CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Two-Out Thunder Dooms Blue Crew

Published on June 12, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Winston-Salem, NC - One pitch. Jake Odorizzi retired the first two batters of the second inning, both on strikeouts looking. His two-strike pitch to Jason Bour thereafter dipped a little low, and that one pitch opened the door. The Wilmington ace's subsequent offering gifted Bour a full-count free pass as he became the first of five straight two-out baserunners, all of whom scored, and the Winston-Salem Dash (29-34) went on the thump the Wilmington Blue Rocks (32-29), 10-1. Odorizzi (5-1) allowed seven of the runs in three innings of work for his first loss.

Tyler Saladino, who was a late scratch on Saturday night due to fatigue from a day's worth of charity work with Habitat for Humanity, provided Sunday's second-inning exclamation point with a three-run homer. In the third, Bour's first home run of the year, a two-out shot to left with a man aboard, made it 7-0. Odorizzi walked a season-high four in suffering his first setback since Aug. 8, 2010 at Clinton when he was with Low-A Wisconsin in the Brewers' system.

Ian Gac's league-leading 16th homer began the fifth against Ryan Dennick for an 8-0 margin. Carlo Testa pushed across the Rocks' lone tally with a groundout in the seventh, but Winston-Salem responded an inning later with a two-run double by Saladino to round out the scoring. Fill-in starter Justin Collop hurled three scoreless innings for the recently promoted Terry Doyle, while J.R. Ballinger (4-0) got the win with three shutout frames of his own. Brandon Kloess tossed the last three innings to bolt down his fifth save in as many tries. While he allowed Wilmington's lone run, he retired the final nine in a row he faced.

The Blue Rocks' final road trip of the first half now shifts to Lynchburg, VA and City Stadium. On Monday night, the Blue Crew begins a four-game, three-day set against the Hillcats at 7:05 p.m. Lefty Justin Marks (2-4, 4.87) gets the ball against fellow southpaw Blaine Sims (1-0, 2.63). Broadcast coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. as studio host Adam Dobrowolski brings fans the Rocks Report Pre-game Show, presented by Wawa, on 89.7 WGLS-FM and online at wgls.rowan.edu.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

In Kinston, NC, the Indians and Myrtle Beach Pelicans broke a Carolina League record that was recorded in 1998. The teams combined to play 23 innings of baseball, as the K-Tribe won it in walk-off fashion, 3-2. The previous mark was set by the Wilmington Blue Rocks and the Danville 97s on July 5, 1998. The Blue Crew won that game, 3-2 in 6:23. The new longest game by innings also eclipsed the Wilmington affair in time at 6:27.

The winning run in the 23-inning epic came on a base hit by Casey Frawley. The previous record holder was played at Wilmington's Frawley Stadium.

The Carolina League has been around since 1945. It has seen four games last 20 or more innings. Three of those games have involved the franchise now known as the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. The Danville 97s shared use of the Danville Braves' Rookie facility while they waited for their new stadium to be built in 1998. When the new park was finished in 1999, the team became known as the Myrtle Beach Pelicans.

Myrtle Beach played a 20-inning game at Winston-Salem on May 19, 2010. That game was the second of a day-night doubleheader, meaning the teams played 29 innings in one day.

Kinston is scheduled to host a doubleheader against the Salem Red Sox on Monday at 4:30 p.m.

Neither Kinston nor Myrtle Beach used one position player as a pitcher on Sunday.

Jake Odorizzi and Ryan Dennick had allowed just one home run apiece in 24 collective outings entering the day. Both of those homers came at Winston-Salem. When the dust settled on Sunday's series finale, Odorizzi surrendered two dingers and Dennick one in five-plus combined innings of work.

Odorizzi saw his ERA shoot up from the CL's second-best mark at 2.03 to 2.97. His three strikeouts stand as a season-low mark.

After busting out of a more than two-week offensive slump with nine runs on 18 hits including eight in 20 tries with men in scoring position on Saturday night, Wilmington collected just seven hits (five singles) and went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. The Blue Rocks left nine men on base, six in scoring position and left 'em loaded in the third.

The Blue Rocks fell to 8-2 against Winston-Salem. Their lone prior loss came by a single score in a walk-off finish on April 23, 3-2. In their previous nine meetings this year, the Blue Crew had outscored the Dash, 54-29.

Winston-Salem's 11 hits contrasted with the Blue Rocks' seven to tie the clubs in the CL cellar for team batting average at .234.

Leadoff hitter Whit Merrifield went 2-for-5 while tying for the team lead in doubles with his 14th of the year. He started at second base for the fifth time. Nine-hole sticker Joey Lewis went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. He finished the series with five hits after posting that many in his prior 10 games combined.

While the top and bottom of the order excelled, batters two through eight went a collective 3-for-24 (.125) with three singles and seven strikeouts.

Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from June 12, 2011


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