The Wilmington Blue Rocks were unable to get anything going at the plate or on the mound, losing 10-2 to the Hudson Valley Renegades on June 4.  

The pitching was out of sync for the Blue Rocks, allowing four home runs and ten hits.  In this eight-game series that features two doubleheaders, there could have been a strategy to leave starter Jose Atencio in longer than he would’ve been in a normal week.  

“Kind of, not really man,” manager Mario Lisson said. “Our guys have been great all year so we can trust them to do what they have been doing so far, so that’s kind of how we’re approaching it. One day at a time, so hopefully tomorrow we can get a good one from Luke [Young] and go from there.” 

Atencio went five innings allowing seven hits, eight runs, two home runs, three walks, and three strikeouts. Chance Huff relieved him and pitched well in the sixth, but the Renegades added more fuel to the fire in the seventh, tacking on two more home runs off Huff. 

“No, I don’t see the rest as hurting me,” Huff said. “I just shook off two pitches and unfortunately those two pitches went for home runs. It’s just growing with every outing, learning what pitches to throw, what not to throw, and when to throw them. You have to look at the positives and continue on how to improve your game from it.”

In a series like this, it’s important to manage the starting rotation and bullpen to make sure that the staff doesn’t get overworked.  

“I think it’s kind of relying on everybody,” Huff said.  “Everyone is going to go about it preparing the same way. Some people might just have to pitch more than what we’re used to. It’s really just another series.  The bright side is that there are two extra games, but they’re only seven innings, so just relying on the starters to get us deep into those and not use too much of the bullpen would be huge.”

The bats were as faulty as the pitching in this forgettable series opener for Wilmington, only securing two runs on four hits. Hudson Valley’s starter Jackson Fristoe was able to go six shutout innings allowing only two hits.  

“Yeah he had good stuff,” Phillip Glasser said. “We just didn’t really execute that well. We have seven more games this week, so we’ll just regroup.  We’ll be ready for the 14 innings tomorrow and learn from it and move on.” 

Jeremy De La Rosa is back from injury and played his first game at home since his return.  He was important on the road the last two weeks and he carried that over, doubling off of Fristoe in the fourth.  

“Oh big time man,” Lisson said. “He was big on the road those two games that we won, basically he drove in a bunch of runs. That’s what he is and what’s expected of him. He’s healthy now, so hopefully we can continue to get that production from him.” 

The Blue Rocks were able to get two runs in the eighth inning to avoid being shut out. Glasser and Viandel Pena were able to put the ball in play to drive them in, building some confidence heading into the doubleheader.  

“I think it does,” Glasser said. “I didn’t put a great swing on it, but just being able to score a couple late and not get shutout, we’ll move on to tomorrow. Just wipe the whole day. We got seven games left so we’ll just execute.”

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