CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Wilmington Blue Rocks Game Notes

Published on July 2, 2014 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


STREAKING NO MORE: Wilmington's offense broke out of its extended slump in a big way Tuesday night, scoring four runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth en route to an 8-2 Blue Rocks victory over the Potomac Nationals at Frawley Stadium. With the win, Wilmington improved to 38-43 overall and 5-8 in the second half. The victory also brought the Blue Crew's season-high six-game losing streak to a close.

CROOKED NUMBERS: Bubba Starling kicked off the Blue Rocks' four-run fourth with a base hit to left. Michael Antonio then drilled a ball to left-center field for an RBI double to plate Starling and make it 2-0, Wilmington. Zane Evans followed with a single to put runners at the corners for Cam Gallagher. Gallagher lifted a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Antonio to extend the Blue Crew lead to 3-0. Potomac starter Matthew Spann continued to struggle and uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Evans to advance to second. Cody Stubbs tripled him home with a deep fly ball to left-center field. Spann's second wild pitch of the inning drove home Stubbs, giving Wilmington a 5-0 lead. In the fifth inning, it was once again the heart of the Blue Rocks order that came through. Raul Mondesi reached with one out in the frame on a throwing error by second-baseman Tony Renda. Starling was then hit by a pitch, which put a pair of runners aboard for the red-hot Antonio. Antonio ripped another RBI double, this one to deep center field, plating Mondesi and Starling. Antonio scored later on an RBI double from Gallagher to make it 8-1 Wilmington.

MIGHTY MICHAEL ANTONIO: Blue Rocks infielder Michael Antonio has been on a tear at the plate recently. He went 2-for-4 on Tuesday with two doubles, two runs and three RBIs. Over his last six games, Antonio is batting a combined .565 (13-for-23) with six runs, six doubles, two homers and eight RBIs. He has seen his batting average for the season rise 67 points, from .187 to .254, over that stretch. He has scored 21 runs, doubled 12 times, tripled once, homered four times and driven in 23 runs in 2014 for Wilmington. Antonio has been at his best with runners on base. He is batting .303 with runners aboard this season and .203 with the bases empty. Antonio began the year at Low-A Lexington prior to earning a promotion in May. With the Legends, he hit .313 with 21 runs, six doubles, four homers and 23 RBIs in 32 games.

BOUNCEBACK START BY LUIS SANTOS: Luis Santos was fantastic Tuesday night against the Nationals; he yielded just one run on three hits and one walk across 5.2 sterling frames. It was a great bounceback performance after his previous outing, which was his worst of the season. Santos allowed seven runs on nine hits in just two innings against the Lynchburg Hillcats on June 24. The 6-foot right-hander is 1-1 with an ERA of 7.06 in six starts for the Blue Rocks. He has struck out 18, given up 35 hits and walked nine in 29.1 innings pitched. He began the year with Low-A Lexington and was tremendous there. For the Legends, he was 4-1 with a 1.76 ERA in nine appearances (six starts). He let up 33 hits, struck out 34 and walked five there in 46 innings pitched. In his first start for the Blue Rocks on May 31, he took a no- hitter into the sixth inning but ultimately allowed two runs on three hits over six innings.

CAM'S NEW ROLE: Cam Gallagher was Wilmington's designated hitter on Tuesday night for the first time this season. The right-handed hitting catcher has been the Blue Rocks' primary backstop in 2014. Both he and Zane Evans have split the catching duties for the Blue Crew this year, with Gallagher getting more time behind the plate and Evans getting more starts as the designated hitter. Gallagher has started 55 games as the team's catcher and caught 449.2 innings, while Evans has started 28 games behind the dish and caught 221.2 frames. Evans has been Wilmington's designated hitter 33 times this year. He has hit .264 as the designated hitter and .206 as a catcher. Gallagher went 1-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and a run in his debut as a DH.

