The Wilmington Blue Rocks’ offensive struggles led to a painful 2-0 loss against the Brooklyn Cyclones on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024.

Jose Atencio took the mound for Wilmington, providing a solid performance by completing seven innings. It was a much better outing for Atencio than his first two starts in August.

“I was kind of falling behind in counts,” Atencio said. “My mindset for the game today was just to attack early in counts and look for early contact. My job is to go deep in games and give my team the chance to still win games.”

The two runs that Brooklyn scored in the third frame could have been avoided. A possible double-play ball turned into a run on a throwing error by Armando Cruz in his first start with Wilmington. Immediately following the error, a single was scored by another Cyclone.

“The errors, physical errors, are part of the game,” manager Mario Lisson said. “Him [Cruz] throwing the ball away, that’s going to happen everywhere at every level. We just want to make sure we do those routine plays more often than not.”

There could have possibly been some first-game jitters for Cruz in his new home ballpark, but it has become a theme in Atencio’s starts to give up runs without the opposition earning them. Since June, Atencio has allowed 44 runs, but only 26 of them have been earned.

“Sometimes when you are on the mound you just have to focus on your job,” Atencio said. “You don’t have to throw the ball and then go get it, so you just have to think about what you can control on the mound. You have to at least trust your team because that’s the way you give them the confidence to make the plays.”

The offense had no rhythm throughout the whole contest. It wasn’t necessarily because of great pitching from Brooklyn, but rather a lack of consistency in the plan at the plate from the Blue Rocks’ lineup.

“I think our approach was missing today,” Lisson said. “We chased a lot. When you do that, no matter who’s pitching, you have to stay in the zone to be successful at this level.”

Phillip Glasser has been the utility leadoff man for Wilmington since late April, but he has recently been called up to Double-A Harrisburg after batting .305 with the Rocks in 2024.

“He did a great job, man,” Lisson said. “He always gave you competitive at-bats. He did a good job of staying in the strike zone and staying inside the ball. He gave himself very good chance to be successful. He definitely earned his promotion, and now he’s going to go up there and try and do the same.”

The Blue Rocks will look to find a consistent leadoff hitter to provide a spark in the lineup after a tough game in the series opener. Glasser will certainly be missed in Wilmington, but his call-up was well deserved, solidifying himself as one of the best and most consistent bats on the team while providing solid defense on both the dirt and the grass.

“Cruz is coming in. He’s going to be in the infield at shortstop and second base,” Lisson said. “Then the guys that we have here, we’re just trying to find a new leadoff guy to hopefully pick it up where he left off and then we’ll go from there.”

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