Rocks Slam Mudcats, Take Opener 8-2
Wilmington, DE-Brandon Downes came to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the third inning with the game tied and the Blue Rocks offense having scored just four runs in their prior two games combined. With one swing of the bat he equaled that total, blasting a 3-2 pitch over both walls in centerfield and putting the Wilmington Blue Rocks (12-28) up 4-0 as they pulled away from the Carolina Mudcats (16-24) to take the series opener 8-2.
Both teams threatened through the first two innings of play, but neither could crack the respective starters until Downes' at bat in the third. The Blue Crew rally started with a Roman Collins single and was helped along by back-to-back errors to load the bases for Downes. He battled back from down in the count 1-2 to even it up at 2-2. He fouled off one 2-2 pitch before getting an inside and high fastball and launching it over the centerfield wall for the 4-0 advantage.
The Rocks starter, Josh Staumont, ran into trouble in the top of the fourth by allowing a single and walking four batters, but limited the damage to just two runs. The Blue Crew added another run in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single by Alfredo Escalera before putting the game away in the fifth. After Jake Newberry retired the side in order in the top of the game, the boys from Frawley sent nine men to the plate to the delight of the home crowd. Downes led off the frame with a single and immediately made his way home on an RBI triple by Wander Franco to push the lead to 6-2. Franco come home on a single by Austin Bailey, and after a walk to Chad Johnson, Roman Collins made it a 8-2 game with a single of his own.
Newberry tossed a perfect sixth and seventh inning while striking out two batters to keep the Mudcats off of the board. With the score 8-2, Mark McCoy came on in the eighth and continued the perfect streak by retiring the side in order. He went back out in the ninth and retired the first batter he faced before allowing a single to end the perfect streak at 14 straight batters by the Rocks bullpen. Although he let runners advance to second and third with two outs, a groundout to first ended the game and gave the boys from Frawley a 8-2 victory.
Newberry was credited with the win as he retired all nine batters he faced for his first decision in Advanced-A and Matt Mithrow (1-4) took the loss for the Mudcats. The Rocks will look to make it two in a row against the Mudcats when the two teams go at it once again at 7:05 p.m. Derek Gordon (0-0, 5.64) will start the game for the Blue Crew and he will be opposed by Max Povse (2-2, 2.98). Fans interested in seeing the game live can contact the ticket office at 302-888-BLUE or get their tickets online at BlueRocks.com. Those interested in listening to the game can tune in to WGLS-FM 89.7 or go to BlueRocks.com for all the game action.
Pebbles of Knowledge
The Grand Slam hit by Brandon Downes in the bottom of the third inning was the first such home run for the Wilmington Blue Rocks since Jack Lopez did it back on June 20, 2015 at Frederick. The home run hit by Downes gave the Blue Crew a 4-0 lead that they would never relinquish. It was all a part of the best night of the year for Downes. He went 4-for-5 on the evening with two runs scored and four RBI for his first four hit game of the 2016 campaig. He could have gone 5-for-5 if not for a diving stop and throw by Jordan Edgerton at third to rob him of a base hit. Nonetheless, Downes has now driven in four runs in a game twice this year and is the only member of the Blue Crew to do so.
Alfredo Escalera continues to produce from the leadoff spot and did so yet again on Friday night. Escalera was hit by a pitch in his first plate appearance before reaching on an error in the second at bat. He then picked things up with an RBI single in the fourth and two more base knocks in the fifth and eighth innings to end the day 3-for-4 with a run, an RBI and a hit by pitch. He is now batting 81 points higher in the leadoff spot than his season average (.333 versus .252). The outfielder has two doubles, a triple, three walks, three hit by pitches and most importantly has scored eight times while setting the table for the offense. Doing the same at the bottom of the lineup is Chad Johnson. After going 1-for-2 on Friday and walking twice, Johnson now leads the team in on base percentage at a .376 clip. This, despite batting just .221. Johnson is accomplishing that feat and getting on base almost 40% of the time thanks to 19 walks in just 29 games.
Josh Staumont walked seven batters in his prior start back on May 15 at Salem while taking the loss. He initially had better control on Friday night as he had walked just two through the first 3.1 innings pitched. However, he lost command of the strike zone in the top of the fourth inning and ended up walking four in the frame and giving up two in the frame. It could have been worse though. With the bases loaded and two runs already in, Staumont faced Reed Harper with a full count, but was able to punch out Harper on a fastball with his last pitch of the evening and preserve the 4-2 lead.
