Returning home from an extended, nine-game road trip, the Wilmington Blue Rocks did not send the fans home happy, dropping game four of their home-and-home series with the Aberdeen IronBirds by a final score of 9-2.

Both the pitching and offense were out of sync for the Rocks in this one. Blue Rocks pitching, led by starter Mitchell Parker, walked eight Aberdeen hitters and let up a crucial grand slam off the bat of Davis Tavarez. On the other hand, the offense left 18 runners on base and went just 1-13 with runners in scoring position.

“I wish we would’ve got some better pitches to hit, more than anything,” Manager Mario Lisson said after the game. “Tough game, we just have to continue to work and get ready for tomorrow.”

The mishaps did not end there, as the Blue Rocks committed two errors on defense and had other miscommunication errors in the field.

Third baseman Cole Daily, who clubbed two doubles in the contest, expressed just how much those plays impacted the game.

“It took away a lot of momentum,” Daily said. “We have to be a little bit better defensively. It definitely doesn’t help our pitchers… So we just have to come back tomorrow and know that we have work to do.”

The previously mentioned Parker, who’s put together a nice season, didn’t have his best stuff on Friday evening after he lasted just 2.1 innings, allowing six runs and walking four batters.

“I wasn’t able to locate much of anything,” Parker said. “And when I was, I wasn’t able to locate enough pitches in a row to really do anything with them. Ended up walking four guys, giving up six runs, I wasn’t able to stitch anything together.”

Overall in the month of August, Parker hasn’t been able to put together consistent quality starts like he has the rest of the season. Parker spoke about how he’s feeling out on the mound and how he can flip the script and finish strong.

“Everything’s been feeling fine,” Parker said. “We’re getting towards the end here… Quit giving up free bags, walking guys.”

The Blue Ricks will look to get back on track and avoid a series loss when they face off against Aberdeen for game five on Saturday, August 23, at 6:35 p.m.

For comments/questions about this story tweet @TheWhitSports.