Wilmington, DE – On a chilly night on the Wilmington Riverfront, the Blue Rocks staff could never quite harness its usually immaculate command, as the home team allowed 11 walks en route to a 7-5 loss to the Kinston Indians in the opener of a three-game set on Monday. The walks total is one shy of the Wilmington team record for free passes issued in a single game, set back on May 27, 2000 against Frederick. The loss is the third straight for the Blue Rocks (3-8) and the fourth in five home contests on the season.

Wilmington starter Blake Wood set the tone early on by walking a career-high five batters in just three innings of work – his shortest outing through three starts this season. Wood entered the contest having allowed just one walk over his first 10 innings of work this season. Chris Nicoll and Henry Barrera each issued three walks during their respective stints out of the bullpen. Three of the free passes – including two of Wood’s freebies – came around to score.

The erratic pitching overshadowed the offensive heroics of catcher Jeff Howell (pictured), who smashed a one-out grand slam in the bottom of the second to erase a 1-0 Indians lead. The slammer – a deep drive over the wall in left-center field – was the first by a Wilmington batter since September 2, 2006, when Bubba Bell cleared the sacks against Frederick. Thus, the span between grand slams was 154 total games, including five playoff contests.

The lead that Howell’s bomb produced was short-lived, however, as Wood was touched for a pair of runs in the third. A leadoff walk by John Drennen – who worked out a remarkable five bases on balls in the contest – evolved into a run following a groundout and a pair of wild pitches. Carlos Rivero’s two-out double pulled the K-Tribe to within 4-3.

Kinston knotted the affair at 4-4 in the following frame with a tally against Nicoll. Cirilo Cumberbatch singled to lead off the inning and crossed home two batters later via a Jason Denham sac fly.

The game remained deadlocked over the next three innings, as each club squandered quality scoring chances. In the bottom of the sixth, the Rocks loaded the bases with one out against Josh Tomlin (2-1), but Brett Bigler bounced into a 6-4-3 double play to extinguish the threat.

It was Kinston’s turn in the top of the seventh, as the K-Tribe packed the bags with nobody out against Nicoll, yet came away empty. Nick Welgarz flied out to center field, prompting a tag-up by Drennen at third base. Derrick Robinson fired a strike to the dish, halting Drennen’s charge, but Beau Mills, the runner at second, got hung up between second and third. Second baseman Wilver Perez ran Mills towards third and then ran at Drennen, who had begun to stray home. When the smoke cleared, the Rocks forced Drennen into a rundown between third and home to record the second out. Barrera entered out the bullpen to retire Rivero on strikes to snuff the Indians’ threat.

But, the K-Tribe finally broke through in the eighth with a two-out rally precipitated by an Alex Castillo single and a fielding error by shortstop Chris McConnell. Following another Drennen walk, Mills atoned for his earlier base-running gaff by blasting a grounds-rule double off Barrera (0-1) into right-center field to chase home a pair of runs and push Kinston on top, 6-4.

The teams traded single runs in the bottom of the eighth and top of the ninth, respectively, before Neil Wagner came on from the Kinston pen to bolt down his first save of the season.

The Blue Rocks and Indians square off in the middle game of the set Tuesday night at 6:35 p.m. Wilmington will send right-hander Matt Kniginyzky (0-0) against Kinston righty Jeanmar Gomez (0-0).

GAME NOTES
With single to lead off the second inning, right fielder Joe Dickerson extended his league-best hitting streak to 10 games. Dickerson went 1-for-4 on the game is now hitting .432 during the streak.

Wilmington added a trio of stolen bases to its league-leading total on Monday. Brett Bigler, Wilver Perez and Jarrod Dyson each swiped a sack pushing the Blue Rocks’ season total to 26 steals in 38 chances on the young season.

David Wood had a pair of base hits and an RBI for Wilmington. It is just the second multi-hit game of the season for the first baseman.

Monday’s nine-inning contest took a whopping three hours and 17 minutes to complete, making it the third-longest game of the season for the Blue Rocks.