Blue Rocks Take Second Straight In Carolina Thanks To Starling's Big Night, Antonio's Late Heroics
Zebulon, NC - Michael Antonio's sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th inning broke a 6-6 deadlock and helped the Wilmington Blue Rocks to a 7-6 victory over the Carolina Mudcats at Five County Stadium on Wednesday night. With the victory, Wilmington moved back to an even .500 overall at 50-50 and improved to 17-15 in the second half. The Rocks now sit atop the CL North standings, a half-game ahead of the Potomac Nationals.
Bubba Starling set up Antonio's 10th-inning heroics with a one-out triple. The Mudcats elected to intentionally walk Mark Threlkeld and face Antonio with runners at the corner. Antonio lifted a 2-2 pitch to left, plating Starling for the contest's final tally.
The Blue Rocks struck first Wednesday with a run in the top of the opening frame. Raul Mondesi doubled with one out in the inning and then scored on an RBI single by Starling.
Carolina answered back with a pair of tallies in the home half of the first. Yhoxian Medina singled with one out in the inning and moved to second on a balk by Glenn Sparkman. LeVon Washington then reached on an error by Sparkman, which also moved Medina to third. An RBI groundout by Yandy Diaz plated Medina to knot up the score at one. Jeremy Lucas then hit a ringing double to center to drive home Washington and make it 2-0, Carolina.
Wilmington re-tied the game in the top of the fourth inning, 2-2, when Starling scored on an RBI single from Threlkeld. Starling led off the inning with a double.
In the bottom half of the fourth inning, Carolina scored twice to move back in front, 4-2. Alex Monsalve led off the inning with a single and Jerrud Sabourin followed by drawing a base on balls. That put runners at first and second with nobody out. James Roberts then dropped down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners. However, Sparkman threw the ball away, allowing Roberts to reach, Sabourin to move to third and Monsalve to score. Logan Vick then grounded into a fielder's choice, with Monsalve getting gunned down at the plate. Two batters later, Medina singled to score Roberts.
The Blue Crew's offense persisted and pushed across four more runs in the fifth inning to seize a 6-4 advantage. Daniel Rockett reached on an error by Medina at shortstop to kick off the rally. Terrance Gore then singled, leaving runners at the corners with nobody out for Jack Lopez. After Lopez flew out to right, Mondesi ripped a double to left, sending both Rockett and Gore plateward to tie the contest at four. Mondesi took third on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single to left by Starling. Back-to-back singles from Threlkeld and Antonio drove home Starling.
Carolina would not go away, though, and evened up the score once again with a pair of runs in the sixth. Monsalve began the inning with a single and moved to second on a groundout by Sabourin. Roberts then poked a base hit to right, moving Monsalve to third. A wild pitch sent Monsalve plateward and Medina drove home Roberts with a single a couple of batters later.
Yender Caramo (4-5, 2.84) earned his fourth win for Wilmington while Grant Sides (3-1, 2.82) suffered his first loss for Carolina. Mark Peterson earned his Carolina League-leading 22nd save with a scoreless 10th. Peterson's 22 saves are three shy of the all-time Blue Rocks single-season high of 25, set most recently by Mike James in 2006.
The Rocks return to action Thursday night for the series finale against Carolina and will try for a three-game sweep. Southpaw Jonathan Dziedzic (5-5, 2.60) will take the mound for Wilmington while Carolina will counter with fellow lefty Ryan Merritt (10-3, 2.13). First pitch is slated for 7:00 p.m. and fans can listen to the broadcast on 89.7 WGLS-FM.
Wilmington heads back to Frawley Stadium on Friday for the first of three games against the Winston-Salem Dash. For tickets, call 302-888-BLUE.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
Bubba Starling stayed scorching hot on Wednesday, turning in a 4-for-5 performance. The talented outfielder fell a homer shy of the cycle, scored three runs and drove in two. He now has a hit in five straight games. Over that span, Starling is batting .524 (11-for-21) with six runs, a double, a triple a homer, five RBIs and three walks. Starling's four-hit night Wednesday was his first of the season. It was also his 16th multi-hit game. Starling's four-hit game was just the second of his career. On June 16 last season, he went 5-for-5 against the Asheville Tourists while playing for the Lexington Legends. That night, Starling had one double and one RBI. He also stole a base. After batting just .184 with a .278 on-base percentage in the first half, Starling has turned things around completely in the second half. Since the All-Star Break, he is hitting .311 with four doubles, two triples, four homers, 17 RBIs, eight walks and four stolen bases. Starling is also reaching base at a .369 clip in the second half.
Glenn Sparkman was excellent again for Wilmington on Wednesday, hurling five solid frames. The right-hander was in and out of trouble throughout the contest and did allow four runs. However, all of the tallies he yielded were unearned. He yielded four hits and two walks while striking out four. The righty took a no-decision, however, after Carolina tied the contest in the sixth inning. On the season, Sparkman is 6-2 and his ERA dropped to a sparkling 1.34, which places him firmly atop the Carolina League leaderboard. The 6-foot-2 right-hander has given up 62 hits and 17 walks while striking out 74 in 80.1 innings pitched. Righties are batting just .231 against Sparkman while lefties are hitting a mere .185 against him. Sparkman began the campaign in the bullpen and was excellent there. He went 2-1 with a 2.28 ERA in 11 relief appearances while striking out 27 and walking seven in 23.2 innings pitched. After getting shifted to the starting rotation, Sparkman has been even better. As a starter, he is 4-1 with a 0.95 ERA in 11 outings. He has fanned 47 and issued 10 bases on balls in 56.2 frames as a starting pitcher.
