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CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Wilmington Blue Rocks Game Notes: June 23, 2014

June 23, 2014 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


STARLING PLAYS HERO: With the game deadlocked at one in the top of the 10th inning, Bubba Starling stepped to the plate and ripped a leadoff home run to left, propelling the Wilmington Blue Rocks to a come-from-behind 2-1 victory Sunday over the Frederick Keys. The win was Wilmington's second straight and improved the team's record to 35-37 overall and 2-2 in the second half.

STARLING STAYS HOT: Bubba Starling's scorching-hot start to the second half earned him the Carolina League Player of the Week award for June 16-22. The talented center fielder is batting .474 (9-for-19) with a home run, a triple, two doubles, five runs and four RBIs in four games since the All-Star Break. Each of those contests has been a multi-hit effort. Starling ripped two more hits Sunday, including the game-winning long ball in the 10th. Overall, he went 2-for-5 on the night with a run, an RBI and a homer. Starling endured a rough close to the opening half of his season and entered the All-Star break mired in an 8-for-57 slump. Starling did have moments of brilliance in the first half, though. His defense in center field has proved to be the best in the Carolina League. He also strung together a 15-game hitting streak between May 12 and May 26. The highlight of Starling's season may be the grand slam he hit off of Washington Nationals star Gio Gonzalez on June 6. Gonzalez was on a rehab assignment with the Potomac Nationals at the time. Overall this season, Starling is batting .205 with 15 doubles, three triples, four homers, 39 runs and 34 RBIs in 69 games.

BONUS BASEBALL BOUNCEBACK: Sunday inning's extra-inning affair marked a rare instance this season of the Blue Rocks playing bonus baseball. It was just the fourth time in 2014 that the Rocks had played additional frames. With Sunday's win, Wilmington is now 2-2 in extra-inning games. The Blue Crew's first extra-inning contest of the year came on May 23 and Kenny Diekroeger lifted the Rocks to a walk-off win with an RBI single that night against the Keys. Each of Wilmington's next two extra-inning games was an eight- inning affair in the nightcap of a doubleheader. On June 10, the Rocks lost on a walk-off home run in Winston-Salem and on June 13, Carolina pulled ahead for good with back-to- back doubles in the top of the eighth. The victory also improved Wilmington to 8-30 when trailing after seven innings and 1-1 when tied after eight.

BRILLIANT BULLPEN: Mark Peterson threw a scoreless 10th inning Sunday to earn his Carolina League-leading 15th save of the year. Peterson is 15-for-17 in save tries and his 15 saves are four more than the 11 racked up by Potomac's Robert Benincasa, who resides in second place on the Carolina League leaderboard. Wilmington's bullpen was tremendous Sunday, throwing four scoreless innings in relief of Jonathan Dziedzic. Daniel Stumpf pitched the seventh inning and gave up just one walk. Yender Caramo then threw two perfect innings of relief to pick up his second win of the year. Peterson nailed down the save with a scoreless 10th. Despite a recent rough patch, the Wilmington 'pen has been one of the team's strengths this season. Collectively, Blue Crew relievers are 16-10 with a 3.07 ERA and 20 saves. They have yielded 206 hits and struck out 222 in 241.1 innings pitched.

THEY SAID IT, MANAGER DARRYL KENNEDY: "I'll tell you what. We lost our share of one-run ballgames in the first half. Maybe we're going to flip that in the second half. I can't say enough about the long travel and then the guts those guys showed out there tonight. Offensively, I wasn't expecting much with the all-night bus ride. They battled and, right when we didn't have much, they were able to work some walks and got our first run there on walks. Then Bubba [Starling] put a good swing on it. Overshadowed in all of that, I thought [Jonathan] Dziedzic threw the ball really well. He made the one mistake in the second inning but the impressive thing was working out of the first and third, nobody out, to keep it 1-0. Then, also, [he escaped with] another runner at third base with less than two outs later in his outing. He kept us in the ballgame, no doubt. If they score a couple of runs there, it's a different outcome. All around, I thought it was a well-played ballgame...One thing Milt [Thompson], myself and Justin [Gemoll] all have really tried to stress to these guys after watching the first half unfold is we get ourselves out a lot just by swinging at pitches that aren't in the zone...For the most part, I think things are starting to set in with them and they're starting to believe and trust. Hopefully after that inning right there, it proves that you don't necessarily have to swing the bat to score runs... You know what, I can't take credit for that; that's all Bubba [Starling]. The biggest thing I think we've done is backed off from him and just let him go out and kind of figure things out on his own. He's done a very good job. I think [at] the end of the first half, he was just mentally drained a little bit. He needed a break [and] he was able to take those three days off. Since then he's come back a new man...Nothing physical [has changed]. We haven't changed anything with his swing at all. Sometimes a player needs to realize on his own that enough is enough and I have to start doing something. Hopefully that's what's going on."

