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Wilmington Blue Rocks

Six-Run Fourth Dooms Duffy And Wilmington

July 3, 2009 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - For three innings on Thursday night, Wilmington Blue Rocks starting pitcher Danny Duffy looked as good as he had all season long. His fastball was lively and his curveball sharp. He struck out six of the first 10 batters he faced and allowed only one hit. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, came a six-run fourth inning, and the Kinston Indians cemented what eventually would be a 6-1 series-opening win at Frawley Stadium.

The fateful frame opened up innocently enough. Duffy (6-3) failed to find the strike zone as he walked leadoff man Tim Fedroff. Lonnie Chisenhall and Ole Sheldon followed with consecutive singles.

Then came one of the inning's two pivotal plays. With the bases loaded, Roman Pena hit a sharp grounder to the left of first base. Chase Fontaine, who was making his first start as a Blue Rock, made a great backhand stab and fired home in what should have been plenty of time to retire Fedroff. The problem was, catcher Ryan Eigsti could not hold onto the throw. His second error of the season made it 1-0 Kinston.

Duffy then walked in a run to make it 2-0. After Eigsti redeemed himself by picking off Sheldon at third base, Duffy allowed another single to reload the bases with one out. That brought up Adam Davis for pivotal play number two of the evening.

The Kinston center fielder roped a two-run double to left. That hit seemed to shatter Duffy's already shaky confidence. The southpaw then walked the next two batters, before Brian Rupp replaced him with Zach Peterson.

Peterson would walk the first batter he faced, bringing home another run, and making it 6-0. He did manage to escape the inning one batter later, when he induced a groundball double play off the bat of Chisenhall.

Unfortunately for Wilmington, the damage had already been done. Kinston sent 11 batters to the plate, and watched as Wilmington pitchers walked in four of the frame's six scores.

The Indians would not score another run the rest of the night, but thanks to the outburst and its pitching staff, the K-Tribe did not need to.

Kinston pitcher Russell Young allowed only one hit over six innings to earn the win. Young (2-3) was so effective that the Rocks did not manage to put a runner into scoring position until there was one out in the bottom of the eighth.

That was the frame Wilmington scored its lone run. Jamar Walton came home on Adrian Ortiz's double to right-center field. The Rocks ended that inning with runners stranded on second and third though, as both Derrick Robinson and Johnny Giavotella struck out to end the threat.

Duffy took the loss. The left-hander walked a career-high five batters, and allowed six tallies (five earned) over just 3.1 innings pitched.

The Blue Rocks and Indians will play again on Friday night at 7:05 p.m. Mario Santiago (3-8, 4.16) will pitch for Wilmington. He will be opposed by Kinston's Eric Berger (6-5, 2.29). During the game Dave the Horn Guy will make an appearance, and afterwards there will be a fireworks show.

For tickets call 302-888-BLUE.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

With the bases loaded an nobody out in the top of the fourth, the game was delayed four minutes due to smoke. A grease fire in the Grill Cart on the left field concourse caused thick smoke to billow out over the playing surface.

Johnny Giavotella's eight-game hitting streak came to a close on Thursday as the Wilmington second baseman went 0-for-4.

Ray Liotta's scoreless ninth frame brought his streak to 11 straight innings on the mound without allowing a run.

Danny Duffy lasted just 3.1 innings for the second consecutive start. Over his previous three outings the left-hander's ERA is 10.22.

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