Rally Rocks Come Back From 4-0 Deficit to Take Opener 7-4
Wilmington, DE-The Wilmington Blue Rocks (30-47/3-5) offense opened up the throttle on Wednesday night against the Lynchburg Hillcats while putting seven runs on the board and kept their foot down on the pedal on Thursday night, scoring the final seven runs in a 7-4 comeback triumph over the Winston-Salem Dash (31-46/3-4). Rehabber Raul Mondesi provided the fireworks with a two-run dinger in the sixth inning, driving in three runs total on the night while Kyle Kubat (3-0) worked four scoreless frames in relief for the win.
For the second night in a row, the Rocks found themselves down early as starter Colin Rodgers had early inning issues. He allowed a run in the second on a Michael Suiter RBI single before watching the Dash plate three more in the third, highlighted by am RBI double by Nick Basto and a two run single by Chris O'Dowd. But just like they did on Wednesday night, the Blue Crew was undaunted facing an early deficit.
They cut the deficit in half in the third inning when Dash starter Spencer Adams walked the first two batters. After a strikeout of Cody Jones, Mondesi belted a 1-2 pitch to left field for an opposite field double and the first run of the game for the home squad. With runners at second and third and one out, Alfredo Escalera came to the plate and hit sharp grounder to short with the infield back to bring in the second run of the inning and pull the Rocks to 4-2. The game stayed that way until the fifth inning when the top of the order erased the Dash lead.
Jones atoned for his earlier strikeout with a bunt single down the third baseline to start the frame. After a strikeout by Mondesi, Jones stole second on the first pitch of Escalera's at bat. The outfielder then shot a ball through the hole between first and second to put runners at the corners with one out. That set the stage for Samir Duenez who doubled off of the first base bag to drive home a run. With the Blue Crew down 4-3, Wander Franco stepped to the plate with men at second and third and hit a bounding ball just fair down the third base line, driving in two and turning a 4-3 deficit into a 7-4 advantage. With Kubat taking over for Rodgers on the mound, the Rocks added some insurance runs in the sixth when Mondesi crushed a ball to dead center and off of the batters' eye for a two-run homer and a 7-4 lead.
Kubat kept motoring through the Dash's lineup, posting zeroes in both the seventh and eight innings. After four scoreless frames from the relief lefty, Jamie Quirk continued to turn to southpaws, handing the ball over to Brenan Henry to try and close the door in the ninth. Henry quickly retired the first two men he faced on grounders to short before a chopper to Franco at third ended the affair and sealed the Rocks 7-4 win.
Kubat gets the win in the stellar relief outing to move to 4-0 on the season while Adams gets the loss and drops to 7-6. It was Henry's second save of the season and second in as many opportunities. The two teams go right back at it Friday night at 7:05 p.m. when RHP Josh Staumont (2-8, 387) will go up against LHP Tanner Banks (2-0, 2.79) with fireworks after the game. Fans interested in attending the game can call the Blue Rocks ticket office at 302-888-BLUE or get tickets online at BlueRocks.com. Fans 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
Raul Mondesi continued his rehab assignment with Wilmington on Thursday and put together his best performance thus far. The 20-year-old is returning from a 50-game suspension by Major League Baseball for violating the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Barring rainouts, he will be eligible to resume his season at Double-A Northwest Arkansas on Monday, July 4. Mondesi, who was hitting .250 with five doubles, a triple, five homers and 11 stolen bases in his first 25 games in Double-A this year, went 2-for-5 with his first home run, a double, three RBI and a stolen base. He is now 5-for-24 during the rehab stint with the home run, three RBI, three runs scored and two stolen bases. Mondesi last played with Wilmington in 2014 and batted .211 with 34 extra-base hits and 33 RBI in 110 games as the only teenager in the Carolina League that season. He spent most of last year in Double-A, but was added to the Royals roster during the postseason and made his Major League debut during the World Series. He was the first ever player to get his first career at bat in the Fall Classic. The top-ranked prospect in the Royals system, according to Baseball America, joins the Rocks during their weekend series in Winston-Salem, before coming to Wilmington for a seven-game homestand at Frawley Stadium.
