Blue Rocks Win Pitching Duel to Start Second Half

Woodbridge, VA - The Wilmington Blue Rocks (32-39/1-0) started the second half in winning fashion as they held on in a 2-1 pitching duel against the Potomac Nationals (37-31/0-1) Thursday night at Northwest Federal Field. The combination of Anthony Bender and Ofreidy Gomez kept the P-Nats offense in check while Blake Perkins picked up a pair of hits, scored twice and reached base four times in his Blue Rocks debut against his former team in the win.

The Blue Rocks wasted no time and cracked the scoreboard first against Potomac starter Joan Baez. Perkins started the game with a leadoff single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by D.J. Burt. Khalil Lee followed with an RBI single to center field to plate Perkins to give Wilmington an early 1-0 lead.
Potomac answered with a run in the second on an Aldrem Corredor sacrifice fly to score Rhett Wiseman to tie the game after two complete innings. From there, Baez and Bender exchanged scoreless frames for the next four innings as both pitchers worked around some traffic on the bases.
Wilmington pushed the go-ahead run across in the top of the seventh inning. Again, Perkins singled, then stole second base and advanced to third on a throwing error by Potomac's catcher Jakson Reetz. With Lee batting, Potomac's reliever Jorge Pantoja uncorked a wild pitch to allow Perkins to score and put the Rocks up 2-1.
Ofreidy Gomez piggybacked off Bender and tossed the final three innings in scoreless fashion thanks to some help from his defense. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Potomac threatened to tie the game when Edwin Lora delivered a pinch-hit two-out double. On the play, Nick Heath and Angelo Castellano performed a strong relay tandem and threw out Nick Banks at home trying to score from first base to keep the lead intact. Gomez went on to toss the final two innings to pick up his first save of the season. Bender earned his fourth win in a row and worked six strong innings, allowed just one earned run on six hits, walked two and struck out a pair of batters.
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The Wilmington Blue Rocks and P-Nats will play the second game of the series on Friday, June 22 at 7:05 p.m. at Northwest Federal Field. Righty Gerson Garabito (2-5, 4.30 ERA) makes the start for Wilmington while left-hander Ben Braymer (2-1, 2.45 ERA) starts for Potomac. Fans can listen to the game as Matt Janus will have the call on 89.7 WGLS-FM.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
Outfielder Blake Perkins and infielder Travis Jones made their Blue Rocks debut in Thursday night's victory. Perkins was acquired by the Kansas City Royals in a trade that involved former Blue Rock and All-Star reliever Kelvin Herrera on Monday. The outfielder went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, two walks and stole a base against his former team. Jones, promoted from Low-A Lexington, batted fifth and went 1-for-3 with a walk and stole a base.
Anthony Bender continues to put together a solid month of June after another strong start. With the six innings of work and only one earned run allowed, Bender is now 4-0 with a 2.52 ERA in four outings, including three starts. Opponents are hitting just .211 against the hard-throwing righty. Bender has won his last four starts and has lasted at least six innings in all of them, including matching a career-high with seven innings of work in his starts on June 7 against Lynchburg and June 13 at Down East.
The Blue Rocks swiped five bags in the win which matched a season-high and tied a franchise record for the most stolen bases in a single game. Nick Heath stole two to push his season total up to 17 which is good for the team lead. Lee swiped his 13^th base while Perkins and Jones each stole a bag in their debuts. It also marks the third time this season the Blue Rocks have stolen five bases in a game. The last time it happened was back on April 14 against Lynchburg.
THEY SAID IT: MANAGER DARRYL KENNEDY
(On Perkins' debut) "He fits in our lineup really well. He adds a lot of speed and defense and we have quite a few of those guys on this team. I was excited to just get back and get after it with some speed and create some stuff. The guys did a great job."
(Witnessing a player playing against former team in debut) "You always wonder how a guy is going to react getting traded, especially when you are young. When you're young, you feel such loyalty to an organization and it could be a big blow. When older guys get traded, they look at it more as an opportunity. I was 26-27 years-old when I was traded to the Giants and I told (Chris) Widger that I was doing backflips because I was in the Texas organization for a long time and I knew it was good opportunity and a chance. As a young kid, I can see where they kind of wonder what it will be like. He came up with us Wednesday and worked out with us and was in good spirits. I think he is going to fit in well."
(On outfield defense) "I believe in the eighth inning Khalil (Lee) caught one and then Blake (Perkins) caught one and Lee ran down another one, I told (Pitching Coach) Doug (Henry) that they are going to have some fun out there. They can cover some ground. You put Nick Heath out there and he can run right there with them and it's a speedy outfield. It's a good problem to have."
(On relay throw to keep Wilmington's lead) "It was outstanding. Especially the way Nick played the ball off the wall, he played it perfectly. He fielded it, no bobble, threw a strike to Angelo (Castellano) and Castellano threw a strike to (Meibrys) Viloria. It saved the game in the seventh inning and kept us in the ballgame.
(Bender's outing) "He's had a big workload. You go back quite a few starts and he's going six or seven innings. You always wonder how guys will be after a three day All-Star break. They played catch and we worked out (Wednesday), but it's not the same. I think he was feeling a little bit of the All-Star break and didn't have his best stuff. The good thing is he figured out how to pitch and that is always a plus. He didn't have his best stuff, but he gave us six strong innings."
(What Travis Jones can bring to the team) "He brings a lot of energy and he can play multiple positions. He can play anywhere in the infield and outfield and if it came down to hit I can probably put him behind the plate. He brings a veteran and right-handed presence. Sometimes, our lineup is very left-handed dominant and I had him in the Arizona League for a few weeks and he's going to be fun to watch."
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