WILMINGTON, DE - Tristen Lutz had a RBI triple in the first, Drew Rasmussen started and struck out three over two and 2/3 scoreless innings and Christian Meister tossed two scoreless frames in relief, but the Blue Rocks scored four in the fourth against reliever Matt Smith while taking game
WILMINGTON, DE - Tristen Lutz had a RBI triple in the first, Drew Rasmussen started and struck out three over two and 2/3 scoreless innings and Christian Meister tossed two scoreless frames in relief, but the Blue Rocks scored four in the fourth against reliever Matt Smith while taking game one of a three game series 4-3 in Wilmington on Friday night at Frawley Stadium.
Carolina (17-12) scored first in the game after getting two runs and two hits in the opening inning against Wilmington (17-12) starter Brady Singer. The Blue Rocks later answered with a four run fourth that ended up being enough as Carolina managed just one other run the rest of the way in the 4-3 loss.
Carolina's two run first included a one-out walk for Ryan Aguilar and then Lutz's triple to left. The triple was misplayed by Wilmington left fielder Brewer Hicklen, but it scored Aguilar and went down as Carolina's first triple of the season. Carolina was the last affiliated Minor League Baseball team to record a triple in 2019.
Payton Henry followed the triple by reaching on an error and thus forcing in Lutz from third to give Carolina its early 2-0 lead. Mario Feliciano followed with his first of two hits in the game, but Singer (3-2, 3.03) settled in and was able to keep Carolina scoreless through the remainder of this start.
Singer allowed just the two first inning runs over five innings pitched and ended up striking out seven in the series opening victory. He was later followed by relievers Holden Capps and Tyler Zuber who combined to allow just one Carolina run and two hits over the final four innings of the game. Capps struck out two while going through two innings with one run allowed on two hits to earn his fourth hold. Zuber later picked up the save after pitching through two scoreless frames with four strikeouts.
Rasmussen started for Carolina and cruised his way through two perfect frames before allowing a hit and loading the bases in the third. The Wilmington third began with a single from Cristian Perez and then a sacrifice bunt from Angelo Castellano that was misplayed by Ryan Aguilar at first. Aguilar's error put two on with no outs and the inning then continued with a sac bunt from Ricky Aracena, a Rudy Martin pop out and then a walk to Hicklen.
The walk chased Rasmussen from the game and reliever J.T. Hintzen then followed to face Seuly Matias with the bases loaded and with two outs in the third. Hintzen went on to retire Matias on three straight pitches while striking him out to end the inning.
In all, Rasmussen walked one, allowed one hit and struck out three over two and 2/3 innings. Hintzen faced just the one batter and left three inherited runners on while throwing just three pitches.
Smith (1-2, 3.68) then entered the game in the fourth and allowed four runs and three hits in the frame while seeing Carolina's 2-0 lead slip away. Wilmington's MJ Melendez had a two-run double and Rudy Martin had a two-out, two-run single in the fourth while accounting for all four Wilmington runs in the game.
Smith remained in the game through the sixth and ended up allowing four runs and five hits overall in the loss. He also walked two and struck out four over three innings pitched.
Meister eventually finished the game out of the Carolina bullpen and struck out three while facing just six batters over two innings pitched.
Carolina meanwhile did manage to get one more run across in the sixth to cut the lead down to one, but they would then be held scoreless the rest of the way by Capps and Zuber. The final Carolina run was scored by Feliciano after he doubled and scored on a RBI single by Eddie Silva in the sixth off Capps. Feliciano went 2-for-4 in the game and was the only Mudcat with more than one hit.
The series opening win gave the Blue Rocks a one game to none lead in the three game series and a 4-1 lead in the overall season series between the two teams. The loss meanwhile dropped Carolina to 3-2 in the current seven game road trip.
UP NEXT: The Mudcats and Blue Rocks will continue their three game series on Saturday night in Wilmington beginning at 6:05 p.m. at Frawley Stadium. Game two will feature RHP Noah Zavolas (1-1, 2.67) starting for the Mudcats against RHP Jackson Kowar (1-1, 3.08) and the Blue Rocks. The game will air live on the Mudcats Radio Network, The Big Dawg 98.5 FM and online at carolinamudcats.com via TuneIn Radio.
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