Rochester’s magic number is now 3 over the IronPigs.
MOOSIC, PA. — The Rochester Red Wings managed to salvage the final game of the 4-game series against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders with a 5-1 victory on Thursday night.
The win lowered the Wings’ magic number to 3 in the battle for the International League’s wild card berth over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, who also won with a 5-1 triumph over the Syracuse Chiefs. Both teams have 4 games remaining.
Daniel Palka tripled and singled, and David Hurlbut allowed just four hits over 6.1 innings for Rochester.
Hurlbut (10-8) picked up the win after he struck out 5 and walked 2 while allowing 1 run.
Trailing 1-0, the Red Wings took the lead for good with 3 runs in the fourth inning. Palka smacked a RBI triple and then scored on a single by ByungHo Park for a 3-1 lead.
Rochester later tacked on a pair of runs in the sixth when Leonardo Reginatto ripped a RBI double and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Anthony Recker to secure the victory.
*NOTES — In roster moves Thursday, INF Jonathan Rodriguez and INF Ryan Walker were transferred from Double-A Chattanooga. Walker made his Triple-A debut in this game while Rodriguez has yet to appear with the Red Wings…LHP Buddy Boshers and LHP Nik Turley were placed on Minnesota’s taxi squad…The Wings have not won a playoff series since 2006, the year the Wings fell in five games to Toledo in the finals…Irondequoit native Cito Culver went 1-for-2 for SWB Wednesday and scored a run in the 7th inning in the RailRiders 8-4 win. Culver blasted a 2-run homer in the fourth inning for the SWB in Monday’s 5-3 victory over the Red Wings. He did not play in Thursday’s game…The Red Wings return to Frontier Field for the final 4-game homestand against the Pawtucket Red Sox on Friday night. Fireworks will follow the game…Lehigh Valley plays Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in their final 4 games. The IronPigs own the tie-breaker over the Red Wings as they won the season series, 13-9. The wild card team will open the Governor’s Cup series against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.