CarL1 Wilmington Blue Rocks

Winston-Salem Scores the Game's First Seven Runs in Win

Published on May 1, 2010 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Wilmington Blue Rocks News Release


Wilmington, DE - Tim Melville's struggles continued on Saturday night at Frawley Stadium, as the Wilmington Blue Rocks starter surrendered nine runs in only four innings and the Blue Crew dropped a 10-5 decision to the Winston-Salem Dash.

Melville (1-3) failed to reach the fifth frame for his third consecutive start, and allowed at least four runs for the fourth time in his five outings so far in 2010.

The right-hander's biggest issue was his inability to close out innings. All nine of Winston's tallies came with two outs. In fact, twice Melville retired the first two batters of a frame but still ended up allowing multiple runs.

One of those rallies came in the opening inning. After inducing a fly ball and a grounder to short, Melville found a little bit of bad luck. He broke Jon Gilmore's bat, but the Dash third baseman still had the strength to get the ball into right field for a hit.

That gave designated hitter Seth Loman the opportunity to hit his sixth home run over the last 10 games, and his second in as many nights. The dinger went to one of the deepest parts of the park in Frawley Stadium, just to the left of dead-center field.

Again in the second Melville retired the first two batters he faced, this time even striking one out. But the next six Dash hitters reached as Winston-Salem posted a five-run frame.

Drew Garcia got things going with a double to left-center. That was followed by a seven-pitch walk to Justin Greene, which set up Brandon Short's two-run double off the wall in left.

Eduardo Escobar kept the rally going when he drew a free pass. Gilmore made it 5-1 on his RBI single, and Loman put a tidy bow on the big frame with a two-run double down the left-field line.

Wilmington's offense had some two-out magic of its own in the home half of the second. Salvador Perez smashed a homer to left and Ryan Wood followed with a liner that just cleared the shorter wall which guards the bullpen in left. The back-to-back dingers made it a 7-2 game.

Winston-Salem wasted little time, responding with two runs of its own in the third. Ozzie Lewis and Luis Sierra opened the inning with consecutive singles and each moved up a bag courtesy of a Melville wild pitch.

Two outs later Wood committed a critical throwing error on Justin Greene's grounder to short. Wood's throw to first sailed wide of its target, Eric Hosmer, allowing both runners to circle home, and giving the Dash a 9-2 advantage.

The Rocks pulled to within six runs in the fourth when Anthony Seratelli doubled to left-center and Perez followed with an RBI single back through the box.

Each team added a meaningless run in the eighth. Winston got its tally on a Gilmore RBI single in the top of the frame, while the Rocks scored on J.D. Alfaro's RBI groundout in the home half of the inning.

The Rocks attempted to make that tally a little more meaningful in the ninth. Wilmington loaded the bases, and scored a run on a walk to Eddie Prasch. But with the tying run on deck, Alfaro was fanned by Winston-Salem reliever Gregory Infante to end the game. Infante picked up his third save for the effort.

Dash starter Nate Jones (3-1) got the win, allowing three runs and walking five over five frames.

The rubber match of this three-game series takes place on Sunday afternoon at 1:35 p.m. Wilmington will send left-hander Ivor Hodgson (2-0, 4.85) to the hill, while Winston-Salem is slated to counter with fellow southpaw Charlie Leesman (3-1, 3.86).

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Carolina League Stories from May 1, 2010


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