Blue Rocks Drop Second-Half Opener To Asheville 3-2

WILMINGTON, DE - The Wilmington Blue Rocks fell 3-2 to the Asheville Tourists in the first game of the second half on Friday, June 20 at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium.

Toeing the rubber for Wilmington was Shinnosuke Ogasawara, who was down from Triple-A for a rehab start. After a four-pitch walk from Joseph Sullivan opened the game, Walker Janek opened the scoring for the day with a mammoth two-run home run that hit off the back of the Blue Rocks bullpen.

However, that would be the only hit Ogasawara allowed through the rest of his outing, as his campaign ended after three innings. He retired the next nine batters he faced and tallied five strikeouts, including four straight to end his day.

“I tried to simplify everything,” Ogasawara said. “Attack the zone and throw strikes. That’s what I tried to do.”

Wilmington trimmed that 2-0 lead in half in the bottom of the second. T.J. White led the inning off with a broken bat single and later came around to score after a two-out, RBI double from Jackson Ross that one-hopped the center field wall.

One inning later, the Blue Rocks evened the score out at two. Sam Petersen started the action with a bunt single and then stole second to put himself in scoring position. Then, with Caleb Lomavita up and a hit-and-run on, Lomavita roped a ball into right field to score Petersen and tie it at two.

The Tourists had a chance to reclaim the lead in the fifth, as a pair of singles and two-out walk from Janek loaded the bases, but a three-pitch strikeout of Alejandro Nunez ended the frame and kept the game tied.

Asheville made up for the missed opportunity in the sixth. After getting Lucas Spence to fly out to left for the first out of the inning, the Tourists put together a string of three consecutive base runners against Andry Lara to reclaim a one-run lead, with the damage coming in the form of an RBI single from Drew Brutcher.

Wilmington had a shot to answer back in the eighth with two runners on and no outs, but Branden Boissiere lined into a double play to leave just one on for T.J. White, who singled, but was stranded after Gavin Dugas’ strikeout.

The two teams will face off again tomorrow, Saturday June 21, for the fifth game of this six-game series. First-pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.