Rochester scores twice to edge Pawtucket, 3-2.
PAWTUCKET, R.I. — Bengie Gonzalez and Zack Granite delivered back-to-back two-out RBI singles in the 9th inning as the Rochester Red Wings rallied for a 3-2 win over the Pawtucket Red Sox Thursday night at McCoy Stadium.
The win snapped a three-game losing skid for the Red Wings (15-14) and prevented Rochester from falling below .500 for the first time this season.
Both starters were sharp early as Adalberto Mejia for the Wings and former Red Wing Marcus Walden hurled for the PawSox (15-15). The two traded scoreless frames until the 5th when Leonardo Reginatto doubled down the left field line to score Daniel Palka to give Rochester a 1-0 lead. Mike Miller hit a long solo home run in the 6th off Mejia to tie the game.
Pawtucket put the first two men on with singles to begin the 7th before Mejia induced a double play for the first two outs. Matt Dominguez hit a scorching ground-rule double to left one batter later giving the PawSox their first lead at 2-1.
Mejia was charged with two runs on seven hits including a homer with four strikeouts over 6.2 innings.
Alan Busenitz was impressive, striking out all three men he faced in relief of Mejia.
The Rochester rally began as Matt Hague singled up the middle to begin the 9th. Niko Goodrum pinch ran for Hague and stood at third base with two outs after back-to-back groundouts. John Ryan Murphy then walked, Gonzalez followed with a single to right to tie the game and Granite gave the Wings the lead again with a grounder up the middle, all off Brandon Workman (1-1).
Drew Rucinski got the final out of the 8th and retired the side in order in the 9th to earn his first win of the season. He was added to the active roster roughly an hour before first pitch after he was optioned from Minnesota on Wednesday.
Granite finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and two stolen bases. Gonzalez also went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Red Wings to pull the Pork from Frontier Field May 15-18
With Rochester’s International League North rival, the pork-loving, bacon-boasting, Lehigh Valley IronPigs coming to town May 15-18, the Red Wings will be implementing a bacon ban at Frontier Field for the series.
In fact, the Wings will be pulling most of the pork from the Frontier Field concession stands while our foes from “Bacon, USA” are in town. The only exception being hot dogs because, well, what’s a baseball game without hot dogs?
For those upset they can’t get themselves the MuckDog at ‘Sup Dog, bacon bits on their baked potato at Red Osier or the “Pig Two Ways Mac N’ Cheese” at Say Cheese, our friends at WebMD remind us that 68% of bacon calories come from fat, almost half of which is saturated. So even if taste buds hate us for the week, hearts will thank us later.
Wallets will be squealing with joy as the Wings will be trimming the fat off ticket prices for the homestand. Since there are 3.5 grams of fat in one slice of bacon, all online tickets will be $3.50 OFF using promo code BanTheBacon.
*NOTES — In roster moves on Thursday, RHP Drew Rucinski was optioned to Rochester (dated 5/10) by the Minnesota Twins, and LHP Nik Turley was transferred to Extended Spring Training.