Slide Continues, Blue Rocks Drop Series Opener 5-1 for Eight Straight Loss
Potomac, MD-The sour seven turned into the hateful eight as the Wilmington Blue Rocks (6-15) dropped their series opener 5-1 to the Potomac Nationals (13-8) for their eighth straight loss. The Rocks managed just one run for the second straight game while every Blue Crew pitcher allowed at least one run in the loss.
Colin Rodgers worked out of trouble in the first inning after walking the first two batters of the frame, but could not hold the P-Nats off the board in the second. Dale Carey doubled with one out and David Masters immediately followed with a single to right to open up the scoring at Pfitzner Stadium. Potomac bumped their lead by another run in the next inning when a leadoff walk finally came back to haunt Rodgers. Andrew Stevenson led the inning off with the free pass and was erased on a fielder's choice off of the bat of Osvaldo Abreu. Abreu stole second though and came home two batters later when Raudy Read singled up the batter for a 2-0 lead.
The Nationals starter Luis Reyes held the Rocks at bay through the first three innings and continued to do so until the Blue Crew finally got to him in the sixth inning. Austin Bailey got things going with a one out single and was erased on a fielder's choice by Humberto Arteaga. Arteagea, much like Abrue, stole second and then scored the first run of the game for the boys from Frawley on a double by Roman Collins. However, that is all the Rocks would get and Potomac put the game away in the later innings.
Narciso Mesa walked with one out and Stevenson singled to put men on the corners. The speedy centerfielder stole second to put men at second and third with the lone out and Abreu cleared the bases in the next at bat with a single to center to push the P-Nats advantage to 4-1. They added to the lead in the eighth inning on a triple by Bryan Mejia and a wild pitch by reliever Evan Beal for the 5-1 Potomac lead, which is how the game would end.
Colin Rodgers (1-2, 3.48) took the loss while giving up two runs in 5.1 innings pitched as Luis Reyes (2-2, 4.22) got the win for the Nationals. Zach Lovvorn (0-4, 4.50) will try to snap the eight game skid when he takes on Phillips Valdez (3-1, 5.40).
Pebbles of Knowledge
After the 5-1 loss on Friday night, the Blue Rocks losing streak is now at eight games. For the seventh time during the eight game skid, the Rocks allowed their opponent to score first and after the opponent scores, the Blue Crew has not shown a penchant for coming back. On the season, the boys from Frawley have fallen behind 12 times and are 1-11. The only time this season the Blue Rocks have come from behind to win was in a game against the Carolina Mudcats on April 11 when the Mudcats scored in the top of the first inning and the Rocks came back in the bottom of the first to score a pair of runs on their way to a 6-4 win. The Blue Crew have also scored more than two runs on just one occasion during the streak, which happened during the first game of the streak when they lost 4-3 in game one of the doubleheader against the Nationals.
The Blue Rocks offense is crumbling during the eight game losing streak. They are batting .169 as a team (42-for-248) and are having trouble getting men in when they do get on base. After the first game of the doubleheader against Potomac on April 21, the Rocks were batting .290, but that number has since plummeted. In their last seven games the Blue Crew is 3-for-35 with runners in scoring position, which is a paltry .086.
Neither the offense nor the pitching is getting it done against the P-Nats. In the 13 games against Potomac, the offense is batting .216 while the pitching staff has an ERA of 4.42 while surrendering eight home runs. On the offensive side, only two batters are above .300 in the season series against Potomac (Ryan O'Hearn is batting .327 while Austin Bailey is hitting .310) and six different batters have struck out 10+ times with two more sitting at nine whiffs. The team as a whole has fanned 113 times in 431 at bats, which is a strikeouts percentage of 26.2%.
O'Hearn continues to get on base for the Rocks. He has now reached base successfully in 14 straight games thanks to a 1-for-4 night with a walk. The slugging first baseman is now 19-for-54 over the 14 games with seven home runs (two inside the park home runs), four doubles, 15 RBI and eleven runs scored. The seven home runs are the most in the Carolina League and he is tied for first in total bases with 58 alongside Nick Basto.
They Said It
Blue Rocks Catcher Chad Johnson
"It is really tough right now. Baseball is just one of the toughest games there is. And when you're going through what we are right now, so much of it is mental. We have to be able to avoid getting our hopes down so fast. It's early in the season. Once we start picking it up a little bit and get a couple wins we'll be right back on track. But right now guys are a little down, so we just have pick ourselves back up."
"Jamie (Quirk) is a great leader. He has been through it all including what we're going through right now. Having him as our backbone is nice because he knows exactly what to say. His thing is this is a part of baseball and we'll work our way out of it. Just stay mentally strong and continue to work hard."
"You always want to go out there and get three or four hits a game for yourself. But right now, as a team, what we need most is that big situational hit. We can't get guys in. When you do that you're not going to win games. Personally you want to go out there and do your best, but you want to come through for your teammates as well."
"With guys on base it seems like we're all trying a little too hard. It's not that we aren't trying. We all want to come through. We are just putting too much pressure on ourselves in those spots. We are getting guys on, but we aren't cashing in. We've got to get back to just playing baseball. It's supposed to be fun. We've got to get back to that."
"Our pitching is doing really well right now and we just aren't giving them any offense. They're not pressing. They can only do what they can, then the rest is up to us. Those guys are going to give up runs, that's just part of the game. It's up to us to score more than the other guys. But our pitchers are doing a great job of keeping us in the games while we struggle up there at the plate."