CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Wilmington Drops Rubber Match to P-Nats

Published on June 26, 2019 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Woodbridge, VA - On a night where the two teams combined for six runs in the opening inning, it was the Potomac Nationals settling in first and handing the Wilmington Blue Rocks a 5-3 setback on Wednesday at Pfitzner Stadium. The loss handed Wilmington a rare series setback- the team's first of the second half and only its second in the last 12 series.

Blake Perkins tried to set the tone for the Rocks when he sent a two-run homer soaring over the right-field fence in the first inning before Kyle Johnston had even recorded an out. Unfortunately for the Blue Crew their offense was muffled most of the rest of the night. Wilmington would manage only one more run when Rudy Martin singled in Nick Pratto in the second.

Johnston got the win, yielding three runs (two earned) on seven hits over seven frames. The right-hander whiffed eight and walked none.

Potomac wasted little time getting Johnston the lead back. In the bottom of the first the P-Nats jumped on Wilmington starter Marcelo Martinez. The southpaw yielded an RBI-single to KJ Harrison and a three-run dinger to Jackson Reetz.

The P-Nats scratched together one more run off Martinez in the sixth thanks to another homer, this time off the bat of Telmito Augstin. Reetz doubled in another insurance tally in the eighth.

Jhonatan German worked a one-two-three ninth to nail down his third save of the season.

The Rocks open a four-game series in Frederick on Thursday. Daniel Tillo hits the hill for Wilmington and first pitch is slated for 7 p.m. Fans can catch all of the action with the Voice of the Blue Rocks, Cory Nidoh, on 89.7 WGLS-FM.

PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:

Wednesday marked only the third rubber match of the season for the Rocks. Wilmington is 0-3 in series-deciding contests. The Blue Crew also dropped one to Lynchburg in the final home series of the first half and the other to Salem on May 9.

Marcelo Martinez made it through six innings for the fourth straight start, but Wednesday's final line had little in common with the first three. The lefty allowed five runs on eight hits and a pair of walks. He had turned in three straight quality outings before Wednesday's loss. It was a rare rough outing from the Rocks. Despite no longer having the trio of first round picks from last year's draft in Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar (promoted to Double-A) and Daniel Lynch (IL), the starting rotation has been just as dominant thanks to the likes of Martinez, Daniel Tillo, and reinforcements like Kris Bubic, Jonathan Bowlan and Austin Cox. Before Wednesday, over their previous 10 starts, the starting rotation had allowed just nine earned runs in 59.2 innings of work, good for an impressive 1.36 ERA during that stretch.

The Rocks suffered a rare close loss on Wednesday. Wilmington played its 50th game of the season that was decided by two runs or less and lost for only the 13th time in those contests. Four of those have been walk-off defeats, including three in the month of June alone.

Wilmington continues to bring the power when playing on the road this season. Blake Perkins lunched a two-run blast in the first inning on Wednesday. The Rocks now have 30 homers on the season, 25 of which came in games contested outside of the friendly confines of Frawley Stadium. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Blue Crew own the second-best road record in the Carolina League at 26-13, even in spite of dropping two of three at Potomac.

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Carolina League Stories from June 26, 2019


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