Woodbridge, VA-Starting pitchers Austin Cox and Kris Bubic combined to allow just two earned runs as the Wilmington Blue Rocks split a doubleheader with the Potomac Nationals at Pfitzner Stadium on Tuesday. Potomac took the opener 5-3 before Wilmington rallied for a 3-2 triumph in the night cap.
Woodbridge, VA-Starting pitchers Austin Cox and Kris Bubic combined to allow just two earned runs as the Wilmington Blue Rocks split a doubleheader with the Potomac Nationals at Pfitzner Stadium on Tuesday. Potomac took the opener 5-3 before Wilmington rallied for a 3-2 triumph in the night cap.
Game two was decided in the Rocks' final at bat. Offerman Collado led off the inning with a single and then scampered to second thanks to an error by Telmito Augustin. Rudy Martin followed with a perfectly placed bunt-single and then Colby Schultz got an infield single which scored the winning run.
Josh Mitchell tossed a scoreless frame out of the bullpen to earn the win and Tad Ratliff kept Potomac off the board in the seventh to nail down his Carolina League-leading 16th save of the season.
Aggressive baserunning gave Wilmington an early lead. With runners at the corners the Rocks executed a double-steal, as Dennicher Carrasco swiped second and Blake Perkins took home to put the Blue Crew in front 1-0.
Potomac answered with a pair in the fifth. Gage Canning opened the frame with a walk and then an error by Carrasco put runners at second and third. Aldrem Cooridor singled in both men and Potomac had its first lead of the game.
Wilmington pulled even in the very next inning. Two walks and a single by Carrasco loaded the bases with two away. Cristian Perez patiently worked the count full and then watched ball four to plate the tying run.
In game one Potomac rallied back from a three-run deficit by plating five runs over its final three at bats.
Nick Banks got the comeback started with an RBI-single in the fifth against Cox. The P-Nats then shocked Wilmington with four runs in the seventh and final inning. A one-out throwing error by shortstop Cristian Perez opened the flood gates. Cole Freeman's soft single to left brought the P-Nats within one run and Aldrem Corredor's sacrifice fly tied the game. Then KJ Harrison ended the contest when he took Holden Capps deep for a walk-off homer.
Wilmington got out to its early lead thanks to a run-scoring grounder from brewer Hicklen and a two-run homer by Nick Pratto.
The Rocks wrap up their series at Potomac on Wednesday. Marcelo Martinez hits the hill for Wilmington and first pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m. Fans can catch all of the action with the Voice of the Blue Rocks, Cory Nidoh, on 89.7 WGLS-FM.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
Tuesday marked the seventh doubleheader of the season for the Rocks. Wilmington now swept one twinbill, been swept once and has split five times.
It was quite the Advanced-A debut for game one starter Austin Cox. The lefty allowed just one run on three hits over 5.1 frames in a no-decision. Cox was a fifth-round pick out of Mercer University in 2018. He attended First Presbyterian Day School (GA) which also boasts former Blue Rock and Royals' prospect Richard Lovelady as an alum. He began this season in Low-A Lexington where he went 5-3 with a sparkling 2.75 ERA. When he was promoted to Wilmington on Sunday, mid-season South Atlantic League All-Star ranked in the top-ten in the league in ERA, strikeouts, innings pitched, batting average against and WHIP.
Despite no longer having the trio of first round picks from last year's draft in Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar (promoted to Double-A) and Daniel Lynch (IL), the starting rotation of the Rocks have been just as dominant thanks to the likes of Daniel Tillo, Marcelo Martinez along with reinforcements with Kris Bubic, Jonathan Bowlan and Austin Cox. Over their last 10 starts, the starting rotation has allowed just nine earned runs in 59.2 innings of work, good for an impressive 1.36 ERA during that stretch.
The Rocks suffered a rare close loss on Tuesday. Wilmington played its 48th and 49th game of the season that was decided by two runs or less and lost for only the 12th time in those contests. Four of those have been walk-off defeats, including three in the month of June alone.
Wilmington continues to bring the power when playing on the road this season. Nick Pratto lunched a two-run blast in the fourth inning of Tuesday's opener. The Rocks now have 29 homers on the season, 24 of which came in games contested outside of the friendly confines of Frawley Stadium. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Blue Crew own the second-best road record in the Carolina League at 26-12.