The Wilmington Blue Rocks came into the game on Thursday night as the worst hitting team in the Carolina League while having produced the second fewest home runs. The lack of production can be traced back to the first half of the season when they were shutout nine times and hit just 25 home runs. But now the Blue Crew has found their home run swing. They have hit four home runs in second half of the season through the first eight games with all four coming in the last five affairs. The Rocks are now at 29 long balls on the year with 11 of them coming at pitcher friendly Frawley. The home runs belong to Alfredo Escalera who has hit two in the second half, Samir Duenez who blasted one on Wednesday and Raul Mondesi who crushed one out to dead center on Thursday evening.
The Rocks have had trouble scoring all season long. Their 270 runs coming into action on Thursday evening were 20 fewer than the next closet team, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans who had plated 290. The offense though is all of a sudden on a roll, scoring seven runs for the second time in as many games. The offensive explosion has not surprisingly come with a couple of wins, but the seven runs in two games is impressive comes off of the heels of a streak where they had not scored seven since June 3 when they scored 11 in a 16-11 ten inning defeat. Before that game you would have to go back to May 15 to find another game when the Blue Crew scored seven or more runs (nine in a 10-9 loss). The 14 runs in the last two games are also the most runs in a two-game span for the boys from Frawley since they scored 16 total between May 14 and May 15, although both of those games were losses (the 10-9 loss and an 8-7 loss in ten innings).
The bullpen has held strong with the lead this season and did so once again on Thursday night. Starter Colin Rodgers had a tough go of it and lasted just four innings, but Kyle Kubat came on and righted the ship for the Rocks. The left went four scoreless frames in relief with three strikeouts and just one walk to earn his third win of the season. He is now perfect on the year at 3-0, but he would not have gotten the victory if not for Brennan Henry coming on and pitching a perfect night. It was Henry's second save of the year in two chances and puts the Blue Crew's success rate in saves at 14-for-17. Over the last three games the bullpen has been almost untouchable. They have tossed 12 innings in the last three Blue Rocks games while surrendering seven hits and just one run while striking out 13 and walking five.
They Said It
Blue Rocks Manager Jamie Quirk
"The last two days we scored some runs. I'll revert back to the bullpen, (Kyle Kubat) was outstanding. He gives you four shutout innings and it allows our offense to get into the game and take the lead. That's the key we talk about it all the time. When you're bullpen can keep a game in hand and go off that. Starting in the second half we played the Dash right out of the break and they beat us three out of the four, we didn't play good. Then we didn't play good the first two games against the Hillcats. That's how these guys are, I call it showering well, they show up the next day and they forgot about yesterday. Now we'll see where it goes I like the energy, I like where we're going it's all about timely hitting and good pitching."
"(Colin Rodgers) limit was 90, unfortunately he reached it in the fourth inning. He struggled a little early, had a little trouble, they got him. He'll be back out there in five days. He'll work on his game, he needs his curveball and he didn't have his curveball today. He needs that pitch but he'll be fine."
"This is the third time we've seen (Spencer Adams) and he has dominated us. We had a nice hitters meeting today with (Abraham Nunez, Milt Thompson, and J.J. Picollo) and we talked to the hitters about knowing what the guys are trying to do to you. In this league you play teams so many times you should have an idea of what is going to happen in the batter's box when you specifically get in there. The guys responded today, they laid off some pitches, they made him throw pitches. He had a complete game in 91 pitches against us. The game was over like that but we made him throw pitches (Thursday night), it was nice."
"(Kyle Kubat) knows who he is. He wasn't even drafted he was a free agent out of college. He knows who he is and what he has and he does try to be who he isn't. He doesn't try to throw the fastball by you. He makes pitches and uses his off-speed stuff. He says this is me and this is what I'm going to do. Since we've had him he's down very well."
"It was great building confidence for (Brennan Henry) to come in. He was available (Thursday night) with our bullpen being a little short. He was able to go. (Kyle Kubat) had maxed out and I didn't want to push him one more inning. Hank (Brennan Henry) came in and did his job and now he feels good about himself. I call him Sparky Lyle. He did a good job that's a confidence builder for him. You get a save three up three down. That last guy he had to work hard to get him. He kept throwing strikes, a couple weeks ago Hank might have walked him, but he kept pounding the strike zone and forced the issue and got the ground ball."
Rehabber Raul Mondesi
"I'm feeling better everyday I'm concentrating, looking for my pitch, I'm feeling better."
"When I saw the centerfielder running so hard back I started running hard."
"I was looking fastball, he threw it right down the middle and I put a good swing and I got it."
"(Wednesday night)'s game, I didn't get a good hit but I felt better at the plate. (Thursday night) I got a good result."