The win snaps a 7-game losing streak to the IronPigs.
ALLENTOWN, PA. — The Red Wings beat the rain and the Lehigh Valley IronPigs Friday night. Zander Wiel hit a 3-run homer and Zack Littell turned in his best start of the season for the Wings in a 4-1 victory at Coca-Cola Park.
The win snaps a 7-game losing streak against the pesky first-place ‘Pigs this season.
Littell (1-2) earned his first win of the season striking out NINE over 5.2 innings. He allowed just one run on six hits. Littell’s biggest strikeouts of the night came in the fourth inning when he struck out both Mitch Walding and Deivy Grullon with runners on second and third to end the threat.
Wiel gave the Wings (5-10) all the offense they would need with a towering three-run blast in the fourth inning (his 4th of the year) that gave the Wings a 4-0 lead. He scored the first run of the game on an RBI double from Adam Rosales.
The 23 home runs hit by Rochester this season – second-most in the IL behind Lehigh Valley — have accounted for 55% of their runs.
The relief corps of Mike Morin, Matt Magill, and Preston Guilmet combined to toss 3.1 scoreless innings.
Both teams dodged rain drops all night long. The game was even stopped for a few minutes in the 8th inning due to the rain.
The Wings will have a chance to win the three-game series in the rubber game on Saturday night. Chase De Jong (0-0, 4.91) gets the ball for Rochester opposite southpaw JoJo Romero (0-1, 10.13).
WINGS THINGS — Four International League games were postponed on Friday night…The Red Wings first 16 scheduled games this season are against either Lehigh Valley or Syracuse…Rochester committed their league leading 19th error in the game.