POWER OUTAGE HIGHLIGHTS SPLIT TWINBILL
In the opener, the teams resumed a suspended contest from the night prior in a scoreless tie at the start of the third inning. A pair of two-out hits accounted for Kinston's runs. Lucas Montero singled to ignite the fourth against Jairo Cuevas (3-4) and later scored on a double by Jeremie Tice. Donnie Webb singled to shortstop to begin the sixth. He stole second, took third on a groundout and scored on an Abner Abreu infield hit to third.
Wilmington's lone score came in the fifth. With two outs, Patrick Norris took a T.J. House (3-8) pitch off his elbow, stole second and scored on a bloop single to center by Christian Colon. House allowed just one run on that one hit over six innings, whiffing five for his first win in six decisions. The Blue Rocks threatened against closer Cory Burns in the ninth, putting men at second and third with two outs. Alas, Rene Oriental struck out looking to end the game. Burns recorded his league-leading 17th save. Cuevas allowed two runs over five innings on seven hits and no walks, striking out two.
The K-Tribe loaded the bases with nobody out in the first against Paukovits in the nightcap. Chun Chen then popped a ball to shallow outfield. As second baseman Fernando Garcia camped underneath it, a power outage killed all of the lights. Somehow, granted the infield fly rule was in effect, Garcia made the catch in darkness. Perhaps the outage proved a blessing, as Paukovits struck out consecutive men on the resumption of play to leave the bases loaded.
Kinston threatened again in the second. Juan Diaz doubled at the start. A groundout later, Diaz took third as Ronald Rivas reached on an error by Juan Rivera at third base. On the next pitch, the speedy Montero bounced into an efficiently turned 4-6-3 double play by Garcia, Colon and Joey Lewis. No Indian would get beyond second base the rest of the way.
David Roberts (1-3) tossed two perfect innings to kick off his first career start in 92 appearances. But he walked a pair of men in the third, including a two-out four-pitch free pass to Norris. Manager Aaron Holbert then made a move to his bullpen and Chris Jones who fell behind Colon 3-0 before allowing a two-run double down the left-field line.
Ernesto Mejia made it 3-0 on his first Blue Rocks home run leading off the fourth. Lewis seemed to hit his first Blue Rocks dinger with the bases full in the sixth. But fill-in base umpire Steve Sanders, a local college ump, ruled the former Georgia Bulldog's blow went off the concrete wall instead of the wooden signage above it for a two-run double. Usual umpire Chris Graham received a promotion after Friday's game, forcing the emergency use of an area man with NCAA Division I experience. Garcia registered a sacrifice fly after Lewis' double. In the seventh, Nick Francis made it 7-0 with an RBI double to left.
Paukovits tossed five scoreless innings. He scattered five hits and three walks while whiffing four. Brendan Lafferty hurled two shutout frames to finish it off. He worked around a hit and two walks, striking out one.
The four-game series concludes on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. The Blue Rocks look to southpaw Buddy Baumann (3-1, 2.38) on the starting bump. Kinston will toss a man recently named to Baseball America's "Prospect Hot Sheet" in righty Joe Gardner (8-4, 2.62). It will be the final game for the Blue Rocks in Kinston on the regular season.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
Since a rough Advanced-A debut, Bryan Paukovits has gone 3-1 in five starts, posting a 1.57 ERA along the way. He has started each of the Blue Rocks' last two wins, both blankings.
By dropping game one, Wilmington guaranteed itself a losing road trip and a non-winning record at Grainger Stadium.
At first pitch, the heat index checked in at 110 degrees according to the National Weather Service. The forecast for Sunday's day game finale calls for a zenith of 115 degrees.
Sunday will mark the 100th game of the year for the Blue Rocks. The Carolina League plays a 140-game regular season.
Ernesto Mejia's first Blue Rocks home run registers as the team's 40th of the season. An amazing 27 of those dingers have been solo shots and 24 of them have come on the road.
The Blue Rocks have tied themselves with Lynchburg for the league lead in shutouts at nine. The Blue Crew's sixth shutout of the month lowered its ERA to a league-best 2.44 in July. Potomac checks in with the second-best July ERA more than a full point higher at 3.53.
The four-game losing streak tied as the longest string of road woes on the season.
In Winston-Salem, NC, the Potomac Nationals beat the Dash, 7-2. The win, combined with the Blue Rocks' split, drew the P-Nats even with the Blue Rocks in the loss column and just 1.0 game back overall. The division rivals meet for the first of three at Frawley Stadium on Monday in their penultimate series of the year.
Since starting his career 1-for-18, the Royals' 2010 first-round pick Christian Colon has proved a productive two-hole bat. He has hit .329 (23-for-70) with six extra-base hits, 12 RBIs and 12 runs scored over his last 17 games.
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