The Rochester Red Wings saw a 5-1 lead go by the boards against the Toledo Mud Hens on Friday night before 10,424 fans at Frontier Field. The Mud Hens rallied for a 9-5 win behind a 7-run 8th inning.
The Red Wings took early command with 3 runs in the first inning. James Beresford led off with a single and Jorge Polanco followed with a 1-out double. Kennys Vargas plated both runners with his first triple of the season. Eddie Rosario then laced a hit to score Vargas with the third run.
The Mud Hens scored off Rochester starter Jason Wheeler in the second, but Rosario blasted a solo homer in the fourth.
The Wings made it 5-1 in the fifth as John Ryan Murphy drew a 1-out walk, and scampered home on Beresford’s double.
Toledo smacked a solo home run in the sixth for the Mud Hens second marker.
The Rochester bullpen failed the team in the 8th as the Mud Hens rallied for 7 runs to forge ahead, 9-5. The 7 runs is the most the Wings have given up in an inning this season as the Mud Hens amassed 7 hits in the rally, also the most the Wings have yielded in one frame.
Marcus Walden yielded 2 hits and a walk before Wings manager Mike Quade replaced him with Sean Burnett, who gave up a RBI single with the bases loaded before former Red Wing John Hicks cleared the bases with a double.
The Red Wings answered with 2 runs in the 9th, on Logan Schafter’s bases-loaded, 2-out single and had the winning run at the plate, but Jorge Polanco popped out to end the game.
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The Buffalo Bills defense already is in put up or shut up mode, and a curious and debatable ranking by Pro Football Focus. Bills Insider Chris Brown gives the details. Here is his report:
Here are the notes to know for June 10th.
1 – Put up or shut up
The men on Buffalo’s defense know that last year’s unit ranking of 19th overall is simply not going to cut it, especially when you’re trying to end a franchise playoff drought. Inside linebacker Preston Brown knows being a top flight unit on defense is an outright must.
“There’s no time for us to mess around anymore,” said Brown. “We know that this is the year we have to make it happen, if any of us want to be here next year. We have to go out there and play well. That’s the bottom line. We’ve got to go out there and make it happen now, that’s the only option.
“We all know how this league is. If you’re not winning games, you’ll be gone, it’s as simple as that. We haven’t won here in a long time, and people are rotating in and out, you’ve seen it. We have to make sure if we want to be here long we have to win these games, that’s what we have to do.”
2 – Bills are movers and shifters
Buffalo’s offense under coordinator Greg Roman is considered a very varied and multiple system. It’s an attack that can prove difficult to get a bead on, which of course is by design. A peek into how it’s effective in being unpredictable came in a recent ranking of NFL offenses.
The film reviewers and analysts at Pro Football Focus put together a statistical list of NFL offenses that executed the highest number of pre-snap shifts and motions. Buffalo ranked ninth in the league in percentage of offensive plays that had a pre-snap shift or motion of some kind.
The Bills had a player in motion 42 percent of the time on their offensive plays in 2015, good for a total of 427 plays out of 1,016 that were run on offense.
The top teams in the league in terms of pre-snap motion percentage were Miami (57%), Atlanta (57%) Tennessee (52%) and New England (52%).
3 – Buffalo’s corners rank top 5
Ranking the position groups for all 32 NFL teams is something else that Pro Football Focus does and this week they ranked the cornerback contingents for each of the NFL’s clubs. Not surprisingly, Buffalo ranked high placing fifth in the league based on statistics gathered through PFF’s film review and a bit of projection.
What was interesting about PFF’s assessment was along with Ronald Darby and Stephon Gilmore they had free agent signee Sterling Moore as the team’s starting nickel corner over Nickell Robey. Here was their take.
4. Buffalo Bills
Top CBs: Ronald Darby, Stephon Gilmore, Sterling Moore
Key stat: Darby and Gilmore combined for a 5.1 coverage snaps per target mark in 2015.
Rex Ryan’s aggressive scheme puts a lot of pressure on his cornerbacks, and unsurprisingly, both Darby and Gilmore were among the league’s most-targeted corners last season (tied for fourth-most) on a per-snap basis. Both stood up to that examination well, and Sterling Moore should provide an upgrade—if he wins the job—over Nickell Robey at slot corner. Robey has allowed 1,041 receiving yards and a passer rating north of 100.0 over the past two seasons combined.
PFF had Denver ranked first followed by Arizona, Washington (Josh Norman add) and New England followed by Buffalo.
The Patriots corners? Really?! Here are the stats I’ll go by.
