Wilmington, DE - For the first time in 2018 the Wilmington Blue Rocks have beaten the Salem Red Sox. The Blue Crew scored three times in the third inning to erase an early deficit and earned a 4-3 win at Frawley Stadium on Friday. Wilmington had dropped its first six
Wilmington, DE - For the first time in 2018 the Wilmington Blue Rocks have beaten the Salem Red Sox. The Blue Crew scored three times in the third inning to erase an early deficit and earned a 4-3 win at Frawley Stadium on Friday. Wilmington had dropped its first six meetings with the Sox this season. Arnaldo Hernandez set season-highs in innings pitched with 6.1 innings of work and eight strikeouts.
It was enough thanks to Hernandez, who overcame a tough early portion of his start, to dominate down the stretch. After a leadoff double and two-run homer by Bobby Dalbec put Salem out in front 2-0 in the second inning, the righty went on to strikeout eight batters and allowed just five baserunners over his final four innings of work.
Salem threatened in the top of the ninth inning. After an RBI single from Chris Madera made it a 4-3 score, Blue Rocks' closer Bryan Brickhouse walked Tyler Hill to put runners at first and second before he struck out Brett Netzer looking to end the game. Brickhouse earned his league-leading eighth save of the season.
Wilmington and Salem continues the series with the second game of the series on Saturday, May 26 at 6:05 p.m. Lefty Daniel Tillo (0-1,7.71 ERA) makes the start for Wilmington while right-hander Tanner Houck (2-5, 5.25 ERA) starts for Salem. Fans can listen to the game as Matt Janus and Cory Nidoh have the call on 89.7 WGLS-FM.
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Arnaldo Hernandez had his best start of the season Friday night. The right-hander earned his fifth win of the season pitching a season-high 6.1 innings and also struck out a season-high eight batters for his first win against the Salem Red Sox. His only blemish of the game was a two-run home run in the second inning. Hernandez is stellar when taking the mound at Frawley as he is now 3-0 in four starts at home with a 2.62 ERA.
With an RBI double in the third, Oliver Nunez had his first multi-RBI game as a Blue Rock. Nunez has only played six games with the Blue Rocks and already has five RBI and two extra-base hits. The second baseman hit his first homerun as a Blue Rock Thursday Night in Potomac and bought his career total to four.
The Blue Rocks earned their first win of the season against the Salem Red Sox on Friday Night. Previously, Wilmington was 0-6 against their division rivals this season. The last win against the Sox was on August 27 of 2017 in a ten-inning, nail-biter that ended in the Rocks favor with a narrow 2-1 victory.
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