Rocks Rally Late But Can't Hold On
Kinston, NC - A wild eighth inning left the Wilmington Blue Rocks on the wrong side of a see-sawing 7-5 decision with the Down East Wood Ducks on Wednesday at Grainger Stadium. Wilmington erased a three-run deficit in the top of the penultimate frame, but Down East answered with two
Kinston, NC - A wild eighth inning left the Wilmington Blue Rocks on the wrong side of a see-sawing 7-5 decision with the Down East Wood Ducks on Wednesday at Grainger Stadium. Wilmington erased a three-run deficit in the top of the penultimate frame, but Down East answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning to hand Wilmington a bitter defeat. The Blue Crew lost for the ninth time in their last 10 road affairs and fell three games below .500 in the season's second half.
The Rocks mounted their rally against the Down East bullpen in the eighth.
Down East wasted little time authoring a response against Wilmington reliever
The Rocks had staked to an early lead by scoring twice in the opening frame. Heath got things started with a single and came home one batter later on Downes' double to the left-field corner. Downes moved to third on a wild pitch and scored courtesy of
Down East used a couple of long innings early to touch up Wilmington starter
Rodgers was pulled after 3.2 frames. He allowed five runs on eight hits and two walks. Righty
Wilmington wraps up its three-game series at Down East on Thursday. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. as right-hander
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
This series has bucked the trend for the Blue Rocks at historic Grainger Stadium in Kinston, North Carolina. Wilmington went 6-1 in their first seven games against Down East, but have lost each of the last two nights to the Wood Ducks. The Rocks entered the three-game set with a five-game winning streak against the Wood Ducks and outscored Down East 46-26 entering play on Tuesday. Despite the loss, the Rocks continue to hit well against the Wood Ducks, posting a .301 batting average (102-for-339) through the first nine contests of the head-to-head matchup. Thursday's game will be Wilmington's last of the season at Grainger Stadium. The clubs will square off three more times this year, when Down East makes its first and only visit to Wilmington in 2017 during the season's penultimate series.
One night after
Despite the loss, the Rocks fulfilled their manager's request to swing the bats better early in road games. Wilmington plated two first-frame runs on Wednesday. Entering the contest the Blue Crew had not scored a first-inning run since July 23. On the season Jamie Quirk's offense has been at its best in the opening inning. The Rocks have scored 69 first-inning runs, seven more than in any other inning in 2017. The Rocks suffered a rare loss when scoring first and dropped to 40-18 when getting the game's initial run.
THEY SAID IT: JAMIE QUIRK
"It was nice to get that rally and tie it up. It looked like we were dead and we just kept coming. That part of it was good. It was good for Chris DeVito to get a big hit. He'd been lacking that and he's going to feel good about it, and maybe we can get him going. But that was obviously a heart-breaking loss."
"We had been talking about getting going early on the road as a staff before the game. We addressed with the team because it's been part of our road struggles. It was good to get those two early runs and play with a lead, but (Wes Benjamin) pitched a good game. It turns out I actually know the kid. He went to the University of Kansas and I knew his uncle pretty well. I didn't put two and two together at first."
"It's huge (To have DeVito and
"It's a little bit of everything. (On the bullpen's struggles the last two nights.) But the big thing is we need the starting pitching to step up and do something like a seven-inning stint so we don't need too many innings out of the bullpen. (Jacob) Bodner did a nice job, Jose Veras had a clean seventh inning, but they ambushed him in the eighth. We need a (better) effort by our starters to calm everything down.
"(John Brontsema) is advertised as a good hitter. I'm sure there were nerves involved (Tuesday) night. He had a rough night and came back (Wednesday) with a couple of hits and that's what we hope for from him, to help us out offensively."
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