No Fun with One Run Loss

Wilmington, DE - The Wilmington Blue Rocks (9-16) stranded a pair of runners in scoring position and suffered another one-run loss by the score of 4-3 to the Salem Red Sox (16-10) Wednesday night at Frawley Stadium. It was the fourth, one-run loss in the head-to-head matchup for Wilmington and 15^th overall one-run game the Blue Crew have played in this season. Anderson Miller and Roman Collins each collected three hits in the loss.

For the second straight game, the Blue Rocks dug themselves out of an early deficit.   Salem struck for three runs in the first inning, courtesy of a Josh Ockimey three-run blast over the right field wall off LHP Foster Griffin to give the visiting Red Sox a 3-0 lead. 
However, as Griffin settled in, the Rocks chipped away. In the bottom of the second inning, Collins laced a single to right field to score Chase Vallot who led the inning off with a walk, to make it 3-1 ballgame. In the sixth inning, Wilmington capitalized on an error by Salem's shortstop Chad De La Guerra on a ground ball hit by Cody Jones to pull Wilmington within a run, 3-2. 
In the seventh, Salem kicked the ball around again. Miller bounced a ball to the first baseman Ockimey who had the ball pop out of his glove to allow Miller to reach safely. On the play, D.J. Burt was half way to home and stopped, forcing Ockimey to overthrow the catcher Austin Rei, and Burt scampered home to tie the game at 3-3. 
Salem's potent offense stormed back in the eighth against RHP Yunior Marte (0-2). Tate Matheny drew a lead-off walk, advanced to second base on a passed ball and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. Michael Chavis followed with a run-scoring double to left field to put the Red Sox up 4-3. 
Wilmington attempted a rally in the ninth inning when Elier Hernandez and Anderson Miller strung back-to-back singles with one out. Miller took second base on a stolen base, but the Blue Rocks went down on strikes in their final two-at bats to end the threat and game.
Griffin didn't factor in the decision, worked six innings, allowed the three runs and set a career-high with nine strikeouts. RHP Yunior Marte (0-2) suffered the loss after allowing the go-ahead run in the eighth inning.
Wilmington hits the road to begin a four-game series with the Down East Wood Ducks starting on Thursday, May 4. First pitch is slated for 7:00 p.m. with RHP Scott Blewett (0-2, 3.95 ERA) getting the start for the Blue Rocks while the Wood Ducks counter with RHP Emerson Martinez (2-2, 2.86 ERA). Fans can listen to the game as Matt Janus will have the call on 89.7 WGLS-FM. 
Pebbles of Knowledge
The Blue Rocks have played in a Carolina League-high 15 one-run games so far in 2017. No other club in the ten-team loop have played more than 10 single-score affairs. In a broader perspective, Wilmington has played in more one-run contests than any other team in Minor League Baseball. Unfortunately for Wilmington, the Rocks are just 4-11 in such contests. Wilmington has also played in five extra innings affairs already in 2017--three more than any other Carolina League club. The Rocks are just 1-4 in those games not completed in regulation.
So far in the head-to-head matchup against Salem, the Blue Rocks are 1-5 through the first six games. Five of those six contests have been decided by a single tally with Salem scoring the go-ahead run in their final at-bats in four games. The other two games have been lopsided losses for each side. Wilmington lost the first game the series in Salem 11-2 while Wilmington took a 10-2 victory on Tuesday. Through the six games, the Rocks have been outscored by the Red Sox 34-29 this year. 
Griffin has been dominant this season against the Carolina League, but the Salem Red Sox have given him some trouble. In his two starts against the Red Sox, he is 0-1, has allowed nine earned runs in 7 1/3 innings of work, has allowed 11 hits in two starts against Salem this year. Against the rest of the Carolina League, Griffin is 2-1 with a 0.76 ERA in four starts which spans 23 2/3 innings of work.
Anderson Miller extended his on-base streak to 18 games which sets a new career-high. His previous watermark was a 16-gamer set a year ago in Low-A Lexington. He extended it with a three-hit performance Wednesday night. It marks the longest on-base streak of a Blue Rock hitter since Hunter Dozier reached 18 games in 2014. With the three-hit performance, Miller collected his first, three-hit game of the season. Roman Collins and D.J. Burt both set an early 13-game on-base streak in the opening month of the season, but both had their streaks snapped in the same game back on April 20 against Winston-Salem.
They Said It: Jamie Quirk
"I thought (Foster) Griffin was good. He made one bad pitch all night which was the 0-2 pitch that allowed the three-run homer. After that, he was a different pitcher. He did a nice job. He got us in a hole, but we battled back. The key for me Wednesday night was that we couldn't get the big hit, we went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position. We had a lot of base runners, stole four or five bases, and we got them out there, but we just could not get that one big hit to get us over the hump."
"The confidence factor has been a big adjustment for Griffin. What I liked, Salem beat him up when he had his one really bad outing in Salem. He goes out in the first inning, allowed the three-run homer and he could have wilted and say these guys got me. He didn't, and I was very proud of him for that for showing that he wanted to get them out. He has all the weapons and pitching really well this year. He has the one bad outing, one bad pitch today, but I see a guy who is focused and determined. His breaking ball is good and he's been good. What he did tonight, I'm very proud of him for bearing down after giving up the three runs in the first against a team that got to him last time."
"Offensively, we put pressure on Salem the whole game. Getting on base, stealing bases and getting in scoring position and we did all those things. We were right there knocking on the door and we made it awful tough on them. The strikeouts hurt us when we needed contact, but we had ten hits. It was just a matter of getting that hit with runners in scoring position.
"Roman (Collins) had a nice night. He came out today after getting a couple days off to clear his head a little bit and he played a nice game. It was good to see Anderson (Miller) get three hits and maybe that will get him rolling. Like I said, we got them out on the bases, now we have to get them in."
25 Years of Blue Rocks Baseball
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