Wednesday's extra-inning affair marked a rare instance this season of the Blue Rocks playing bonus baseball. It was just the sixth time in 2014 that the Rocks have played additional frames. With Wednesday's win, Wilmington is now 3-3 in extra inning games. Wilmington's first extra-inning game of the year came on May 23 and Kenny Diekroeger lifted the Blue Crew to a walk-off win with an RBI single that night against the Keys. Each of the Rocks' next two extra-inning contests was an eight-inning affair in the back end 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. Wilmington's most recent extra-inning affairs came on July 16 at Potomac. The Rocks lost both ends of the twin-bill that day in extras and in walk-off fashion. The second game was completed on July 17 after getting suspended in the sixth due to rain.
Wilmington has played extremely well against the Carolina Mudcats in 2014. After Wednesday night's 7-6 victory, the Rocks own a 14-5 record against Carolina. They are 7-3 at Frawley Stadium and 7-2 at Five County Stadium in Zebulon, North Carolina. In their 19 matchups this season, the Rocks are outscoring the Mudcats, 89-53. Collectively, the Blue Rocks are batting .252 against the Mudcats while Carolina is hitting .239 against Wilmington. The Rocks own a better head-to-head ERA, with the Blue Crew sporting a 2.43 ERA compared with the Mudcats' 4.20 ERA. Blue Rocks pitching has fanned 155 Mudcats while Carolina pitching has punched out 143 Blue Crew hitters. Three of Wilmington's league-best 11 shutouts have come against the Mudcats. The Rocks' current series against the Mudcats in Zebulon, North Carolina, is the final regular season meeting between the two clubs.
THEY SAID IT:
Manager Darryl Kennedy:
"I thought we battled all night long and did a very good job of manufacturing some runs when we had to. It was a big win. We come out, we score a run in the first inning and these guys fight right back. We made a couple of mistakes in the first inning but they still fight back and get two runs, go up. We tie it up and we take the lead again. 6-4, everybody is feeling pretty good about the rest of the night. Then they score two more and tie it up. Then we go extra innings. I applaud the guys for battling all night long and really coming through. [Kyle] Bartsch did a great job coming in a situation there against the lefty. You check the stats and the guy is hitting .330 against left-handed pitching. I felt like Bartsch was the guy to do it and we ended up getting out of that inning and going on to get the big win."
"Our bullpen has done a great job all year for us. It doesn't matter who goes out there. We have hiccups here and there. [Aroni] Nina wasn't as sharp as he's been. He had a rough night. We've got other guys that come in and pick him up. It's just a great luxury for a manager to be able to not really have to think too much about who needs to get in. It's a matter of [the fact that] I trust every one of them and I have a lot of confidence in them."
"[Mark Peterson] has done a really good job. In fact, the two saves that he did blow, he got out of himself and got a little too amped up out there and got behind on some hitters. They ended up hurting him. Steve Luebber did a good job of talking to him about controlling your emotions in those close situations, and ever since then, he's been really good. He's done a great job for us this year."
"Bubba Starling is playing with a lot of confidence right now. At the plate, the good thing is he's starting to get those cheap hits, the ones you get jammed on a little bit and you are able to get a base hit. That's the one thing that was missing in the first half is he wasn't getting those because he wasn't making contact. Now he's starting to make contact with those pitches and it's starting to pay off. He's been swinging the bat really well and tonight proved to be a big triple for us there in the 10th."
"Every game is important. [Thursday] is going to be important because we're facing [Ryan] Merritt, who is leading the league in pitching. With these two games, we've gotten into their bullpen a little bit. We know they're short a bit going into tomorrow. If we can get to Merritt [Thursday] and get him out early, I like our chances.
Outfielder Bubba Starling:
"Confidence is a big key right now. I'm feeling good up there and swinging at good pitches. Like I told everyone, I'm not trying to do way too much. I'm just going out each game and trying to get one hit and then, after that, just going from there and battling up at the plate."
"I really couldn't tell you. We always come here and play these guys and do well against them. It's funny, because I feel like we kind of dominate these guys but then sometimes we can't beat Lynchburg but these guys dominate Lynchburg. It's just weird. That's baseball for you, though."
"We were able to battle. [Glenn] Sparkman did a great job. Our pitching was pretty solid all night. We were able to put hits together when we needed to. [Mark Peterson] closed it out there at the end."
"We've faced [Ryan Merritt] three or four times this year. He's got great numbers but I feel we do pretty well against guys like that. We just need to go out and keep swinging like we have been. [Jonathan] Dziedzic, he's been solid all year, so I feel like we have a good opportunity to sweep."
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