Blue Rocks take Hillcats deep again

A night after a Wilmington grand slam off the bat of Ryan Eigsti and a solo shot from Mike Moustakas helped to put Lynchburg away, the Hillcats were again bit by the long ball.

Johnny Giavotella hit Ronald Uviedo’s fifth pitch of the game over the left-field fence, Clint Robinson led off the fourth with a bomb and Derrick Robinson sent a seventh-inning, full-count offering from Nate Adcock over the right field fence for a go-ahead two-run shot to seal a 4-2 victory for the Blue Rocks.

Uviedo was shaky from the start, escaping the first inning only after Giavotella’s homer. The Hillcats would respond to the Blue Rocks’ early lead with a run of their own in the bottom of the first. Chase d’Arnaud led off with a double to left and moved to second on Josh Harrison’s sacrifice bunt. Jordy Mercer smacked an opposite field single to right to score d’Arnaud.

Two batters later Mercer nearly scored the second run of the inning but was thrown out at the plate after attempting to score on a grounder to first baseman Clint Robinson that was misplayed.

With the score tied 1-1, Uviedo sailed through the second and third frames before the fourth-inning blast by Giavotella. Uviedo lasted five innings before Nate Adcock came on in relief. Uviedo and Adcock are currently pitching as a tandem, with each alternating starting and relief appearances.

Adcock was lights out in his first inning of work, setting down the middle third of the Blue Rocks’ lineup in order. The Hillcats nearly broke the 2-2 tie in the home-half of the inning after Matt Hague led off with a double. Jared Keel followed Hague with a fly to center that allowed Hague to move to third with just one out. Neither Erik Huber or Eric Fryer could get the ball out of the infield, however. Both grounded out, stranding Hague on third. The missed opportunity proved to be costly after Robinson’s seventh-inning home run put the Blue Rocks ahead for good.

“That’s how it’s been the last few games. We’ve been hitting the ball hard just right at people and leaving guys on base. We’re giving ourselves as many opportunities as we can, which is a good thing, we just need to work on driving them in late in the game,” d’Arnaud said.

Lefty Brandon Sisk pitched the ninth for his 18th save of the season after nearly allowing the lead-off runner on base. Fryer smashed a liner to the right of second baseman Giavotella who made a diving snag to rob the Hillcats catcher of a hit and extinguish any hope of a rally.

The slumping ’Cats offense was just 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base. With the loss, the Hillcats fell to 5-13 against Wilmington this season, a number all the more troubling considering the Blue Rocks are a potential playoff foe for the Hillcats.

“We make our own destiny. We just need to make a few adjustments and things will go our way in no time. We have a sense of urgency every game we come out and play,” d’Arnaud said.

As the playoffs creep closer, Hillcats manager P.J. Forbes said he is less concerned with momentum and more worried about how his team is playing the game.

“For us it’s just about playing and continuing to play hard and work on the things we’re not doing well. I (told them) you’re doing a great job getting men on base,” Forbes said. “As long as the quality of at-bats are there, that’s all you can ask for.”