Blue Rocks Bats Quiet In 4-1 Loss

Fresh off a series-opening win by the Wilmington Blue Rocks against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws on Tuesday, June 28, the two teams were back in action on Wednesday, June 29 for game two of their six game series.

Unfortunately for the Blue Rocks, the offense was stagnant and couldn’t find a rhythm, leading to a 4-1 loss, evening up the series at one game a piece.

In the beginning of this game, it looked like we could’ve been heading down the same road as the last time Cate started for Wilmington, a pitcher’s duel which ended in a 1-0 win for the Blue Rocks. That was until the top of the third inning, when the BlueClaws struck first thanks to a Freylin Minyety RBI triple to the right field corner to break the scoreless tie. Jersey Shore was not done, however, as in the very next at-bat Casey Martin drove in Minyety with an RBI single to make it 2-0.

Martin would continue to swing a hot bat in the top of the fifth, where he would blast a long homerun over the left field fence to extend the BlueClaws lead to 3-0.

The Blue Rocks would strike back in the bottom of the eighth, with Darren Baker sneaking a single through a hole on the left side of the diamond, scoring Jeremy Ydens and cutting Jersey Shore’s lead down to 3-1.

Even with Wilmington applying some pressure, the BlueClaws would never look back from their early lead, even tacking on more insurance in the top of the ninth via an RBI single by Johan Rojas, extending their lead to 4-1, which would end up being the final score.

Blue Rocks starter Tim Cate did not put forth as strong of an outing as his last time out, going five innings, allowing six hits, three earned runs, and two walks, while also striking out one BlueClaw. Jersey Shore starter Griff McGarry’s start was quite the opposite, as he went six innings, only allowing one hit and zero runs, walking four and striking out eleven. The Blue Rocks only mustered up three hits as a team throughout the game.

Wilmington will now be looking for a bounce back when they face off against Jersey Shore for game three of this six game series on Thursday, June 30.