Rochester salvages the series finale to avoid a sweep by the PawSox.
PAWTUCKET, R.I. — In their first week in Triple-A, a pair of Red Sox prospects impressed for the Pawtucket Red Sox, who dropped their series finale to the Rochester Red Wings, 6-3, on Sunday afternoon at McCoy Stadium.
Pawtucket first baseman Josh Ockimey mashed his second homer in three games since his promotion from Double-A Portland, where the 22-year old went deep 15 times. The Philadelphia native went 1-for-4, and his three-run shot traveled an estimated 412 feet and left the bat at 103 MPH. Six innings later, reliever Travis Lakins cruised through his second Triple-A outing, sitting 93-95 MPH with his fastball in a 1-2-3 stanza. Since moving to the bullpen at the end of May, Lakins has limited opponents to a paltry .104 average (8-for-77) against him.
The PawSox (51-60) snatched a 3-0 lead in the first inning on the strength of Ockimey’s big fly, but Rochester (50-61) used two innings – a three-run third and a three-run ninth – and a gem from 23-year-old right-hander Fernando Romero to salvage the series finale from Pawtucket.
Much like the Rays, Rochester employed an “opener” in righty reliever Alan Busenitz, who yielded the 3-run jack in the first inning. From there, Romero (W, 4-3) – who has made 11 starts for the Twins this season – buzzed through 8 shutout innings in which he fanned 8 hitters, didn’t issue a walk and only ceded 4 hits.
Pawtucket starter Justin Haley logged six sturdy innings of three-run ball and punched out seven. Lakins handled the seventh, and righty Marcus Walden (L, 0-3) dealt a 1-2-3 eighth before allowing three runs in the top of the ninth.
After singles from Pawtucket center fielder Rusney Castillo and left fielder Sam Travis in the bottom of the first, Ockimey teed off on the first pitch he saw to hand Pawtucket a 3-0 lead.
In the top of the third, Rochester designated hitter and former Yankees villain Tyler Austin yanked a two-run double down the left-field line. Two batters later, first baseman Andy Wilkins supplied an RBI bloop single to tie the game, 3-3.
The game remained tied into the ninth, when Rochester loaded the bases on an infield single, walk and hit batter. That’s when No. 9 hitter Gregorio Petit golfed a dirt-scraping, 2-strike slider to shallow left field to push Rochester ahead, 4-3. Two batters later against Pawtucket southpaw Robby Scott, former Twins first-round pick Nick Gordon dumped a bloop 2-run single just out of the reach of PawSox shortstop Mike Miller into shallow left-center to extend the Rochester lead to 6-3.
Following Monday’s day off, the Wings return to Frontier Field for a 6-game home, 3 each against the Toledo Mud Hens and Charlotte Knights.
*NOTES — Rochester is 31-28 on the road this season, one of three teams with 30 roads wins in the International League this year (Lehigh Valley, 32 and Durham, 30). The Red Wings had lost 4 straight on the road and 8 of their last 11 away from home. The Wings are 19-33 at home (that total does not count going 1-1 as the road team). Rochester snapped a 7-game home losing streak Monday after also losing 9 straight at Frontier Field from game one on May 27-June 10. That 9-game home losing streak was the longest since June 14-28, 1984. The Wings have been at least 6 games over .500 at home each season since 2012 while going 254-177 (.589) at Frontier Field entering 2018. The Red Wings need to go 16-2 in the final 18 home games to finish .500 at Frontier Field.