Completion percentage against (rank: Buffalo 3rd, New England 10th), passing yards against (rank: Buffalo 18th, New England 20th), interceptions (rank: Buffalo 8th, New England 20th) and percentage of opponent targets caught (rank: Buffalo 3rd, New England 9th).
The Bills as a pass defense were superior in all of these categories to the Patriots and had significantly less help up front from their pass rushers than New England as evidenced by the final stat.
Sack percentage (rank: New England 2nd, Buffalo 31st).
While there’s no debating that pass defense involves more than just cornerbacks, how anyone can come to a statistical or logical conclusion that New England’s corners are superior to Buffalo’s corners is hard to fathom.
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The Western New York Flash have acquired goalkeeper Katelyn Rowland from FC Kansas City the club announced on Friday. FC Kansas City will receive two second-round picks in the 2017 NWSL College Draft in exchange for the goalkeeper.
Rowland, 22, was selected 17th overall in the 2015 NWSL College Draft by Kansas City. During her tenure at UCLA, Rowland set NCAA records for career shutouts (55) and single-season shutouts (19). She made 3 appearances and 3 starts in her rookie season at Kansas City, racking up 270 minutes.
“We are delighted to get a young, talented goalkeeper, and her experience at the various national team levels makes her a legitimate starting keeper in the NWSL,” praised Flash head coach Paul Riley. “She has enjoyed a fabulous apprenticeship under Nicole Barnhart in Kansas City and without a doubt that will give her the knowledge, work ethic and experience to understand what it takes to be a top goalkeeper.”
The news comes after WNY Flash goalkeeper and Canadian international Sabrina D’Angelo was ruled out after suffering a broken wrist. Riley expects Rowland to come in and “battle it out for the number one spot” with rookie Britt Eckerstrom, who made her first professional appearance on May 27, in a 4-0 shutout win over the Boston Breakers.
The Western New York Flash look to continue their scoring momentum at home as they take on Alex Morgan and the Orlando Pride on Saturday, June 11, at 7 p.m. at Rochester Rhinos Stadium.
“We’ve obviously been working on our pressure this week, which has obviously been key for us this season,” WNY Flash Head Coach Paul Riley said during training this week. “The higher up we win the ball on the field, the better it is for us.”
Riley mentioned that the Pride is “a tough team to play,” and reflected on the last meeting in which U.S. international Alex Morgan scored the lone goal of the match in the 79th minute back on May 14 in Orlando. But Riley and his team are looking to flip the script.
“For us, it’s just about getting a little bit better than last time and getting a good result. We’re home, and we want to make Rochester a tough place to come and play. That is kind of the goal of the whole week – make this a tough place to play.”
Tickets are available for the match at wnyflash.com/tickets with a live stream at youtube.com/NWSL.
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The Rochester Americans announced on Friday that the team will hold a special Father’s Day Sale at the Amerks Team Store presented by Adpro Sports, located in the lower atrium at the Blue Cross Arena, on Saturday, June 18 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The sale will feature a limited selection of new and used skates, sticks, gloves, pants, socks and goalie equipment (pads, chest protectors, blockers, catching gloves, pants, skates and sticks).
In addition, the 60th Anniversary Jerseys worn by Amerks Alumni members during the pregame festivities on Jan. 8, 2016, when the Amerks celebrated their storied history prior to the game against the Hershey Bears, will be on sale with a portion of the proceeds going to the Rochester Americans Alumni Association. The available jerseys include the likes of Jody Gage, Mal Davis, Randy Cunneyworth, Daren Puppa, Richie Dunn, Olaf Kolzig, John Van Boxmeer, Scott Metcalfe, and more. Autographed jerseys will be available for $250 while the un-signed sweaters can be purchased for $225.
There will also be a limited selection of non-lettered, authentic jerseys from various Theme Night games available, including Irish Night, Military Appreciation Night, and Pink the Rink. A limited selection of 2016 NHL Draft merchandise will also be available.
In addition, there will be a 30% in-store discount on all other merchandise (this excludes equipment, Draft merchandise and specialty/authentic jerseys such as the Alumni and Theme Night sweaters). The 30% discount cannot be combined with other offers.
Fans will also have the chance to select their seats for the 2016-17 season on Saturday, June 18. Amerks 2016-17 Season Ticket Memberships, which start as low as just $10 per game, are on-sale now. The Amerks are also offering a variety of partial plans, including Half-Season Memberships and Flex Season Memberships with vouchers good for best available seat to any home game. All memberships are up to 40% off box office day of game pricing.
For more information, visit www.amerks.com or call 1-855-GO-AMERKS