THEY SAID IT, CENTER-FIELDER BUBBA STARLING: "We had a nice little break there and I had, honestly, a rough first half. After that break, I just kind of cleared my head. It's a new start now and I'm not looking back... I was trying to find a decent pitch. I think earlier in the game, I was fouling off pitches and then I'd get to a 2-and-2 count on different occasions and I was swinging at stuff in the dirt. I was just wanting to get a pitch that was there. He kind of left a ball up and I just put a good swing on it...Guys are getting on base, getting walks and having good at-bats. We were battling up and down the lineup. We were just fortunate enough to get guys on base and get a run in the eighth inning there and then come back in the 10th and get another run. Our pitching helped us out. The pitching was good tonight." Today's Starters

WIL: RHP Christian Binford (4-3, 2.19)

vs.

FRE: RHP Branden Kline (3-2, 3.33)

Christian Binford, the No. 10 prospect in the Kansas City Royals organization according to Baseball America, is best known for his pinpoint command on the mound. Binford has issued only 11 free passes across his 12 starts this season and has not walked a batter in seven of them. The 6-foot-6 righty owns five of Wilmington's seven starts of seven innings in length this season and has won three Carolina League Pitcher of the Week awards due to his prowess on the mound. In his most recent start on June 13 against Carolina, Binford dazzled, tossing six shutout innings and striking out five while picking up his fourth win of the year. He yielded just three hits and did not walk a batter. His body of work this season has been phenomenal. Binford owns a 4-3 record and a 2.19 ERA while striking out a league-leading 79 in 70 innings pitched. Those numbers are good enough to have earned him a nod to the Carolina League All-Star Team. Lefties are batting just .228 against Binford while righties are hitting .221. He makes his 13th start of the campaign Monday night at Harry Grove Stadium and his third against the Frederick Keys. In two outings against the Keys, Binford has struck out a combined 11 while allowing six runs (five earned) runs across 11 frames. Binford, who was a 30th round draft pick in 2011, has a fastball that sits between 88 and 93 miles-per-hour according to scouts. By signing with the Royals, he turned down a chance to play collegiately at the University of Virginia.

The Baltimore Orioles selected Branden Kline with their second- round pick in 2012 out of the University of Virginia, where he finished third in school history with 21 career saves. Kline was also drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the sixth round out of high school, but did not sign. Prior to the 2014 season, Baseball America ranked the right-hander as the No. 20 prospect in the Orioles organization. As recently as 2013, Kline was namef Baltimore's eighth-best prospect by MLB.com. Kline is a native of Frederick, Maryland, which means he gets the rare opportunity to play in his hometown every time he takes the mound at Harry Grove Stadium. Kline missed most of last season after breaking his ankle in late May. The righty makes his 15th start of the season for Frederick on Monday night. He currently owns a 3-2 record and a 3.33 ERA to go along with 63 punchouts and 19 free passes in 81 innings pitched. Those numbers earned him a spot on the Carolina League All-Star Team. Kline has been much better away from home. The 6-foot-3 hurler is 0-2 with a 4.55 ERA in six outings at home but is 3-0 with a 2.55 ERA in eight starts on the road. Kline went 1-1 with a 2.48 ERA in five April starts and 2-0 with a 4.19 ERA in six May outings. In three June starts, he is 0-1 with a 3.06 ERA. Lefties are batting .330 against Kline, while righties are hitting .246.

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