CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Seratelli Clicks As Red-Hot Rocks Win Third Straight

Published on May 20, 2009 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Salem, VA - The Blue Rocks are red hot, against a team with a fitting nickname. The Blue Crew (20-19) tied a franchise record with three triples in an 8-4 defeat of the Salem Red Sox (20-20) on Wednesday night, the team's third straight win and seventh in its last nine games. Back above .500 for the first time in a couple of weeks, the Rocks got solid pitching from their youngest player, 20-year-old Danny Duffy (5-1), who picked up his team-leading fifth win. Top Royals' prospect and fellow 20-year-old Mike Moustakas had a second straight three-hit night, extending his hitting streak to a team-best 11 and lifting his average to a season-best .299. Utility man Anthony Seratelli cranked out three hits and drove in three runs with a key two-out hit. The team has tied its longest road winning streak of the year at three and owns a 4-2 record through six games on its season-long 10-game road trip.

An offense that was expected to dominate had stagnated for nearly two weeks, as the Blue Rocks scored four runs or less nine times over 13 games from May 5-17. But that recognized potential has actualized itself this series, with Wilmington scoring at least five times in each of the set's first three games. One night after banging out a season-best 17 hits in a 9-7 win, the Blue Rocks settled for 16 hits in their Wednesday triumph. They never trailed in the game, and fell a home run shy of a team cycle in grabbing a 2-0 first-inning lead.

Moustakas doubled in a score and Paulo Orlando tripled home the young third baseman. A sacrifice fly by former Blue Rock Zak Farkes (2006) put Salem on the board in the second, but another former Blue Crewer made a major miscue the next inning. With one out, Moustakas grounded a routine ball to Luis Segovia (2005) at second base. The Venezuela native errantly missed his throw to first, allowing Moustakas to not only reach, but take second. With a base open, Clint Robinson walked and Orlando singled a first-pitch fastball to load the bases. Starter Seth Garrison (2-4) should have been out of the inning when he struck out Jamar Walton, but instead Anthony Seratelli batted and tripled to left-center as three unearned runs made it 5-2.

Four hits led to a couple of runs against Duffy in the fourth. The Lompoc, CA native struck out Matt Sheely looking to minimize damage and strand a pair of runners. He allowed three runs on seven hits over five innings, walking two and striking out five.

The sixth-ranked prospect in the Kansas City system according to Baseball America left with a 7-3 lead in part thanks to another Segovia error. With one out in the sixth, Derrick Robinson reached on a second errant throw and scored on Johnny Giavotella's team-leading fourth triple of the year. Reliever Jose Alvarez fired a wild pitch with Moustakas batting, and Giavotella scampered home.

Southpaw Kelvin Villa started the sixth and allowed only a two-out walk over his first two innings. A Blue Rocks' error led to a run in the eighth. Ty Weeden singled to right and aggressive pursuit by Jamar Walton allowed the ball to bound passed him for an error as Weeden went to third. Two batters later, Jered Stanley singled him home for a 7-4 score.

A hit batter combined with back-to-back two-out hits for a run against reliever Josh Papelbon in the ninth. The brother of Boston Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon plunked Walton while Ryan Eigsti and Adrian Ortiz generated the hits to get him in. Hard-throwing lefty Brandon Sisk gave up one hit in a scoreless ninth to close it out.

Wilmington bids for its first four-game sweep of the season and its first of Salem since 2003 on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. It is the piggybacking turn in Wilmington's rotation. This time around, southpaw Ray Liotta (1-2, 6.41) will start and right-hander Eduardo Paulino (1-0, 7.04) will follow. Salem looks to right-hander Dave McKae (1-1, 5.06).

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Wednesday marked the sixth time in franchise history the Blue Rocks hit three triples in a game. It last occurred on May 31, 2008 in an 11-3 win at Lynchburg.

Every man in the starting lineup got a base hit.

Derrick Robinson stole two more bases in the victory, bringing his league-leading total to 22. He also was picked off at second base.

Wilmington left at least one man on base in all nine innings and left at least one man in scoring position in each of the first eight frames.

Five of the Rocks' eight runs scored on two-out hits.

Danny Duffy's five wins place him in a tie for second in the Carolina League and first in the K.C. minor league system.

Over his team-best 11-game hitting streak, Mike Moustakas is hitting .347 (17-for-49) with three of his team-leading seven homers and 13 of his 31 RBIs.

Kelvin Villa has allowed at least one run in nine of his 11 appearances, including eight straight. But seven of the 18 runs on his line this year have come unearned.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from May 20, 2009


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