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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Wilmington Allows Three-Run Advantage to Slip Away

August 29, 2009 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Salem, VA - Despite owning an early 3-0 lead and having a starting pitcher on the mound who had won six straight starts, the Wilmington Blue Rocks (78-53, 40-22) could not hold on Friday night. The Salem Red Sox scored four unanswered runs down the stretch on their way to 4-3 walk-off win.

Salem's victory came thanks to a ninth-inning rally off reliever Kelvin Villa (6-8). With the game tied entering the final frame, the southpaw issued a free pass to former Blue Rock Zach Borowiak. Ryan Dent followed with a sacrifice bunt to move Borowiak into scoring position. The second baseman would move 90 feet away from the plate on a wild pitch. The errant toss home forced Villa to deliver back-to-back intentional walks, loading the bases with one out.

That gave Anthony Rizzo a chance to play hero. Rizzo did not disappoint, chopping a ball up the middle past a drawn-in Anthony Seratelli at shortstop, which brought home Borowiak with the game-winning score.

The loss came after the Rocks seemed to have everything under control. Wilmington raced out to a three-run lead courtesy of single-tallies in the first, third and fifth innings.

Mike Moustakas opened the scoring with his team-leading 16th home run with two outs and nobody on in the first. The top prospect in the Royals' system according to Baseball America launched Salem starter Kyle Weiland's 0-1 pitch over the right-field fence.

In the third, Wilmington added to its lead. Ryan Eigsti was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame. He then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Seratelli, and came home on Derrick Robinson's liner to right-center.

The Rocks made it 3-0 in the fifth on back-to-back one-out hits. Robinson started things off with a line-drive double into the right-center field gap. Johnny Giavotella would follow with an RBI single to right.

Salem responded though in the home half of the inning, creeping to within two runs. Chih-Hsien Chiang roped a double to right. One out later, Borowiak grounded one past a diving Giavotella and into right field for an RBI single.

Then in the sixth, Salem plated a pair to pull even. After Che-Hsuan Lin struck out, the Sox got three straight singles from Jon Hee, Rizzo and former Blue Rock Brad Correll. Correll's knock scored Hee and pulled the Sox to within, 3-2. Will Vazquez followed with a pop out to the catcher, but that brought up Chiang, who came through with a two-out RBI single.

That was the last frame for starting pitcher Eduardo Paulino. The right-hander had won six straight starts with an ERA of just 1.89 over that stretch, but he could not preserve the lead on Saturday, and left with a no-decision.

In the eighth, both teams loaded the bases but failed to generate any runs. Paulo Orlando popped out to second, ending Wilmington's threat, while David Mailman struck out looking to bring Salem's rally to a close.

But the Sox picked Mailman up with their ninth-inning heroics, giving reliever Josh Papelbon (5-2) the victory.

The four-game, three-day series concludes on Sunday night at 6:05 p.m. Super southpaw Danny Duffy (9-3, 3.21) gets the nod against right-hander Dave McKae (2-6, 4.78). Since his return from a more than two-week absence due to lower-back stiffness, Duffy is 1-0 over three starts with a 1.20 ERA and a .176 batting average against.

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