doing that, we're going to have a really good year and we'll keep on doing well."

"I wanted to get out on the mound and go deep in the game and save the 'pen for later on in this road trip. It's going to be a long one. It was huge to come out here and take both games of a double-header. We just have to take the momentum into tomorrow and Carolina."

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