Woodies win series opener in Wilmington

WILMINGTON, Del. -- A sustained night of offense fueled the Down East Wood Ducks (19-38 second half, 54-73 overall) to a 5-1 win over the Wilmington Blue Rocks (29-27, 60-66) on Monday night. Multi-hit efforts from Andretty Cordero, Ricky Valencia and LeDarious Clark led the Woodies to 11 hits in the win.

The offense also overshadowed a team record 11 walks allowed by the pitching staff. However, they still pitched admirably, holding the Blue Rocks to one unearned run while none of the 11 walked Wilmington players scored.

Sal Mendez started in a bind and worked into the fifth inning in his first start in nearly a month. He struck out three and despite a career-high five walks, did not allow a run.

The Woodies started hot in the second as Cordero connected on his first of two RBI doubles on the night to bring in Valencia. Later in the frame, Josh Altmann collected his 60th RBI on a single up the third base line to make it 2-0 Woodies.

The top pf the fifth featured the top of the Woodies order producing. A leadoff walk drawn by Leody Taveras turned into a run as he came in on Clark’s triple to right-center. Clark would come in on the next at-bat when Anderson Tejeda connected on a deep sac fly to right field.

Mendez exited in the fifth, leaving the bases loaded for Royce Bolinger. He would strike out Gabriel Cancel to end the frame. It set the stage for a career-high three innings for the right-hander as he earned his first win of 2018 on Monday night.

While the Blue Rocks got an unearned run on a missed catch at first by Cordero in the seventh, he made up for his mistake with his second RBI double in the eighth to push the Woodies’ lead to 5-1.

Jairo Beras had the final four outs of the game and he recorded two strikeouts despite matching a career-high three walks.

The Wood Ducks move forward to Game 2 of the series Tuesday with right-hander Emerson Martinez on the mound against RHP Nolan Watson. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. from Frawley Stadium.