Wilmington Drops Second Straight for First Time in More Than a Month

Wilmington, DE- The Lynchburg Hillcats scored three runs in the first inning and three more in the fourth to hand the Wilmington Blue Rocks an 8-4 loss on Wednesday at Frawley Stadium. It marked the first time the first-half champs dropped back to back games since May 9-10. 

It was rough start for Kris Bubic. The lefty allowed a pair of homers to Gavin Collins and was chased after 5.1 frames. He yielded five runs on six hits and a pair of walks in his first loss as a Blue Rock. 
Oscar Gonzalez got the scoring started with a sacrifice fly in the first. Collins followed with a two-run bomb to left. He reignited the scoring for Lynchburg in the fourth with a solo homer, again to left. 
Wilmington tried to work its way back into the game in the bottom of the fifth. Colby Schultz and Blake Perkins each came through with RBI-singles. Connor Smith extended Lynchburg's lead back to three and chased Bubic (0-1) in the sixth, however. His double to left plated Oscar Gonzalez. 
Wilmington mounted one last rally in the home-half of the frame. Cristian Perez scored Dennicher Carrasco with a single to right. Then Jose Marquez brought around Perez on a sacrifice fly to right.
Lynchburg salted the game away against the Blue Crew bullpen in the eighth. Luke Wakamatsu laced a two-run single to left and Steven Kwan capped the scoring with his RBI-double to the left-field corner.
Wilmington wraps up the first half with a four-game road trip to Lynchburg. First pitch on Thursday is slated for 6:30 p.m. and fans can catch all the action with the Voice of the Blue Rocks, Cory Nidoh, on 89.7 WGLS-FM.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
Entering Tuesday, it had been a while since the Blue Rocks had faced a southpaw starter. Wilmington last saw an opponent send a lefty to the mound for first pitch on May 23. Perhaps the Blue Crew were a little rusty as a result. Anderson Polanco fanned five and allowed only one hit over four scoreless frames in game two of the twin bill and then Kirk McCarty tossed three shutout innings on Wednesday. Consequently, the Rocks lost for just the fifth and sixth times in 20 tries against left-handed starting pitching in 2019.
Not only did Wilmington lose consecutive games for the first time in a month, but the Blue Crew also lost its first series in 10 tries. Oddly Wednesday marked only the second rubber match of the season for Wilmington and the Rocks fell to 0-2 in such contests.
Entering this seven-game homestand the Blue Crew had allowed just six home runs all year at Frawley Stadium. Fayetteville and Lynchburg flipped that script, hitting seven dingers over the last week. Wilmington has yielded 29 homers this season-13 of which have come at home. On offense the Rocks have hit 20 of their 24 long balls on the road this year.