Blalock Makes Lakewood History in 14-12 Loss

The Phillies organization believes that the power Jake Blalock showed in high school will start to show in the minors eventually. Maybe, Thursday night was the night that it all begins. Blalock went deep three times and collected a total of five hits in a wild 14-12 loss to Lexington.

Jake Blalock smashed three home runs and collected five hits but it wasn’t enough to stave off a seven run eighth inning rally that lifted Lexington to a wild, 14-12 win over Lakewood Thursday night at Applebee’s Park. The Legends improved to 25-15 and kept their share of first place in the Northern Division, while the BlueClaws dropped to 17-22 overall and 7-15 on the road.

Blalock became the first BlueClaws player to hit three long balls in a game and also the first player to total five hits in a game. He belted a two-run home run in the first inning to get the scoring started, singled in the second inning, crushed a two-run round tripper in the fourth to cut Lexington’s lead to 7-6, put the BlueClaws on top 8-7 with a leadoff, opposite field homer in the sixth and doubled and scored in the seventh to push Lakewood’s lead to 12-7. He struck out in the ninth inning following a leadoff single by Omar Bramasco and finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.

Chris Honsa took a 12-7 lead into the bottom of the eighth but issued back-to-back one-out walks to Ozzie Fernando and Kevin Davidson before Josh Anderson singled to left field to plate Fernando and cut the lead to 12-8. Honsa walked Edwin Maysonet to load the bases and was taken out of the game and replaced by Dan Hodges, who entered in a save situation. The left-hander surrendered a two-run single to Saul Torres, the first hitter he faced, that trimmed the lead to 12-10. Beau Hearod then launched an opposite field, three-run home run to right field that vaulted the Legends into the lead. Scott Robinson then walked and moved to third on a base hit by Ervin Alcantara, who had earlier hit a home run in his third straight home game. Freddy Acevedo followed with a ground ball down the third base line that was backhanded by a diving Bramasco, who threw from one knee to the plate to try to cut down Robinson, who avoided a tag by catcher Mauber Lopez to score to make it 14-12. BlueClaws’ manager P.J. Forbes argued vehemently with home plate umpire Mark Lollo that the tag had been made and Robinson should have been ruled out and was ejected from the game. The Legends posted seven runs in the inning on only four hits and had only one hit in the six innings that they didn’t score.

Bryan Hansen, who entered the series in a 1-for-20 slump, had three hits for a second straight night, including a two-run home run in the first inning. All four of his homers have been hit on the road. Marc Tugwell knocked in two runs for Lakewood and extended his hitting streak to seven games with a double in the fourth, while Carlos Rodriguez picked up one hit in five tries and has now hit safely in 11 of the last 12 games he has played in. Javon Moran chipped in with three hits, including a two-run single in the sixth. The BlueClaws scored a season high 12 runs and posted a season best 18 hits one night after collecting ten runs on 16 hits.

The BlueClaws wrap up their thee-game series with the Legends Friday night with left-hander Joe Wilson taking the hill for the first time since May 3. Remember, that you can use the convenient link on the left navigator bar to listen to live Lakewood BlueClaws baseball action through PhillyBaseballNews.com.