Rocks Sputter in Series Opener

Wilmington, DE - The Wilmington Blue Rocks (62-58/23-27) were unable to keep pace with the Frederick Keys (56-62/25-24) to begin a crucial four-game series against their Northern Division rivals as they dropped the opening game 9-3 Monday night at Frawley Stadium. Frederick used a four-run outburst in the second inning to propel past the Blue Rocks. Brandon Downes paced the offense with a pair of hits, including a double in the losing cause. With the loss, Wilmington fell 2.5 games behind Frederick and remain 3.5 games behind Salem in the Northern Division Wild Card race.

The Keys hung a crooked spot on the scoreboard in the second inning with four runs. Frederick sent eight men to the plate and strung together consecutive hits before Armando Araiza doubled home a run to make it 1-0. Bryan Perez and Glynn Davis followed with a pair of run-scoring hits to make it 3-0 before a final run was brought in on a double play ball hit by big-league rehabber Ryan Flaherty.

Wilmington responded with three runs of their own in their half of the second inning. Chris DeVito reached on a three-base error by Frederick's center fielder Glynn Davis to start the inning. John Brontsema singled home DeVito before Nathan Esposito reached on an error and another run scored to make it a 4-2 game. Nick Heath then reached on a fielder's choice to score Brontsema, to pull the Rocks within a run, which would be the closest they would get to the Keys.
Frederick followed up with four unanswered runs with a pair in the third inning on another Ariaza RBI single and a wild pitch to make it a 6-3 deficit for the Blue Crew. Shane Hoelscher doubled home a run in the fourth inning to extend Frederick's lead, 7-3. The final two runs were scored when Araiza delivered with a two-run single. Frederick's catcher drove in four of the nine runs for the Keys.
Wilmington has a quick turnaround with the second game of the pivotal series on Tuesday, August 15 with fir pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m. RHP Scott Blewett (5-9, 3.96 ERA) takes the mound for the Blue Rocks while RHP Ofelky Peralta (2-9, 5.48 ERA) starts for the Keys. Fans can listen to the game at Matt Janus, Cory Nidoh and Jack Keffer will have the call on 89.7 WGLS-FM.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
Monday's loss to Frederick marks just the second loss at home the Rocks have suffered against the Keys. The Rocks came into Monday's contest with a two-game win streak against the third-place Keys and had taken three of the last four games. The home team has dominated the series with Wilmington going 6-2 at Frawley Stadium while Frederick owns an 8-4 record at Nymeo Field. The teams are tied 10-10 in the overall season series with six games remaining against between the two Northern Division foes.
Brandon Downes has found his stroke as of late. On Monday night, the outfielder roped a double and single to record his 14^th multi-hit game on the season. Downes launched a two-run blast in Sunday's contest and hammered home a three-run shot on Saturday. In the last four games, Downes is hitting .294 (5-for-17) with a double, two home runs, and six RBIs. It comes after a stretch where Downes batted .095 (4-for-42) with two extra base hits and one RBI.
The defensive blunders continued for the Blue Rocks on Monday night, recording two errors on the night. One of them came on a dropped infield fly while the other was a misplayed fly ball that bounced past Downes. It is the sixth game in the last seven contests that Wilmington has committed an error, as well as the fifth time the Rocks recorded multiple errors. Over that span, the defense has committed a total of 18 errors. In the previous 24 games, the Blue Crew only accumulated 20 errors. 
The Rocks continued to struggle offensively with runners in scoring position going 1-for-6 on Monday night in that situation. The Rocks went 0-for-11 in Sunday's loss at Salem and were just 2-for-8 in Saturday's setback. Overall, the Blue Rocks are hitting just .120 (3-for-25) with runners in scoring position during their three-game losing streak. On the campaign, Wilmington is hitting just .233 (255-for-1,095) with runners at either second or third base this year.
THEY SAID IT, JAMIE QUIRK
"Colin Rodgers just struggled, the ball wasn't going where he wanted it to (on Monday night). The ball was cutting on him and he couldn't make the adjustment to get it in his lane. He had no control of what was going on and that's a bad feeling. He just couldn't get any rhythm going. (Frederick) got the four runs (in the top of the second inning) and gave us three runs (in the bottom half) but we couldn't keep it from there. He just didn't have a feel for his stuff tonight. He battled from the get-go and we had to play catch-up. Our offense isn't really good right now to play catch-up."
"It would be nice (if everyone picked up their game like Brandon Downes has recently). He hit a home run the other day and had two hits (Monday). He hit a couple balls really well today. It's a good sign and we need him. Just need to get guys to come around. We are in a definite slump. It's very unusual when you see everyone not swinging well. You talk to them, try to get them to relax and have a little fun but it's hard to have fun when you go hitless in a game. There is really no magical potion, it's just mental toughness at this point. Someone on the team is going to have to get going. That's been a struggle offensively for a while now."
"It's definitely a different team (from the first half). I think a lot of them are trying to make their mark at this level. A couple have had success at this level and they hit a stride, but things catch up to you and for some, it could be the first time in their lives they have ever struggled. A couple of them have never played this much baseball. They hit a wall. You sign last year, play short season, and play 60 games; now you are playing 140 (at Class-A Advanced). You play teams a lot, they get a book on you, and you have to punch back. We are not doing well about that. We have some guys who feel sorry for themselves, and I've said it a lot that no one feels sorry for you and you have to find a way. I've never seen a team slump like this before. Nobody is even hitting the ball really hard. That's what is great about baseball; there is another game tomorrow and who knows, it could be the day."
"(On facing MLB rehabbers) I was talking to our coaches and said I wish Ryan Flaherty came up every inning. He is a major league guy that we handled well, he went 0-for-4 with a walk (on Monday) and I'm not sure it should have been a walk. Anthony Santander we know; he was in Lynchburg last year so we saw him a lot. Flaherty wasn't a concern for us and I don't say that in a negative way, he is just one guy in the lineup. (Frederick) swings the bats well, they have all year, so we weren't concerned about Flaherty or anybody else. You are concerned about the guy in the batters' box. We just couldn't get a flow going."
"We had four double plays, (Jecksson Flores and John Brontsema) had three of them (on Monday). That part is a big plus. We still made two errors though and we came off a six game road trip where we had 15 errors and that's inexcusable. We aren't that kind of team. I blame a lot of it on the offensive side because they are thinking about their offense and bringing it out on the field. The middle infield did a good job though turning double plays."
"I don't know yet because I don't know them well enough (on what Brontsema and Yeison Melo bring to the team). They have been advertised as offensive guys. Their defense is a working progress and they know it, we have been working at it. They are supposed to be offensive guys from what the reports are so hopefully they get it going. We are going to mix and match at second base, Jonathan McCray will get some time there too, it won't be Brontsema every day. Melo will be in and out of the lineup. Everyone is going to play this time of year. I'm going to give everyone a chance to get their at-bats and see who can get hot."
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