THEY SAID IT, MANAGER DARRYL KENNEDY: "Those six games, they felt really long. It's nice to come out and get a win. We swung the bats pretty well and [Luis] Santos [pitched well] after having a tough start in the last one...[Michael] Antonio, the last three games, has really been swinging the bat. He swung the bat well in Salem and he continues to get hits. It's nice to see the guys piecing together some hits. The biggest thing [he's been doing] is just getting his pitch to hit and being able to hit it. We tend to chase too many pitches out of the zone, that's been our Achilles heel this year but Michael has done a really good job of not doing that and it shows...[Luis Santos] did a really good job. He was able to locate and stay ahead. He used all of his pitches well [Tuesday] and, for the most part he stayed down in the zone; that's key for him. [To come back like that after his last start], it speaks volumes. It gives him the confidence that he might have started doubting after the last outing. It's a big confidence booster for him to come back and pitch a good ballgame. From the first pitch on he was able to locate his fastball."

THEY SAID IT, INFIELDER MICHAEL ANTONIO: "I talk to Manny Ramirez a lot. [We] have a very good relationship; he's one of my mentors. He sends me videos of drills I can do before the game and it's helped a lot. He said I should start having some success and that's what's happened. We went to the same high school and played for the same coach. In the offseason we workout together and it helps a lot to work with a veteran like that. I would say I'm blessed. To have a guy like that take the time to work with me, and Miguel Tejada as well, it's really good and it's something where you have to feel really blessed because they're working with me and I'm not even in the big leagues yet so I'm thankful for that...There's still two months left of baseball. We can't put our heads down, we've just got to keep battling everyday and just keep fighting. Just keep doing what [Darryl Kennedy] told us, just play hard and good things will happen...It's really good [to win by six] because the hardest thing to do is, when everything is going wrong, it's hard to find that good spot. Little by little we're finding it and we're going to keep fighting because we're a very talented team. We're just going to keep working hard everyday and playing hard."

Today's Starters

WIL: LHP Sean Manaea (2-7, 4.83)

vs.

POT: RHP Brian Rauh (1-1, 3.86)

After the summer of 2012, many thought Sean Manaea would be the No. 1 overall pick in last June's draft. While pitching in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks in 2012, Manaea put together one of the most dominant pitching seasons the league had ever seen. He went 5-1 with a 1.21 ERA that summer, while throwing his fastball between 94 and 96 m.p.h. Manaea's 85 strikeouts set a modern-day Cape League record, eclipsing Josh Bard's 82 in 2005. Last spring at Indiana State, however, a series of unfortunate injuries led to a drop in velocity and, in turn, Manaea's draft stock falling. Manaea hurt his ankle and then his hip and his shoulder. Kansas City still drafted him 34th overall last June and signed him to a $3.55 million bonus. He had surgery after the draft to repair a torn hip labrum and did not pitch professionally in 2013. Manaea will make his 15th start of the season Wednesday against the Potomac Nationals. In his last outing on June 26, the southpaw was excellent and lasted a season-best 6.1 frames against the Lynchburg Hillcats. He yielded three runs on four hits and and struck out five. Manaea walked two that night and suffered his sixth loss of the season despite pitching well. The southpaw failed to get past the fourth inning in seven of his 14 starts, with his longest outing of the year lasting only five frames. The talented southpaw's 78 punchouts rank fifth in the Carolina League.

Righty Brian Rauh makes his seventh appearance (fifth start) of the 2014 campaign on Wednesday for the Potomac Nationals. The Lake Forest, California, native is 1-1 thus far with a 3.86 ERA, nine walks and 18 strikeouts in 23.1 innings pitched. Rauh made four starts for the P-Nats in April and posted a 1-1 record and 4.58 ERA. After one more April relief appearance, he did not pitch again until June 22, when he threw three scoreless innings against the Salem Red Sox. Wednesday's start marks Rauh's first since April. Thus far, lefties are batting .207 against him while righties are hitting a more-robust .302. Rauh played collegiately at Chapman University in California. He was 30-1 in his three years there with a 1.78 ERA. Rauh set Chapman's career strikeouts record with 365 total. He was just the third athlete ever at Chapman to be named an All-American and an Academic All-American in the same school year. He accomplished this in 2012. Rauh was selected in the 11th Round of the 2012 Draft by the Washington Nationals. He split the 2012 season between Short Season-A Auburn and Low-A Hagerstown. He split 2013 between Hagerstown and Advanced-A Potomac while making one appearance at Double-A Harrisburg.

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Carolina League Stories from July 2, 2014


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