Wilmington Drops Two in Salem

Salem, VA- The Wilmington offense made nine trips to the plate on Monday and managed zero runs, consequently the Blue Rocks dropped two decisions to the Salem Red Sox at Haley Toyota Field. The Blue Crew lost the resumption of Sunday's suspended game, 9-7, and dropped the regularly scheduled seven-inning game 3-0. The losses sent Wilmington home with a 2-3 record on their rain-shortened road trip to Potomac and Salem.

Wilmington began play on Monday batting in the top of the eighth inning of a 7-7 tie. The Rocks did not score and Salem immediately did, plating a pair in the bottom of the frame on Tanner Nishioka's two-run bomb. Tad Ratliff (1-2) yielded the long ball and took the loss. Andrew Schwabb (2-0) did not allow a base runner in five batters faced to pick up the win.
In the matinee to follow Daniel Tillo lasted just four frames for the Rocks. The lefty yielded only two runs on five hits, but struggled with command, walking four. Salem scored two off of Tillo (4-8) on an RBI-double from Edgar Corcino and a run-scoring single by Nick Sciortino. The Red Sox added an insurance tally in the sixth against Blue Crew reliever Robert Garcia.
Meanwhile, the Wilmington offense could muster only five hits in the game. The Blue Crew got a runner in base in every inning but the fourth and the sixth, but managed just two at-bats with a man in scoring position. Those were the final two of the game, when Wilmington put runners at first and second with only one out, but Rio Gomez retired Sebastian Rivero  and Offerman Collado to preserve the shutout and nail down his first save.
The Rocks return home for a four-game, three-day series against Frawley Stadium that begins on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. Tickets are available at BlueRocks.com and fans who don't make it to the ballpark can catch all of the action with the Voice of the Blue Rocks, Cory Nidoh, on 89.7 WGLS-FM. 
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
The Blue Crew are in the midst of one of the strangest stretches they've encountered on a schedule in recent memory. Wilmington is playing back-to-back home-and-homes. The Rocks hosted Potomac for three and visited Potomac for a three-game series. They were supposed to play three at Salem before Mother Nature intervened on Sunday. A suspended game combined with a scheduled day-night doubleheader on Monday forced one of the games to be moved to Wilmington. Fortunately for the schedule-makers the wait won't be long as the Rocks welcome the Red Sox to Frawley Stadium for what is now a four-game series. Wilmington is 3-5 during this stretch of 12 games versus two teams.  
Dennicher Carrasco  is swinging a hot bat. The infielder went 3-for-8 with a double an RBI and two runs scored over the course of the two contests. Carrasco now has hits in eight of his last 10 games. During that stretch he is batting .394 (13-for-33) with five doubles, a homer, seven RBI and seven runs scored. On the season the 23-year-old Dominican Republic native leads the Blue Rocks in homers, extra-base hits and slugging percentage.  
For most of the 2019 season Wilmington has had a great deal of success under the sun's glare this season. Wilmington won 13 of its first 14 day games, but dropped three straight on the road trip, including two in the span of 24 hours in Salem.