Blue Rocks Drop Series in Frederick

Frederick, MD - For the second straight night, the Wilmington Blue Rocks (65-64/26-33) were on the wrong side of a back-and-forth game and dropped the series finale to the Frederick Keys (60-67/29-29) by the score of 5-3 Thursday night at Nymeo Field. Wander Franco and Nick Heath paced the offense with a pair of hits and drove in a run each. With the loss, the Rocks are 3.5 games behind Frederick and 4.5 games behind the leading Salem Red Sox in the Northern Division Wild Card race.

Tied 3-3 in the seventh inning, the Keys broke the stalemate when Brallan Perez drew a leadoff walk and Ademar Rifaela was intentionally walked to put runners at first and second. A wild pitch from Wilmington's reliever Justin Camp pushed the pair of runners in scoring position before Yermin Mercedes singled home both runners to make it a 5-3 deficit for the Rocks. Wilmington valiantly tried to rally in the ninth inning. The Blue Rocks put the tying-runs on base when Yeison Melo reached on an error and John Brontsema singled before Colton Frabasilio grounded out to end the threat and game.
The Blue Rocks offense fought their way back in the game and knotted the contest in the sixth inning when Wander Franco doubled home Brandon Downes to tie the game at 3-3. The Blue Rocks held a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth inning when Melo scored on a fielding error before Nick Heath home Frabasilio later in the frame to give the Rocks their only lead of the ballgame. Frederick however tied the game up and ultimately regained the lead when they plated a pair of runs in their half of the inning when Perez doubled home the tying-run before Jay Gonzalez put the keys out front with an RBI single to make it a 3-2 lead for the Keys.
Wilmington begins a pivotal three-game series at Salem on Friday, August 25. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. with LHP Cristian Castillo (6-11, 4.20 ERA) making the start for the Blue Rocks while RHP Roniel Raudes (4-7, 4.50 ERA) takes the ball for the Red Sox. Fans can listen to the game as Matt Janus will have the call on 89.7 WGLS-FM.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
Wander Franco has put together a tremendous campaign in 2017. With his pair of hits in Thursday's loss at Frederick, the third baseman now has 126 hits this season, the most since he totaled 128 hits in 2015 with Low-A Lexington. The 126 hits pace the Blue Rocks, is good for top-five in the Carolina League and the most by a Blue Rock hitter since Adrian Ortiz smacked 126 hits in 2010. Franco along with Roman Collins (106) have joined the Blue Rocks' single-season 100-hit club. Last season, Brandon Downes and Elier Hernandez each tallied 100 hits or more.
Thursday's loss concluded the head-to-head series between the Blue Rocks and Keys. The series was split at 13-13 with both teams going 5-5 in the final 10 games of head-to-head tilt. Wilmington will wrap up its 2017 season with 7 of its last 10 games at home. Following the crucial three-game series in Salem, the Rocks welcome the Down East Wood Ducks of the Southern Division to Frawley Stadium for the first and only time this year before closing out the year with the Northern Division leading Lynchburg Hillcats.
With the losing effort, the Rocks have now dropped back-to-back series and have lost four of their last five. The lone series that the Rocks didn't drop was a four-game split with Frederick at Frawley Stadium from August 14-17. During that stretch, the Blue Crew are just 5-11. The last series the Rocks have won was back on August 3-6 when they took three out of four against the Keys, also at Frawley Stadium. Overall on the year, the Rocks have won 13 series while also losing 13. The loss on Thursday also marked the fifth defeat for the Blue Rocks in rubber matches.
Home-field advantage has been the key in the season series between the Wilmington Blue Rocks and Frederick Keys in 2017. The Rocks won eight of the teams' 11 meetings at the friendly confines of Frawley Stadium while Frederick owns a 10-5 record at Nymeo Field in 2017. The Rocks have especially struggled at the home of their closes geographic rival during the season's second half when they've dropped 9 of 11. Wilmington has been a far better team at home against everyone in 2017. The Rocks are nine games above .500 at Frawley Stadium and are eight games below sea level on the road.
THEY SAID IT, JAMIE QUIRK:
"Frederick played better than us (Thursday night). They made plays on defense and got big hits when they needed to. We couldn't make a pitch when we needed to, they had good at-bats and got the job done.
(Jared) Ruxer was good. We couldn't get the shutdown inning. We scored and then they scored. That killed our momentum and we had to fight back and offensively, we aren't strong enough to keep fighting back. Ruxer did a good job and held his own. He kept the game in check, but the big one was the (Yermin) Mercedes hit. I thought it was a poor pitch, poor selection and poor location.
(Justin) Camp keeps pitching. It was a tight situation and you like to see how guys react and get through it. That's the fun of these games, to see how they are going to respond, who is going to deliver with a big pitch or hit or good at-bat. You don't always get a hit, but put together a good at-bat. These kids are going through this right now and it's good for their development.
I hope they believe that (on team still being in postseason contention.) I believe it. We go into (Friday) and we are playing the teams we need to beat. We didn't win here (in Frederick), but now we have to go down to Salem and win."
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