When Jake Newberry came in to replace Staumont in the top of the fifth inning the boys from Frawley were leading 5-2. By the rime Newberry faced his last batter in the eighth, the Rocks were on their way to a victory thanks to an 8-2 advantage. It could not have been possible without the effort of Newberry. He faced nine batters in relief and retired them all in order, collecting four strikeouts along the way. He received his first win as a member of the Blue Crew and dropped his ERA to 1.08 in the performance.
They Said It
Blue Rocks Manager Jamie Quirk
"Jake (Newberry) was perfect. No hits, no walks and he pitched three perfect innings with no strikeouts. That just kept our momentum that we had worked at going. He kept it in tow and in order and it was absolutely perfect for us because it allowed us to add on. You get five scoreless innings out of your bullpen and you're usually going to win those games."
"We saw the adjustments at the plate today by Brandon (Downes). We've had discussions with him and he got himself into hitter's counts and that's always a plus. He'd been chasing and he'd been battling and we've explained to him and talked to him that hitting 0-1, 1-2, 0-2 is very hard. It's hard on anybody, even a major leaguer and he would get himself into those counts by chasing bad balls and he was really conscious today about getting into hitter's counts and he got into a good count in that at bat and got the grand slam. He's working on it and it was a good day for him. Hopefully this can escalate into getting hot and getting going again. He's big for us and he's always going to be in that middle of the lineup and we don't hit a lot of homers and when we get one it's big for us and a grand slam is as big as it gets."
"That was about the farthest part of the park he could go. And it gets dark out there too so you can't really see if that ball is clearing the fence or not. I knew he hit it well, but you still don't trust this place and it's tough to hit them out."
"Abraham Nunez, our hitting coach, has had meetings with the guys and really been emphasizing the approach and getting after it and finally starting to settle in. But we'll see. We'll see how it goes tomorrow and the next day and the next day, but we've been working at it and doing some things in batting practice and turning it into a contest with the guys so they concentrate more in batting practice. We've been talking a bunch about the strike zone and staying out of chase counts and doing things like that. Abraham has really really been working hard with them on things like that."
"Alfredo Escalera is enjoying the role of being the leadoff man first of all. He's staying aggressive and he's swinging at more strikes also and doing a good job. Ever since we put him there he's relished the opportunity and it's a pretty good spot for him. I like what he's doing."
Blue Rocks Outfielder Brandon Downes
"I was just trying to get something in the zone. Me and (Abraham O. Nunez) Nuney and Jamie Quirk were just trying to work on me seeing a lot of balls in the zone and not chasing as much. I chased that one pitch, but I was just trying to get something up in the zone that I could drive and try to get a sac fly or something productive and then I fouled off a fastball down the middle and then he gave me a fastball up and I just put a good piece of wood on it and it ended up going pretty far."
"It felt great off of the bat, I was using a new bat, a birch bat and it just felt so clean and awesome off of the bat. I know I got a good piece of it, but you never know with this field where it's going to end up, but it felt great when I hit it."
"It was definitely big for us. Me personally, I've kind of been struggling with runners in scoring position lately. It was a good way to get us going obviously with a grand slam. But it gets the team pumped, got me pumped and then we continued to have a good night from there so it was definitely something we could build off of."
"It definitely helped getting that first hit. I've been trying to work on not chasing and seeing more pitches in the zone. Laying off of those iffy pitches. I got into a 2-1 count and I got a pitch down the middle at the knees. It was definitely a good feeling to barrel one up at the beginning of the game because I've been struggling there and just get a hit there because luckily it hit off of those two gloves. I saw that and thought, "wow that was crazy," but I'll take it."
"I'm just trying not to do too much right now at the plate. We had one of our mental skills guys here and working on breathing and stuff like that. I'm just doing a couple of breathing techniques before I get up there and just not do much and hopefully hit something back up the middle and if it comes in jut let my hands do the work. It's just getting into those good counts, which is something I haven't been able to do lately and I was able to do that tonight and that's what got me those good hits."
"I tried to dive back on that pickoff attempt and I just stayed in place. Luckily I had a long enough reach to get back, but as soon as he picked over I just slipped with one of my feet and I was going "oh man, I'm about to get thrown out," but luckily I landed on the bag. I was thinking about calling timeout, but this was embarrassing enough so I'll just get up on my own… Joey (Meneses, the Mudcats first baseman) giggled a little bit and then Wiggins (Bench Coach Chris Widger) had a funny comment."