Twelve-Love In Blue Rocks Series Opening Loss Versus Greensboro

In their first game back at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium post All-Star break, The Wilmington Blue Rocks (35-48) dropped their series-opener against the Greensboro Grasshoppers (41-41) by a final score of 12-0.

The game was a pitcher’s duel heading into the top of the fourth, but Will Mattthiessen broke the scoreless tie when he ripped a double to the warning track in center field, sending home Mike Jarvis and Jase Bowen to make it 2-0. Then, Maikol Escotto blooped a single into a vacant hole in right-center field to send home Matthiessen and Wyatt Hendrie, extending the lead to 4-0. The very next at-bat resulted in another RBI single, this time by Tres Gonzalez to cap the Grasshoppers’ five-run inning.

The top of the sixth is where the game began to get ugly for Wilmington. To kick things off, Gonzelez struck again, tallying another RBI single to score two runners and make it a 7-0 game. The very next batter, Sammy Siani, ripped his first triple of the year into right field to score two more runners, which was followed up by a sacrifice fly by Jarvis to put the bow in Greensboro’s second five-run inning of the game. The Grasshoppers added one more run in both the seventh and ninth inning, resulting in the 12-0 final.

Blue Rocks’ starter Kyle Luckham ran into some trouble, picking up his second loss of the season after going 3 ⅔ innings, allowing six hits and five runs while striking out two. The Rocks’ bullpen didn’t fare much better, totaling 5 ⅓ innings pitched, seven hits, seven runs (six earned) and seven walks. Greensboro starter Bubba Chandler was dominant, going 5 ⅔ innings allowing just three hits and striking out eight. The bullpen did their job behind him, allowing just one hit the rest of the way.

In his A+ debut, Daylen Lile went 1-3 with a walk. The only other Wilmington hitters to record a hit in this one was Jeremy De La Rosa, who also went 1-3 with a walk, and Viandel Pena, who went 2-3 with a walk.

The Blue Rocks have now lost ten of their last 12 games, and will look to even up the series against the Grasshoppers in game two on Wednesday, July 19 at 11:05 a.m. EST.