By Craig Potter
Rochester pitchers tagged for 15 hits and 6 walks as the Bisons sweep the short series.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Red Wings were dominated by the Buffalo Bisons, 8-1, on Tuesday night before 5,657 fans at Frontier Field.
The Red Wings missed several opportunities to take the lead. James Beresford singled and Logan Schafer walked to lead off the bottom of the first, but were left stranded.
Darin Mastroianni singled and Wilfredo Tovar was safe on a fielder’s choice in the second with one out, but Buffalo pitcher Casey Lawrence, who entered the game with a 9.24 ERA, got a double play ball to escape unscathed.
“We missed, cheezed, good scoring opportunities in the first, second, fourth, and sixth and only wound up with one run,” said Rochester manager Mike Quade. “I’ve said it a million times, those situations will come back and bite you.”
The Bisons converted 3 hits and 4 walks into 4 runs in the third off Wings starter Andrew Albers.
“Andrew has been so good, it just was not his night,” said Quade.
The visitors from the Queen City tacked on 2 more runs in the sixth against reliever Nick Greenwood, which were just the second and third runs he has yielded since being promoted from Double-A.
The Wings finally got on the scoreboard in the home half. With one out, Adam Brett Walker singled and Buck Britton drove him home with a double.
Buffalo scored twice more in the eighth off reliever J.T. Chargois, which also were the second and third runs he has given up since his promotion from Chattanooga.
“We didn’t pitch great but who knows if we take advantage of some of those early opportunities, maybe things are different,” Quade said.
In the bottom of the eighth, Mastroianni and Tommy Field both single before John Ryan Murphy laced a ground rule double down the right field line that scored Mastroianni with Rochester’s final run.
“Just not a good night, pretty much sums it up,” said Quade.
Rochester travels to Pennsylvania for the next 5 games prior to the all-star break next week. The Red Wings will visit Lehigh Valley IronPigs for games Wednesday and Thursday, then journey north on the Northeast Extension of the PA Turnpike to take on the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
The Wings (50-37) trail North Division leader SWB (53-33) by 3.5 games, and lead third-place Lehigh Valley (49-37) by a half game.
*NOTES — The Red Wings string of 57 consecutive games with the starting pitcher going at least 5 innings ended tonight when starter Andrew Albers went 2 innings plus 6 batters in the third…More moves were made by the Minnesota Twins – LHP Buddy Boshers was optioned to Rochester; RHP Trevor May ended MLB rehab assignment and was recalled by the Twins; and OF Darin Mastroianni ended his MLB rehab assignment and was outrighted to Rochester (dated 7/4).
Links
Rochester Red Wings – redwingsbaseball.com
Videos
Manager Mike Quade interview – https://youtu.be/aiPnvQrl1Bw