A 3-2 Loss For The Blue Rocks Ends Friday Night At Frawley

The Wilmington Blue Rocks (51-60) were defeated by the Brooklyn Cyclones (54-58) in Game 4 of their six-game series on Friday, Aug. 16 by a final score of 3-2.

Both teams couldn’t get much going offensively throughout the game, as a three-run second inning for the Cyclones proved to be the difference. To get things started, Kellum Clark ripped a single into center field. Then, with two outs, Omar De Los Santos was down to his final strike before he got plunked by a Seth Shuman fastball to put two runners on.

Estarling Mercado immediately made Shuman pay, as he drove the next pitch he threw over the right field wall to open the scoring and make it a 3-0 game. Outside of that inning, Brooklyn was only able to muster up two hits.

Wilmington’s offense was equally as quiet, as they recorded just one hit through five innings against Zach Thornton. The Rocks broke through in the sixth though, and it was the recently called-up Armando Cruz who put Wilmington on the board with a solo shot, his first hit at the High-A level.

Then, after a Jared McKenzie single and T.J. White walk, Gavin Dugas stepped up to the plate and came through with an RBI single to score McKenzie and cut the deficit down to one. Matt Suggs later came up with the bases loaded, but just got under a pitch and skied it out to left-center field for the final out of the inning.

The Blue Rocks had another opportunity to tie or take the lead in the bottom of the eighth, as two straight two-out walks brought Maxwell Romero Jr. up to the plate. Unfortunately, the 23-year-old couldn’t bring any runs home, as he struck out swinging in the last real opportunity the Rocks had to plate some runs.

Shuman was solid outside of his three-run second inning, pitching five innings and allowing just three hits while striking out five. Tyler Schoff and Wander Arias were both dominant in relief, totaling four innings of shutout ball, allowing just two hits and striking out three. McKenzie, Dugas, Suggs, and Cruz were the only players to record a hit for Wilmington.

The Blue Rocks now trail this series 3-1, and will look to avoid a series loss when they take the field for Game 5 tomorrow evening. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.