Lynchburg, VA- The Wilmington Blue Rocks (66-69/35-30) pulled themselves within three games of the Lynchburg Hillcats (67-65/38-29) with a 5-0 shutout victory at Calvin Falwell Field on Thursday night. Gerson Garabito shined on the mound to earn his eighth win of the season while Rudy Martin and Vance Vizcaino drove
Lynchburg, VA- The Wilmington Blue Rocks (66-69/35-30) pulled themselves within three games of the Lynchburg Hillcats (67-65/38-29) with a 5-0 shutout victory at Calvin Falwell Field on Thursday night. Gerson Garabito shined on the mound to earn his eighth win of the season while Rudy Martin and Vance Vizcaino drove in all of Wilmington's runs.
The Blue Rocks took the lead in the top of the second. Emmanuel Rivera hit a one-out, infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error by Nolan Jones. A Meibrys Viloria walk put runners on first and second with one out. While Travis Jones struck out swinging, Rivera stole third and Viloria stole second to put both runners in scoring position with two outs. Vizcaino drove both runners in with a line drive single into right to give Wilmington the 2-0 lead.
Wilmington added to it's lead in the top of the eighth. Viloria and Jones stared the inning with back-to-back singles. Vizcaino dropped a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third with one out. Angelo Castellano reached first via an intentional walk to load the bases with one out. After a Blake Perkins strikeout, Martin roped a double into center field. Viloria, Jones, and Castellano all came around to score to put the Blue Rocks ahead 5-0.
The Blue Rocks will return to Frawley Stadium on Friday, August 31 when they host the Potomac Nationals in a crucial, five-game series with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Southpaw Daniel Tillo (3-4, 4.32 ERA) will start for Wilmington. Fans, if you can't make it to the game, you can catch all the action on 89.7 WGLS-FM with Matt Janus and Cory Nidoh on the call.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE
The Blue Rocks improved to a 7-10 record in shutouts on Thursday night. The last shutout victory for the blue crew was back on July 28 in a narrow 1-0 win in game one of a doubleheader against the Buies Creek Astros. The last time Wilmington earned a nine-inning shutout was back on June 29 when they blanked the Lynchburg Hillcats 3-0 at home.
Gerson Garabito continues his dominance in the season's second half. The righty tossed six and one-third inning on Thursday night, giving up only four hits, no runs, and two walks while also fanning seven Hillcat batters. Garabito picked up his eighth win of the season and his third in his last five outings. The last time Garabito lost was all the way back on June 22 against the Potomac Nationals. He has also given up two earned runs or fewer in his last 12 outings. In those same 12 outings, Garabito has an ERA of 1.69.
Rudy Martin and Vance Vizcaino had multi-RBI games on Thursday night. With a two-RBI single in the second inning, Vizcaino racked up his sixth multi-RBI game of the season, his fifth where he drove in two. Martin had a bases clearing double in the top of the eighth for his ninth multi-RBI game of the season. The game marked just the fourth time this season Martin has driven in three or more runs in a single game.
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