Blue Rocks Rebound For 8-1 Win

After two tough losses, the Wilmington Blue Rocks were able to pick up the final game of their series against the Aberdeen IronBirds 8-1 on Sunday, August 28.

Starting on the mound for the Blue Rocks was Evan Lee, here in Wilmington from the Washington Nationals on a rehab assignment after being placed on the IL back in June with a left flexor strain. In his first inning of work, Lee made it out cleanly after walking Aberdeen’s lead-off batter Darell Hernaiz.

In the backend of the inning, the Blue Rocks’ offense got right to work, with Justin Connell and Onix Vega getting on base with a double and single respectively. This set up the opportunity for Leandro Emiliani to hit a three-run blast to right field off the first pitch of his at-bat. Emiliani’s second home run of the season gave Wilmington an early 3-0 lead.

Cody Wilson kept things going when he hit a single and then proceeded to steal second and third base, two of his three stolen bags of the day. While stealing third, Aberdeen’s catcher, Connor Pavolony committed a throwing error, throwing the ball to left field allowing Wilson to easily score and expand the lead to 4-0.

With Lee back on the mound in the second, Aberdeen attempted to start a comeback, driving in Isaac Bellony off a sac-fly from Chris Givin for their first and only run of the game.

Lee was able to shut down anymore IronBirds’ runs during the rest of his outing, and finished his day after three innings with one run, one hit, three walks, and one strikeout.

On the offensive end, Wilmington continued their success with the first four batters of the third inning finding their way on base.

Wilson, that fourth batter, hit into a fielder’s choice that brought in a run and got the scoring in that frame going. Cole Daily and Drew Mendoza both were credited with RBIs, bringing the lead to 7-1.

The last scoring play of the game took place in the bottom of the fourth when Connell hit a home run of his own, his second since returning to Wilmington, to give the Blue Rocks one last insurance run, making the final score 8-1.

While Lee had a strong outing, since he only went three innings, Michael Cuevas, who came in relief of him, was handed the win after throwing four scoreless innings.

The Blue Rocks now hit the road one last time to face the Brooklyn Cyclones in a six-game series which begins on Tuesday, August 30.