Jon Kemmer homers and drives in 2 runs in the 5-1 victory over the PawSox.
By CRAIG POTTER
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Red Wings (Plates) closed out the short homestand with a 5-1 victory over the Pawtucket Red Sox on Thursday night before 10,027 fans at Frontier Field.
Jon Kemmer belted a solo home run and also drove in the third run of the contest as pitcher Zack Littell held the PawSox scoreless for 6.2 innings in leading the Red Wings to victory.
Jon Kemmer got the Red Wings on the scoreboard first with a 404-foot homer to right-center in the second inning.
The PawSox threatened in the top of the fourth with 3 singles, but Rochester left fielder LaMonte Wade fired a strike to catcher Willans Astudillo as Josh Ockimey slide into the tag at the plate for the final out of the inning.
“Wade threw a guy out at the plate, that was big,” said Red Wings manager Joel Skinner.
Astudillo then led off the home half with a single to left. He scampered around the basepaths on Kennys Vargas’s double to right-center. With 2 outs, Kemmer conitnued his hot hitting with a RBI single to center, to plate Vargas, for a 3-0 lead.
Reliever Nick Anderson started on the mound for Rochester and allowed a single while striking out 2 batters and walking one.
Littell took over in the second and left the game with 2 outs in the seventh with a runner on second.
Andrew Vasquez made his Triple-A debut and struck out Tzu-Wei Lin with a nasty slider to end the inning.
“When you bring a guy up, you don’t want him sitting around too long,” said Skinner. “He came in and got a big out.”
His slider is a big reason why he has been so effective. “My slider’s my pitch,” said Vasquez. “It’s a pitch I tend to rely on — maybe a little bit too much.”
“When guys have success and are putting up numbers, they get rewarded,” Skinner said of Vasquez. “He’s earned it.”
Vasquez, who is just in his third year in the Minnesota Twins organization, ran into a little bit of trouble in the 8th as the PawSox managed their lone run. Pawtucket loaded the bases with 1 out and scored the run on a fielder’s choice. Vasquez struck out the next batter to escape further damage.
However, when the inning ended, there seemed to be a little confusion as to the number of outs.
“I knew it was three, but everybody was kind of standing there,” Vasquez said.
The 6-foot-6, 230-pounder 24-year-old southpaw has advanced a level every year, from rookie ball Elizabethton to low A Cedar Rapids in 2016, from Cedar Rapids to high-A Fort Myers in 2017, and from Fort Myers to Double-A Chattanooga in 2018.
Rochester secured the victory with 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th. With one gone, Nick Gordon drew a walk and stole second. He scored on Astudillo’s single. Vargas followed with a hit and Astudillo crossed the plate when Wade singled.
Ryan Eades hurled the 9th for Rochester and gave up 1 hit.
*NOTES — In roster moves Thursday, Willians Astudillo learned after the game that he will be going up to the Minnesota Twins; and LHP Andrew Vasquez was transferred from Double-A Chattanooga. He has a 1.51 ERA in 102 professional appearances. He made his Triple-A debut after arriving in Rochester around 3 pm…Rochester has used a franchise-record 36 different positions players this year. The Red Wings had 38 players register a plate appearance in 1960 and 1945, 37 in 1968 and 1946, and 36 in 1959, but those totals include pitchers who received at least one plate appearance. Vasquez became the 66th different player to appear in a game this season, tying the franchise record set last season…Coming into tonight’s game, the Red Wings were second in the International League with a 3.48 ERA. Pawtucket leads the league at 3.39. A Rochester team has not led the IL in ERA since the 1976 squad posted a 3.51 mark…The Red Wings are 6-11 in extra innings this season and have just one win in their last 10 games in extra frames. The 17 games in extras are the most since 2009 (7-10). The 11 loses are the most in extra innings since the 2001 club went 12-11…The Red Wings start their final road trip of the season, 4 games in Syracuse from Friday-Tuesday, then return for their final homestand on Wednesday with 3 games vs Buffalo and 4 against Lehigh Valley.