Blue Rocks Suffer Third Straight Shutout Loss

In their sixth game of the series against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws, the Wilmington Blue Rocks recorded their 28th-straight scoreless inning and lost to the Phillies’ High-A affiliate, 6-0.

Wilmington seldom saw the bases in the first two innings of the game. Drew Millas recorded the first hit for the team after hitting a line drive to Jersey Shore’s left fielder, Baron Radcliff. He would advance to second on a walk by Kevin Strpohschien, but both men would be left on base at the end of the inning. Drew Mendoza was the only other Blue Rock to see the bases during the second inning when he hit a double on a line drive.

It was during the third inning that the BlueClaws began to make their mark on the game, recording their first run off of a single RBI by Jared Carr to send third baseman D.J. Stewart home.

At the top of the fourth, Jersey Shore shore widened the gap by tallying four more runs that included Carlos De La Cruz’s tenth home run of the season and Baron Radcliff’s eighth which sent in Herbert Iser and Casey Martin to set the score 5-0.

Innings five, sixth, and seven saw no scoring action from either team, although it was headlined by two errors, one throwing and one fielding, by Wilmington's third baseman, Junior Martina.

The BlueClaws capped off their win with one more run at the top of the eighth off of an RBI single from Carr for Stewart to score.

Jersey Shore’s starting pitcher, Andrew Painter, was handed the win for his 55 strikes thrown over 82 pitches and five strikeouts. He allowed no runs. Opposite to Painter, Wilmington’s starting pitcher, Michael Cuevas, was handed the loss for the five runs that occurred during his stint on the mound.

The Wilmington Blue Rocks will look to end their streak of 28 scoreless innings in their final game against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws on Sunday, July 31, with first pitch at 1:05 p.m.