Blue Rocks get doubleheader sweep against punchless Dash

WILMINGTON, Del.

Winston-Salem's offense was practically silent in Wilmington's doubleheader sweep last night at Frawley Stadium. The Blue Rocks flirted with a no-hitter before getting a 5-1 win in the opener and Eduardo Paulino pitched a complete-game shutout in Wilmington's 1-0 win in the nightcap.

The Blue Rocks' pitching staff has held the Dash to two runs on eight hits (seven singles) while winning the first three games of this four-game series.

The opener was dominated by two Wilmington pitchers who kept the Dash hitless for 5 2/3 innings. Starter pitcher Danny Gutierrez pitched four hitless innings and limited Winston-Salem to a walk with three strikeouts before turning the no-hit bid over to Carlos Rivas. Rivas pitched a perfect fifth before giving up an infield single to Tyler Kuhn with two outs in the sixth.

Dash starter Levi Maxwell, who pitched a no-hitter against Wilmington on June 19 in the first game of a doubleheader at Frawley Stadium, kept the game scoreless until running into trouble in the bottom of the fifth.

Jamar Walton and Ryan Eigsti led off with singles and Chase Fontaine walked to load the bases with no outs. Derrick Robinson then hit a chopper that bounced off the glove of shortstop Greg Paiml and trickled into center field. The error allowed two runs to score. One batter later, Mike Moustakas drilled a two-run double to center that gave the Blue Rocks a 4-0 lead. Later in the inning, Eric Hosmer added an RBI double to extend Wilmington's lead to 5-0.

The Dash avoided being shut out when it scored a run in the top of the seventh. Dale Mollenhauer led off with a walk and a two Rivas wild pitches advanced him to third. Two outs later, Joe Persichina lined a run-scoring double that popped out of the glove of diving Derrick Robinson in center.

Rivas (4-3) pitched the final three innings and allowed a run on two hits. Maxwell (4-12) allowed five runs (three earned) on seven hits in 41/3 innings to take his league-leading 12th loss of the season.

The second game was also dominated by pitching as Dylan Axelrod, who was making his Carolina League debut for Winston-Salem, and Paulino matched each other with scoreless innings until Wilmington scratched across a run in the bottom of the sixth.

Anthony Seratelli led off with a bunt single and Derrick Robinson reached on a sacrifice bunt when Axelrod's throw to second base trailed the runner. Another sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third and Moustakes was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. Reliever Charlis Burdie came in for Axelrod and gave up a sacrifice fly from Clint Robinson that scored Seratelli with the game's only run.

The Dash and Blue Rocks are scheduled to conclude their series with their final meeting of the regular season tonight.

First game

W-S ab r h bi WILM. ab r h bi

Kuhn lf 3 0 1 0 DRbnsn cf 4 1 1 1

Greene cf 3 0 0 0 Gvtlla 2b 3 1 1 0

Mllnhr 2b 1 1 0 0 Mstks 3b 3 1 2 2

Morel 3b 3 0 0 0 CRbnsn dh 3 0 0 0

Loman 1b 3 0 0 0 Hosmer 1b 3 0 1 1

Jhnsn c 2 0 0 0 Vn Strttn rf 2 0 0 0

Prschna dh 3 0 1 1 Walton lf 3 1 1 0

Paiml ss 3 0 0 0 Eigsti c 3 1 1 0

Gerst rf 2 0 0 0 Fntaine ss 2 0 1 0

Totals 23 1 2 1 Totals 26 5 8 4

Winston-Salem 000 000 1 -- 1


Wilmington 000 050 x -- 5

E--Paiml. LOB--Winston-Salem 4, Wilmington 5. 2B--Persichina, Moustakas, Hosmer. SB--Giavotella, DRobinson. CS--DRobinson. PO--DRobinson.

Winston-Salem IP H R ER BB SO

Mxwll, L (4-12) 41/3 7 5 3 1 0

Corley 12/3 1 0 0 0 0

Wilmington IP H R ER BB SO

Gutierrez 4 0 0 0 1 3

Rivas, W (4-3) 3 2 1 1 2 2

WP--Rivas 2. BK--Maxwell. HBP--by Corley (Van Stratten). T--1:47. A--n/a.

Second game

W-S ab r h bi WILM. ab r h bi

Kuhn 2b 3 0 1 0 DRbnsn cf 2 0 0 0

Greene cf 3 0 0 0 Gvtlla 2b 2 0 0 0

Mllnhr dh 3 0 0 0 Mstks dh 2 0 0 0

Morel 3b 3 0 0 0 CRbnsn 1b 2 0 0 0

Loman 1b 3 0 0 0 Vn Strttn rf 3 0 2 0

Curtis c 2 0 0 0 Fntne 3b 3 0 0 0

Prschna rf 2 0 0 0 Orlando lf 2 0 2 0

Lang ss 2 0 1 0 Morizio c 2 0 0 0

Gerst lf 2 0 1 0 Srtlli ss 2 1 1 0

Totals 23 0 3 0 Totals 20 1 5 1

Winston-Salem 000 000 0 -- 0


Wilmington 000 000 x -- 1

DP--Wilmington 1. LOB--Winston-Salem 3, Wilmington 5. SB--Lang. CS--Orlando.

Winston-Salem IP H R ER BB SO

Axelrod, L (0-1) 51/3 4 1 1 1 1

Burdie 2/3 1 0 0 0 0

Wilmington IP H R ER BB SO

Paulino, W (7-0) 7 3 0 0 0 8

T--1:35. A--n/a