Blue Rocks Home-Winning Streak Ends Following 7-5 Loss

The Wilmington Blue Rocks were bested by the Greenville Drive 7-5 on Wednesday, April 17.

Wilmington starter Andry Lara took control early, striking out five of the first seven batters, and striking out the side in order in the top of the second inning.

Lara lost the upper hand in the top of the third, however. He was pulled from the contest down 3-0 with two outs in the third after two errors and three singles led to three unearned runs for the Drive.

The Blue Rocks scored a run before they recorded a hit in the bottom of the third. After three walks loaded the bases, Viandel Pena scored on a balk from Drive starter J.D Encarnacion. With runners on second and third, T.J White struck out looking to end the inning.

In the fourth, the Drive scored another three runs off reliever Nick Pogue on a two-run single by Kristian Campbell and a sacrifice fly from Allan Castro.

Encarnacion held the Blue Rocks hitless through his three and two-thirds innings of work, but after drawing five walks the Blue Rocks were able to get him out of the game early.

The pitching struggles continued into the fifth for the Blue Rocks as Marlon Perez let up a solo home run to Bryan Gonzalez, bringing the Drive lead to 7-1.

Wilmington recorded their first hit of the ballgame on a Maxwell Romero Jr. single in the bottom of the sixth. A fielder’s choice by Johnathon Thomas scored Romero Jr., and an error on a stolen base from Thomas scored Pena from third making the score 7-3.

In the seventh, the Blue Rocks continued to fight back after Perez and Wander Arias held the held the Drive scoreless for a couple of innings.

Another single from Pena, who went 2-2 with two walks on the day, scored Kevin Made and T.J White to cut the lead to two at 7-5.

Wilmington just couldn’t finish off innings tonight, as they had the bases loaded in four innings, but could only produce 5 runs.

The game was just out of reach for the Blue Rocks as they couldn’t continue the rally to produce any runs in the eighth or ninth inning, taking their first loss at home this season.

Wilmington will play Greenville again tomorrow night with a chance to even the series at a game apiece.