Nationals Stun Blue Rocks With 3-2 Come-From-Behind Victory
Wilmington, DE - Wilmington dropped a heartbreaker Thursday night to Potomac at Frawley Stadium as the Nationals stormed back with two runs in the top of the ninth inning to secure a 3-2 victory over the Blue Rocks. With the defeat, the Blue Crew fell three games behind the first-place Nationals and back to a game below .500 at 29-30.
The Nationals handed Blue Rocks closer Mark Peterson his first blown save of the year when he allowed the ninth-inning runs. Stephen Perez led off the frame with a double to left field. He came around to score with one out in the inning on an RBI double by Shawn Pleffner, who drove one over the head of center-fielder Bubba Starling. That tied the game, 2-2. Pleffner scored when Khayyan Norfork reached on a throwing error by shortstop Raul Mondesi.
Wilmington erased an early 1-0 P-Nats lead by scoring twice in the fourth inning. The rally began with a leadoff single from Hunter Dozier to left. Dozier scored from first on a one-out double to the gap in left-center by Michael Antonio, which tied the game, 1-1. Mark Donato followed Antonio's clutch hit with an RBI double of his own. The left-handed hitting first baseman poked a ball down the left-field line into the corner, which allowed Antonio to score easily from second, giving the Blue Crew a 2-1 lead.
For the third straight night, the Potomac Nationals scored first. In a shaky opening frame, Christian Binford allowed a leadoff single to Tony Renda, who advanced to second on an error by right-fielder Daniel Rockett. Oscar Tejeda then drove home Renda with a one-out single, giving the P-Nats a 1-0 lead.
Binford was masterful the rest of the way. He completed seven innings and did not allow a hit over his final six frames of work. He retired the last 11 batters he faced and punched out the final four. On the night, Binford struck out seven and did not issue a free pass.
Wander Suero (2-1, 7.78) picked up the win for Potomac with two shutout innings in relief. Peterson (1-1, 1.05) suffered the tough-luck loss for Wilmington. Gilberto Mendez threw a perfect ninth to earn his third save of the year. Both Binford and Potomac starter Dakota Bacus took a no-decision.
The Blue Rocks return to action Friday night at Pfitzner Stadium as their six-game home-and-home with the Potomac Nationals moves to Woodbridge, Virginia. Wilmington will send righty Luis Santos (0-0, 3.00) to the mound, while Potomac will counter with Major League All-Star Gio Gonzalez (0-0, 0.00), who is on a Minor League rehab assignment. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m. and fans can listen to the broadcast on 89.7 WGLS-FM. For ticket information, call 302-888-BLUE or visit BlueRocks.com.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
Hunter Dozier continued his recent surge at the plate with two more hits on Thursday night against Potomac. Dozier went 2-for-3 at the plate with a run and an intentional walk against the Nationals, raising his batting average to .297 on the season. Since May 20, the Royals' first-round selection in the 2013 Draft is batting .456 (26-for-57) with 10 doubles, 13 RBIs and 13 runs scored. The third-baseman was named the Carolina League Player of the Week for May 19-25, and has continued to do nothing but hit since. Dozier has been better outside of the First State this year, batting .337 on the road and .262 at Frawley Stadium.
Mark Peterson saw his incredible run of 23 consecutive scoreless innings come to an end in the ninth inning Thursday night against the P-Nats. It was Peterson's 19th outing of the season, but just the second in which he has allowed a run. The right-handed closer, who was named to the All-Star Team earlier in the week, still owns incredible numbers in 2014. He is now 1-1 with a 1.05 ERA and is 11-for-12 in save tries. Peterson has struck out 18 and walked 10 in 25.2 innings pitched. The blown save also handed Wilmington its first loss of the season when leading at the end of eight innings. The Rocks are now 21-1 in such situations.
Two of Potomac's runs were scored in large part due to Wilmington errors. However, the Rocks have been very good defensively overall this season. Wilmington has the fewest number of defensive miscues in the entire Carolina League with 45. Wilmington's 23 unearned runs are also fewest in the league, one less than Frederick's 24. Unfortunately, when they have made them, miscues have cost the Blue Rocks. Wilmington is 10-21 in games they have committed at least one error.
Thursday night's crowd of 6,073 was the largest at Frawley Stadium this season. It eclipses the previous season-high of 5,614, which came in the Blue Rocks' April 8 home opener against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. Prior to Thursday night, Wilmington's most recent crowd of over 6,000 fans had been late in the 2013 campaign, on August 20. That game was a 6-2 loss to the Potomac Nationals. Ali Williams, who began the 2014 season with the Blue Rocks before getting promoted to Double-A Northwest Arkansas, took the loss in that one.
The rosters for the 2014 California League/Carolina League All-Star Game, presented by Bank of America, were announced on Wednesday by the respective leagues. The game, which will be held at Frawley Stadium on Tuesday, June 17, will feature four players from the host Blue Rocks, as well as five of the top 100 prospects in baseball according to MLB.com. Wilmington pitchers Christian Binford, Jonathan Dziedzic and Mark Peterson, as well as catcher Cam Gallagher, will represent the Blue Crew on the Carolina League squad, the second-most All-Stars from one team in the Carolina League. Binford and Dziedzic have anchored the Blue Rocks starting rotation, with each ranking in the top-10 in the Carolina League in ERA and strikeouts-per-nine-innings-
THEY SAID IT:
Manager Darryl Kennedy:
"That's a two game swing right there. Tonight's a disappointing one. Every closer's going to blow one, it's just a matter of time. Peterson's been good for us but at times he has gotten a little wild and got away with it and tonight he didn't get away with it. A couple lefties put good swings on him when he was behind in the count, it happens."
"Really what's weird is that it's now June fifth and we're just playing Potomac. What's weird is Lynchburg has played 30-plus games in the division and we've played 22. We pretty much spent this whole half playing the other division. We've got to get it done. We've got to win these games and we've got to get better at winning close ballgames, one run games have killed us all year. It's hard to win a half; it's hard to win a championship when you're losing one run ballgames."
"Mark [Donato] put a good swing on a ball and hit it the other way. I know at times he's gotten a little pull happy but it was good to see him go the other way. That was a big hit for us which could have been the game winner. It's good to get, hopefully, the start of something for him because we need that left-handed bat in the lineup."
"It doesn't matter, [Gio Gonzalez] will be on a pitch limit anyway, probably 65 pitches. Hopefully it'll be one inning. It really doesn't matter who we face right now, we've got to take care of business. We've got to win, that's the bottom line now. Our backs against the wall. We've got to go down there and play three hard games and then go to Winston-Salem and play three more."
Starting-Pitcher Christian Binford:
"I didn't really feel like I had something to prove but I had something to prove to myself that I can bounce back from that. That first inning I was thinking to myself, 'No, not again, come on.' I went back in the dugout and just calmed down and just decided, from then on, to go pitch by pitch and think about later in the game, how far can I get. Just slowing everything down. The middle couple of innings I think I got too quick and left the ball up. Luckily they helped me out and got themselves out a couple of times. Pleffner just missed one, basically right down the middle. It's little things like that that get you deep into games. I just wanted to get quick outs in later innings to help out the bullpen."
"It's a huge honor to represent the Royals and, especially, the Blue Rocks. We've had a great pitching staff all year and to share it with Dziedzic and Peterson and Cam, he helps us get through a game with pitching and just knowing hitters and stuff like that. Being able to share it with everybody is absolutely great."
Closer Mark Peterson:
"It was a fastball over the middle of the plate [to Pleffner], right where he wanted it. All good things must come to an end."
Blue Rocks Baseball = AffordaFUNability!
www.bluerocks.com