Wilmington Blue Rocks Lose 6-4 to Winston-Salem Warthogs - Advanced A, Carolina League

MLN - THE RAW FEED - www.mlntherawfeed.com – Winston-Salem, NC – Down 6-1 in the ninth, the Wilmington Blue Rocks rallied, bringing the tying run to the plate, but their comeback bid fell two tallies short in a 6-4 loss to the Winston-Salem Warthogs at Ernie Shore Field on Thursday night.  Wilmington (11-15) lacked a rhythm until late in the game, faltering defensively with three errors over the first three innings, and offensively with just one run over the first eight frames.  The Rocks have dropped three of their last four contests overall, and five of their last six away from Frawley Stadium. 

The Blue Crew’s late rally chased the top prospect in the White Sox system according to Baseball America, large lefty Aaron Poreda (1-2), who was bidding to throw the first nine-inning complete game in the Carolina League this season.  Poreda entered the ninth with just a single run against him, having sat down 14 of the last 15 batters he had faced.  But three straight singles by Derrick Robinson, Chris McConnell and Joe Dickerson plated a run and ushered the southpaw. 

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Ricky Brooks emerged from the bullpen and recorded an out in short order, as Dickerson was caught stealing at second base.  After Kurt Mertins struck out swinging, another rally emerged with back-to-back two-out hits – an RBI single by Jeff Howell and a socked RBI double to deep left-center from Anthony Seratelli for a 6-4 score. 

With the tying run at the plate in Miguel Vega, Winston-Salem manager Tim Blackwell made his second move to the bullpen of the inning, calling for closer Kanekoa Texeira.  The right-hander induced a groundout to third base off the bat of Vega for the night’s final out, earning Texeira his fourth save in five tries. 

Starter Mario Santiago (1-3) suffered suspect defense behind him in an effort that started shaky but ended solidly.  The Warthogs plated a pair of runs against the Puerto Rican without an RBI in the first inning thanks in part to a duo of defensive miscues.  Javier Colina singled to center with one out, and scored from first on a Brandon Allen single.  An error by Robinson in center paved the path for his plateward journey, as Robinson pulled up in his charge of Allen’s batted ball, only to watch it take a hurried bounce between his legs and roll all the way to the wall.  The miscue gave Allen third base as well and Josh Johnson’s first error of the season, a missed grounder off the bat of Lee Cruz, allowed Allen to score for a 2-0 early deficit. 

Three hits and a second Johnson error produced another three runs in the third inning for a 5-0 hole.  Salvador Sanchez and Cruz connected on back-to-back run-scoring hits and C.J. Retherford hammered home the third tally on a first-base groundout. 

Wilmington scratched out a run in the fourth on a mental mistake by Sanchez in right field.  McConnell led off with a single and went first-to-third on a Dickerson single to right.  For reasons unknown, Sanchez held onto the ball for a long time, and when he threw in, lobbed the ball to second base.  McConnell bolted for home and scored without a throw to the plate. 

Santiago allowed the ‘Hogs final run when Cruz belted a moonshot solo home run to left-center in the fifth.  The starter gave up six runs (three earned) on nine hits over six innings.  He also walked just one while striking out a career-best eight, including a strikeout of the side in both the fourth and fifth innings.  Reliever Chris Nicoll faced the minimum and struck out two over a pair of shutout innings in the seventh and eighth.

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