Clutch Keys Hand Rocks Third Walk Off Loss Of The Season
FREDERICK, MD - An RBI single off the bat of pinch hitter Anthony Caronia in the bottom of the 11th inning sent the Frederick Keys home happy as they handed the Blue Rocks their third walk off loss of the season, a 4-3 final. Yender Caramo, who came out of the bullpen for Wilmington in the seventh inning, could not hold onto two one-run leads as Frederick tied the game in the bottom of the ninth and tenth innings to extend the game. Andrew Edwards (0-1) ended up taking the loss in relief of Caramo.
Edwards entered the game to start the bottom of the 11th. Brenden Webb welcomed Edwards by recording his second hit of the game after pinch-hitting for Anthony Hewitt in the bottom of the ninth. Johnny Ruettiger came up looking to drop down a sacrifice bunt and, after failing on his first two attempts, he got one down with two strikes to move Webb into scoring position. Gregory Lorenzo flew out for the second out of the inning before Manager Orlando Gomez summoned Caronia from the bench to hit for Jeff Kemp. Caronia lined an 0-2 pitch into centerfield, scoring Webb and giving Frederick their second consecutive win over Wilmington.
Frederick scored first off of starter Luis Rico in the fifth. Rico hit Tucker Nathans with a pitch to put the leadoff man on. He struck out Hewitt for the first out of the inning, but the third strike got away from Zane Evans and moved Nathans into scoring position. A Lorenzo single moved Nathans to third and a Kemp single brought him home to make it 1-0. That would be the only run surrendered by Rico who went six innings with five strikeouts in the no decision.
Wilmington's offense was completely shut down by starter Matt Taylor who only worked through five innings, but they were five solid innings as he did not allow a run on just one hit and six strikeouts. Wilmington knotted the score at one in the seventh. Mauricio Ramos led off the frame with an infield single and headed to second on a Kemp throwing error. Evans then drove in his first RBI of the game with a single to center. Evans gave the Rocks the lead in the eighth with a two-out RBI single, driving in Jack Lopez who doubled to leadoff the inning. Evans ended the day with three RBIs after another RBI single gave Wilmington a 3-2 lead in the tenth. That RBI for Evans also came with two outs in the inning.
Frederick tied the game in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings. Austin Wynns, who pinch-ran for Chance Sisco in the fourth inning, led off the inning with a single. He would be forced out at second when Adrian Marin failed to get down a successful sacrifice. With Marin at first, Nathans singled to move him to third and Webb singled to tie the game. They pulled even again in the bottom of the 10th on a Marin two-out RBI single. Drew Dosch, who scored the tying run in the 10th, continues to kill Rocks pitching this season. Dosch finished the day 2-for-4 with a walk and a run scored.
The Blue Rocks and Keys continue this four game weekend series on Saturday afternoon at 2p.m. Jakob Junis will take the mound for Wilmington. Junis struggled to start his last outing, but settled down to make it through six innings against Potomac. Junis ended up taking the loss, though, as his offense could only get him one run of support. Frederick will counter with Mitch Horacek (2-1, 2.04 ERA).
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
After a slow start to his season, Jack Lopez appears to be turning things around offensively. After a 3-for-4 evening on Friday, Lopez has five hits in the first two games of the series with the Keys. Lopez was batting just .163 heading into the weekend series with Frederick. His five hits in the series have shot his season average up 61 points (.224). Lopez, who had been hitting into some bad luck over the season's first 13 games, appears to finally be getting some benefit of the doubt from the baseball gods. Lopez had a weakly hit grounder and a softly hit line drive leading to two of his three hits on Friday.
Zane Evans broke out of his offensive funk on Friday with a three hit game. Evans entered the game on Friday with just one hit in his last 14 at-bats. Evans responded with a 3-for-4 game. He drove in all three Wilmington runs, two of which with two outs in the inning, and also drew a walk. The Rocks' catcher/designated hitter is now batting .265 (10-for49) with five RBIs and four walks. Evans has been better on the road this season than at the friendly confines of Frawley Stadium. He is batting just .158 at home compared to .333 on the road. Four of his five RBIs have come on the road as well.
With Luis Rico's six innings pitched on Friday night, the Rocks have now seen six inning outings from starters in two consecutive nights. That's now four starts of 6.0+ innings for Wilmington hurlers. More importantly, the piggyback combination of Rico and Caramo continues to pay off for the Rocks. Andrew Edwards threw two-thirds of an inning, saving the rest of the bullpen for the remainder of the series. Wilmington's off day on Monday will also help the relievers get some rest.
Friday night's 11-inning game is the longest in terms of innings so far this season for the Blue Rocks. Unfortunately for Wilmington, this extra innings game also meant their third walk off loss of the season. The Blue Rocks are now 0-2 in extra innings games, having previously lost to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans in ten innings in the season's opening series. The Pelicans walked off winners in that game, as well. The Carolina Mudcats picked up a walk off win over the Blue Rocks in the very next series.
THEY SAID IT:
Manager Brian Buchanan
"Those are tough ones to lose. Offensively, we struggled off of their starter. [Matt] Taylor was throwing off-speed pitches and we didn't make any adjustments off him. Later on we started swinging the bats a little bit better. [Luis] Rico pitched outstanding. Then [Yender] Caramo came in and pitched two good innings. We just made some bad 0-2 pitches that hurt. Give them credit, they swung the bats well too. It's one of those games that is back-and-forth, it just so happened that we're on the short end of it. A lot of good things happened and that's what you have to look at."
"All three of [Zane Evan's] hits were RBIs to tie it or put us ahead. He swung the bat well tonight and that's good to see. After they got Taylor out of there I think we kind of calmed down a little bit and put some better swings on the ball."
"[Jack Lopez's] average isn't showing it, but he's been swinging the bat well. He's just got to keep doing what he's doing. He's got a good approach right now. He works hard in [batting practice] hitting line drives and trying to stay up the middle. Right now it's working out for him."
"It's the game of baseball, you get to get right back out and do it again. It's a little easier to get at it earlier than later."
Catcher Zane Evans
"You've got to give them credit, they really battled. It's not easy to do that, especially when you go 11 innings and it's cold and it's late at night. We got guys on, got them in. I felt like we could win the ballgame the entire time. We've got the right players and right pitchers; they just really battled and had some big hits. It's a tough loss."
"I've been working a lot on my approach and just seeing pitches a little bit better with the approach I'm taking. He made some good pitches and then I got some good pitches to hit 0-2. I've been feeling a little bit better at the plate as of late with the different approach. I'm just trying to see the ball. I had a bit of movement, lunging forward to the ball. I'm just trying to stay up the middle and it's helped me react to the inside pitch and see pitches down and away. Especially the off-speed stuff, which I struggled with last year. I feel like it's gotten a little better."
"[Rico] threw the ball really well. I was impressed with him. He pounded the zone and his pitches were down. He didn't give up too many hits. His slider was good and he was throwing his changeup for strikes too. He had a great night so it's too bad we couldn't get a win for him."