Blue Rocks Begin Where They Left Off With Brooklyn At Home In 5-3 Win

The Wilmington Blue Rocks (37-44) got back in the win column with a 5-3 victory over the Brooklyn Cyclones (38-44) on Tuesday, July 9.

It didn’t take long for Wilmington to get to Brooklyn starter Jack Wenninger, who gave up five runs in 4.2 innings of work in his High-A debut.

After recording the first two outs, Wenninger found himself in a bases-loaded jam, which was cleared up after a two-run single from Joe Naranjo that scored Jeremy De La Rosa and Murphy Stehly. De La Rosa added on with a solo home run to begin the bottom of the third for his ninth long ball of the year.

Despite not recording a hit in the inning, the Cyclones were able to get two runs back in the top of the fourth to cut the Rocks lead to one. With the bases loaded and just one out, Jefrey De Los Santos drew a walk that brought home Wilfredo Lara, who got hit by a pitch to open the frame. Then, Karell Paz grounded out to score Junior Tilien, who reached after a fielder’s choice.

That was all the damage that Wilmington starter Jarlin Susana would allow during his High-A debut, as he struck out five and gave up four hits over his five innings of work.

Wilmington got those two runs right back in the fifth to cap off its scoring for the day. Naranjo recorded his second RBI of the game with a single down the left field line that scored Stehly and made it 4-2, and then Gavin Dugas got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring Naranjo home.

Brooklyn added one in the top of the eighth after a sacrifice fly from Nick Lorusso to provide the game’s final margin.

TJ White extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a 1-3 day at the plate while Joe Naranjo and Murphy Stehly both had multi-hit games. The bullpen trio of Wander Arias, Brendan Collins and Matt Cronin struck out four and allowed just one run over their four combined innings.

The two teams will square off for the second game of this six-game set Wednesday, July 10, with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 pm.