The Wilmington Blue Rocks comeback to defeat the Hudson Valley Renegades 2-1 in the 10th inning of a pitcher’s duel.
Things have been rough at the plate lately for the Blue Rocks and tonight was no different. After three straight losses, they went out looking to go up early but would fail to do so.
The Rocks sent out right-hander Andry Lara to try to get them back in the win column. Coming off an injury, Lara was spectacular, only allowing three base runners and one hit in four innings of work.
“Lara tweaked his back his last time out,” pitching coach Mark DiFelice said. “We skipped one [start] and he was only supposed to go four innings tonight and he did an excellent job.”
After four innings, the Rocks would bring in Chance Huff, who had been struggling a bit as of late. Huff would pick up right where Lara left off. An easy 1-2-3 fifth inning would start things off well for him.
In the sixth, he would surrender a leadoff walk to Marcos Cabrera. Cabrera would then advance to second on a wild pitch with nobody out. A groundout would move Cabrera over to third and a grounder to first baseman TJ White had the potential for a play at the plate. White’s throw would go offline, allowing Cabrera to score and Alexander Vargas to advance to second with only one out.
Rafael Flores would hit a fly ball that appeared deep enough to move Vargas over to third but Jeremy De La Rosa would show off his arm and nail Vargas to end the inning.
“Feels nice to get a good one under my belt,” Huff said. “It’s nice when a guy gets an extra out for you on the bases and just takes away another out that you gotta get by yourself up there…It was definitely huge, a great throw by De La Rosa out there.”
In the seventh, the Rocks would start their rally. A leadoff double for Murphy Stehly would begin to change the tide of the game. After advancing to third on a wild pitch, Stehly would score on a sacrifice fly by Sammy Infante to tie the game at one apiece.
Hudson Valley would threaten in the eighth and the ninth but Todd Peterson was able to slam the door shut and keep the game knotted. A quiet eighth and ninth from the Rocks would send the game into extras.
In the tenth, it was Dannel Diaz for the Rocks. After allowing the ghost runner to advance to third, Diaz would work out of a jam to give the Rocks a chance to win it in extras.
Jared McKenzie would be the ghost runner in extras for the Rocks and with runners on first and second and one out, Branden Boissiere ripped an opposite-field single down the left-field line to score McKenzie and walk it off for the Rocks with a 2-1 win.
“Amazing,” Boissiere described it. “That was my first walk-off hit of my career so I honestly didn’t even know what to do once the run scored so I just threw my hands up… it was a great feeling, I was just trying to get a pitch to hit and I did so I’m happy.”
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