Travis Sthele walks to the mound. Sthele gave up one hit in the Blue Rocks 2-0 win. - Photo via Ryan Griffith
Just one night after burning through three bullpen arms in a 12-3 blowout loss to the Brooklyn Cyclones (37-16), the Wilmington Blue Rocks (22-31) were in desperate need of a great outing from starter Travis Sthele.
They got it.
Sthele took advantage of the aggressive Cyclones hitters and went the distance with a one-hit, complete game shutout while throwing just 85 pitches in the Blue Rocks 2-0 win. It was the Blue Rocks’ first complete game since 2021 and first nine-inning one-hitter since Kris Bubic did it back in 2019.
“I’m kind of still taking it all in,” Sthele said. “It hasn’t really hit me yet. [I’m] still kind of in the moment. It was good. It was a lot of fun to be out there.”
Brooklyn only struck out twice but rarely found themselves in a position to, as the 23-year-old right-hander was able to induce weak contact early in the count.
“They were swinging early,” Sthele said. “I identified that and executed some pitches.”
The Cyclones lone shot to bring a run home came in the second. Marco Vargas led off the inning with a single up the middle, and then Chris Suero was hit by Sthele on the next pitch. However, a 4-6-3 double play from Boston Baro and a ground out from Estarling Mercado killed that scoring opportunity and was the start of 23 straight retired from Sthele.
“It got a little shaky there in the second,” Sthele said. “Infield made the double play and then got out of it with Ross with a really nice play. From that moment on it was all good… I knew I had a little streak going there. I was just hoping I would finish strong and I did.”
However, Cyclones starter Jonathan Santucci was just as dominant, giving up just five base runners across his 5 ⅓ innings of work while striking out five.
“I think we put some pretty good swings on him,” catcher Matt Suggs said. “They just fell into their lap a little bit… he’s just a good lefty… We had five hits off him but just didn’t show in the scoreboard.”
Once Santucci left, the Blue Rocks’ offense finally started to shine, as the trio of Suggs, Gavin Dugas, and Jackson Ross all combined for three doubles in the seventh to plate two and provide the game’s only offense of the day. Dugas got the inning started with a leadoff double that was just past the outstretched glove of A.J. Ewing and one-hopped the wall. Then with the infield in and Dugas on third thanks to a fly-out from Armando Cruz, Suggs crushed Matt Allan’s first pitch for a ground rule double.
“I just hit it and started running,” Suggs said. “Whatever happens from there, I can’t do anything else.”
It was deja vu three pitches later, as Ross put the 0-2 pitch from Allan in the same spot as Suggs for the Rocks’ second ground-rule double of the inning.
“We had a little pitcher’s duel going,” Sthele said. “But I had full trust and confidence in our guys to come through and they did.”
With a bullpen game scheduled for tomorrow and the short outing from Jackson Kent the night prior, Sthele’s performance may have an outstanding impact on the team throughout the rest of the series.
“I couldn’t have asked anything more of him. That definitely saved us. It helps us throughout the rest of the week, saves [the bullpen]. So, I mean it was just awesome,” Suggs said.
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