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Wilmington Blue Rocks

Wilmington Blue Rocks Game Notes

August 6, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


GROUNDHOG DAY: Different city, different night, same story. The Lynchburg Hillcats plated nine unanswered runs, chased a heralded Wilmington starter before the close of the third and beat the Blue Rocks in a series opener on Friday night, 9-4. While the Blue Rocks outhit Lynchburg, 12-11, the Hillcats sent 10 of their knocks for extra bases. Southpaw Noel Arguelles (4-5) allowed six of the runs on seven hits and a career-high-tying four walks over just 2.2 innings to take the loss. The Rocks have lost nine of 11 on the road including three of four on this road trip.

JOHNNY GIO: Last night, former Wilmington Blue Rock Johnny Giavotella made his Major League debut, becoming the 114th former Blue Crewer to make the show and the seventh this year. Giavotella starred for the 2009 Blue Rocks. His team led the CL with 84 wins before losing to the eventual Mills Cup Champion Lynchburg Hillcats in the N.D.C.S. Three of Wilmington's starting infielders from that run all now start in the bigs with Eric Hosmer at first and Mike Moustakas at third. Giavotella went 2-for-3 in his big league debut, with an RBI single, a double, a walk a steal and a run.

WALK ON: Through the first three months of the season, Arguelles walked just five men over 13 starts and 66.0 innings pitched. Since then, he has walked 16 batters in seven starts and 33.0 innings.

FRAWLEY FRIENDLY: Arguelles has pitched much better in the friendly confines of Frawley Stadium than he has on the road. At home, he has three of his four wins, a 2.44 ERA, .222 batting average against and one home run allowed. He has averaged just 1.4 walks/9 IP in the First State. On the road, he has suffered three of his five losses, a 4.95 ERA, .297 batting average against and five homers. He has averaged more than 2.7 walks/9 IP in foreign environments.

ROAD WOES: Wilmington has the worst road record in the loop this half (5-15). It has not won consecutive road games since June 10-11 at Winston-Salem.

SECOND FIDDLE: Usual leadoff man Whit Merrifield played second base just 11 times over his first 95 games. But with last night's nod on the infield he has started five straight games at second.

FERGALICIOUS: Tim Ferguson finished the game 2-for-4 with a run scored. His efforts lifted his batting average to .230, tying for his best contact clip since he was at .250 on day three of the season. In 29 games since the All-Star break, the former Ole Miss star has hit .303 (30-for-99).

CELLAR DWELLERS: The Blue Rocks have fallen into last place in the Carolina League's Northern Division. The team now trails Lynchburg by 1.0 game and Potomac by 7.0 games in pursuit of a playoff spot

SIMILAR, BUT DIFFERENT: Nine of the 10 Hillcats' position players that got an at-bat finished with at least one hit. Seven of them had at least one go for extra bases. All nine of the men in the Blue Rocks' order finished with at least one hit, but nine of the 12 knocks were singles.

BOTTOMS UP: The bottom three Hillcats hitters combined to go 4-for-9 with four doubles and five RBIs.

SWING AND A MISS: The Blue Rocks finished the game with nearly as many strikeouts (11) as hits (12).

BO KNOWS: With a 2-for-4 night, Jose Bonilla logged his first multi-hit performance since June 16, a span of 28 games.

Tonight's Probables

WIL: RHP Elisaul Pimentel (5-6, 3.49) vs. LYN: LHP Dimasther Delgado (7-6, 4.13)

BOOK OF ELI: Elisaul Pimentel, the 29th-ranked Royals prospect according to Baseball America, came over from the Dodgers with C Lucas May in the Scott Podsednik trade. He split 2010 between a pair of MWL stops (GL/BUR) and started three combined SHO. That included 5.0 frames in a two-hitter of Lake County on Apr. 22. He T-5th in the MWL in wins (10) and ranked 6th in BAA (.234). On June 4 vs. POT he hurled a career-best 8.0-scoreless inn., allowing just 1H and 1BB en route to CL POTW honors. He starts for the first time since July 19 after 4G in relief as K.C. tries to limit his innings.

Set to star for MB last year, Dimasther Delgado never pitched. A traffic accident in his native Panama dealt him a broken left hand, broken right femur and a torn ligament in his right knee. As a result, the Braves have tried to limit his innings this season by tossing him in relief four times over his last six outings. Since the All-Star break, he has gone 3-2 with a 2.81 ERA in 7G/3GS. The CL has hit just .215 against him in that time. He has faced WIL just once, starting the nightcap of a June 14 twinbill (4.0 IP, 1H, 1R, 4BB, 5K).

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