Rochester’s scoreless streak reaches 24 consecutive innings in the third straight shutout.
By CRAIG POTTER
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Red Wings were shut out for the second and third straight games, covering 24 innings, on Thursday with a pair of 1-0 defeats to the Norfolk Tides before 5,360 fans at Frontier Field.
In the first game of a twinbill, the visitors from Virginia earned a 1-0 triumph as John Means outdueled Kohl Stewart on the mound.
For his second consecutive start, after having rough outings his first two appearances, Stewart gave up just 1 run and took the loss. He finished with 3 hits over 6 innings while issuing 2 walks and striking out 8 hitters.
“I struggled when I first got up here,” Stewart said. “I was falling behind a lot in the first couple of starts…If you’re ahead in the count, you have more success.
“Things have been going better. I’m just trying to adjust. The more I’ve worked ahead (in the count), the better off I’ve been.”
Red Wings manager Joel Skinner added, “He had a sharp breaking ball today and he was throwing it over for strikes.”
“I think I have been executing a little bit better,” Stewart said. “Parts of my game have gotten a lot better, which will put me in better situations. There are more possibilities to be successful if i develop the things I need to develop.”
Stewart said he has been putting more spin on the ball as he’s gotten away from holding 2 seams to holding 1 seam.
“It’s been a more effective pitch for me,” he said.
The lone run of the game came in the second inning when Chance Sisco and Garabez Rosa hit back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third with one out. Drew Dosch lofted a sacrifice fly to left to plate Sisco.
The Wings best scoring opportunity came in the fourth when Nick Gordon and Gregorio Petit singled to lead off the frame. However, Means bore down and struck out Kennys Vargas, LaMonte Wade, and Andy Wilkins to escape unscathed.
In Game 2, in which the Tides were the home team as the game was a makeup of a rainout in Norfolk, the contest was scoreless through 7 innings as the Tides scored in the bottom of the eighth, with a runner beginning the frame on second base, for the 1-0 win.
Gabriel Moya suffered the loss for Rochester (44-49). The Wings have been shut out now 10 times this season. They have shut out opponents 8 times this year.
When asked what can be done to break the scoreless drought, Skinner said, “It’s just getting up there, freedom of thought, freedom of swing. There are all sorts of ways of going about it.
“You have to clear your head and get back to the basics of getting a pitch to hit and take a good, aggressive swing at it…It’s done as a group. If you don’t score runs, sometimes you think you have to do it yourself.”
The last time the Red Wings were shut out in a double header, and had a 3-game scoreless streak, was Aug. 30-31, 2002. On Aug. 30 the Wings lost 5-0 at Buffalo, and on Aug. 31 they fell 1-0 and 4-0 at Ottawa.
Rochester now is 6 games under .500 (44-50), the most games under .500 this season.
The Wings also are now 16-28 at home and 28-22 on the road. Rochester last had a losing home record in 2011 at 32-40.
*NOTES — In a roster move Thursday, OF Jeremy Hazelbaker was acquired from Tampa Bay for cash considerations and the Minnesota Twins assigned him to Rochester. He had been playing with Triple-A Durham…Nick Gordon went 2-for-4 against left-hand pitching during the doubleheader and is now 20-for-60 (.333) against LHP this season…In the bottom of the sixth inning of Game 1, Norfolk manager Ron Johnson was ejected after disputing a hit-by-pitch call.