The box score does justice to the outcome of the game — way too much justice.
The first-place Wilmington Blue Rocks pounded the P-Nats for 17 hits, most for extra-base hits, but some that should have been caught. It’s not to say that the outcome would have been different, but the differential could have been closer than 13-4. Much closer.
Destin Hood was not charged with any errors but looked lost and out of position for the six innings he was in right field. He did not slip. He did not fall. He simply was in the wrong place to field the ball more often than not.
Hood was not alone in this department, but with the one putout out of a half-dozen or so balls hit to his “zone,” he was the most noticeable. Officially, the Potomac defense was charged with four errors, but the mental errors were easily double that number.
The misplays weighed upon starter Cameron Selik, who was making his first start in Woodbridge, as he looked haggard by the end of his outing, which ended with one out in the fifth and ten hits charged to his line, six of which went for extra bases (see above). He walked just one and struck out four, featuring, at times, a slow curve that was at least 10 mph slower than his fastball.
As the score suggests, neither reliever was particularly effective though Evan Bronson did retire six of the last seven batters he faced, an error (really) breaking up the string. Adam Olbrychowski was charged with a one or more runs for his sixth consecutive outing, letting in the last two runs in the ninth.
Offensively, the PNats had one good inning — the first, in which they scored three of their four runs and all with two out as Justin Bloxom and Steve Souza hit back-to-back doubles and Wilmington’s Tim Ferguson simply dropped J.P. Ramirez’s flyball to left. Otherwise, they flailed for 15 strikeouts with only veteran infielder Jose Lozada reaching base more than once.
With the loss, Potomac falls to 12-21 and back into the Carolina League North cellar, seven games off the pace. Danny Rosenbaum (team-best 1.16 WHIP) takes the hill tonight for the tenth home game of the season, opposed by Tyler Sample (1.48 WHIP).