Blue Rocks Lock Down Keys in Series Win

Frederick, MD - The Wilmington Blue Rocks (22-22) dominated the Frederick Keys (22-22) Monday night at Nymeo Field with a convincing 10-1 series finale win. RHP A.J. Puckett (5-3) twirled six no-hit innings while eight different Blue Rocks picked up a hit in the win. Nicky Lopez, Chase Vallot, Anderson Miller and Wander Franco all homered in the affair. With the victory, the Blue Rocks are back at .500 for the first time since April 16.

For the second consecutive game, the Blue Crew attacked early and often. On the first pitch of the game, Lopez belted his second homer in as many games to give the Rocks an early 1-0 lead. Chris DeVito doubled the lead with a run-scoring single to right field before Vallot smashed a two-run shot to quickly make it a 4-0 ballgame.
In the third inning, the Rocks continued to bash the baseball as Miller hit his team-leading seventh homer of the year to make it a 5-0 contest. Franco followed a few batters later with a two-run shot of his own to break the game open 7-0. The Rocks would tack on two more tallies in sixth on an RBI fielder's choice from Lopez and a D.J. Burt single to extend the lead to 9-0. Burt would add the final run of the ballgame in the eighth inning with another RBI base knock.
Puckett didn't have his best stuff on the night but still spun six, no-hit innings and held the league's best offense silent. He finished his night with four strikeouts but did walk a season-high six batters. RHP Gabe Cramer came in to try and continue the no-hitter but it was broken up on a Shane Hoelscher solo homer in the seventh for Frederick's lone run.
The four home runs hit by the Rocks was the second-most hit in a single-game in franchise history. The Blue Rocks finished their longest road trip of the season with a 5-2 record with a game currently suspended against Potomac.
Wilmington returns to Frawley Stadium on Tuesday, May 23 when they host the Lynchburg Hillcats for the first time this season. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. and LHP Cristian Castillo (2-2, 3.20 ERA) gets the start for the Blue Rocks while RHP Shao-Ching Chiang (6-1, 2.39 ERA) will climb the hill for the Hillcats. Fans can listen to the game as Matt Janus and Cory Nidoh will have the call on 89.7 WGLS-FM.
Pebbles of Knowledge:
Lopez led Monday's game off with a first pitch home run to homer for the second time in as many games. It was the first time the shortstop has left the yard in back-to-back games since August 18-19 when he was with Burlington. His home run on Sunday snapped a 45-game homerless drought with his last long ball coming back on August 26, 2016 when he was with the Burlington Royals (Rookie). With a 2-for-4 performance, Lopez extends his on-base streak to 21 games and hitting streak to 11.
Along with Lopez, Anderson Miller, Chase Vallot and Wander Franco all homered in the win on Monday. The Rocks continue to launch baseballs out of ballparks and have now clobbered 19 home runs over the last 18 games. Miller paces the surge with five homers while Vallot has smacked four. Cody Jones, Franco and Lopez are the other Wilmington hitters with multiple home runs in that stretch with two each.   Chris DeVito, Elier Hernandez, Roman Collins, and Jecksson Flores all have accounted for home runs during the stretch.
The offense continues to roll through the month of May. With another 10-run denting of the scoreboard, the Blue Crew have scored double-digit runs in five of their 21 games played this month and have scored 101 runs on 194 hits.   Wilmington is currently hitting .272 in the second month of the season opposed to a mired .216 contact-clip in April. The Rocks are 14-7 in May which is tied for the best record with both Salem and Carolina.
They Said It: Jamie Quirk
"They're swinging the bats well up and down the lineup. Obviously, Nicky (Lopez) is the catalyst and with the first pitch home run and we attacked from there on out. He sets the tone as he almost does daily. A lot of good at-bats tonight. Chase (Vallot) to straight away centerfield was a bomb. All of them. We had a good day swinging the bats. It's nice when you're on the road and throw a four spot up there before they can blink an eye."
"I do like that from him. (On Lopez's approach of swinging at first pitch of the game with success). He's done that quite often. I don't know how many times he's had a hit on the first pitch of the game, but it's a lot. I love that. He's very disciplined, he never goes out of the strike zone. Some guys might get a little crazy and get out of their rhythm. He doesn't, he takes an aggressive swing and it's fun to watch."
"(A.J.) Puckett was erratic. I would call it an ugly six shutout, no-hit innings, but it worked. He got himself in a jam in the fourth, got out of it and had to regroup after walking the bases loaded. He did, got out of it and that showed me a lot. Still too many walks, but he finds a way to get out of it."
"Absolutely. (On being proud of his team on longest road trip of the season) We come out and play every day. As we talked many times, I really believe a lot of those one-run games we manned up. We didn't quite do what we wanted to do in the win loss column, but we came out, we were in the games and they show up every game at first pitch. It's starting to show."
A.J. Puckett, Starting Pitcher
"You look at the no-hits and a lot of people will say it was a good outing. I look at it more as six walks, I struggled with command. It was one of those days I had trouble with my command. They didn't put the bats on the ball really well so walk away with a win. The offense swung the bats really well which gave me an opportunity to pound the zone early which I didn't do. I'm just thankful for the offense giving me a lot of run support and happy to walk away with a win."

"Yes, 100-percent. (On start being an example of his belief of finding a way to battle without best stuff). I think I made some comments earlier in the season when you don't have your best stuff, which I had six walks, you have to do whatever you can to put zeroes out there and let your offense try and score every inning. The offense was swinging well so I wanted to try to get them back in to keep swinging. It's something to build off, but I have walked a lot of guys over my last few outings. So I'll just go out there tomorrow, play some catch and start focusing on new things."
"It's good. (When offense provides early run support) When the offense is swinging well, it makes it easier as a pitcher. Your goal every outing is to attack the zone, but when you have an early lead, you have a little more cushion to attack the zone. You don't have to be scared to give up a home run or a base hit because your offense is swinging the bats well. So when the offense is swinging well, it gives us more confidence to attack the zone."
"Baseball is a game of momentum. The bats are swinging well and we are pitching well. As long as we keep doing that and doing out thing, I think we will be alright."
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