By CRAIG POTTER
Rochester is unable to hold a 2-0 lead and lose to the RailRiders, 6-3.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Yohan Pino was cruising along on a 1-hit shutout through 5.1 innings for the Rochester Red Wings on Monday night before 5,213 fans at Frontier Field. But the Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRiders saw their third hit to be a 3-run homer by New York Yankees prospect Gleyber Torres to give the visitors from Northeast Pennsylvania a 3-2 lead.
“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” said Red Wings Manager Mike Quade. “Pino was really good. It’s hard to believe to be pitching as well as he did with a three-hitter then to be down three to two.”
When asked if he considered taking Pino out with Torres coming to the plate and Pino already throwing over 90 pitches, Quade said, “None. I’m not smart enough to take a guy (out) with a one-hit shutout…If he gives up a base hit there, yeah.”
Unfortunately for the Red Wings that base hit by Torres, who is the No. 5 prospect in all of baseball, turned out to be a 3-run homer. However, he was batting under .200 coming into the game but ended up going 3-for-3 with a walk and 4 RBI to pace the RailRiders offense.
“I’ve heard a lot about the kid,” Quade said. “We’ll have to find a way to get him out, along with the rest of them.”
D.J. Baxendale replaced Pino, who struck out 7 and walked 2 in addition to the 3 hits, was victimized by a couple of seeing-eye hits and two Red Wings errors that the RailRiders converted into 3 unearned runs in the seventh.
Bax was fine,” Quade said. “He gave up some hits and wasn’t as sharp as I’ve seen him, but we didn’t help him defensively either.”
Zack Granite led the Wings to a 2-0 start as he had a 10-pitch at bat in the first and ended it with a single. He then stole second and scored on J.B. Shuck’s single.
“I had a good at-bat in the first inning,” Granite said. “It was one quarter of the plate (to Shuck) and I kind of just took off. I was safe. I was doing my job.”
In the third, Granite also single and advance to third on another Shuck single. He scampered home on a wild pitch.
The Red Wings tallied their third run in the seventh when Engelb Vielma led off the inning as he reached on an error. With one out, J.B. Shuck delivered a RBI single. He was the last Rochester player to reach base the rest of the way.
“The offense is still scrapping and skrapping, too,” Quade said. “We saw some very good pitching tonight, for sure…This is a tough finish all around.”
ByungHo Park continues to struggle to find his offense as he was dropped in the order to seventh by Quade. Park led the Minnesota Twins in home runs in spring training.
“When you see how good he was in spring and at the start of the season, you know it’s in there somewhere,” said Quade.
The teams continue the 3-game series on Tuesday night at 7:05, with the final game coming at Wednesday afternoon at 12:35 pm.
*NOTES – Niko Goodrum was named the Batavia Downs Gaming and Hotel Player of the Week for the second straight week…Irondequoit native Cito Culver did not play in the game for the RailRiders in his first trip to his hometown this season. In an extra inning game earlier in the season in Moosic, PA., Culver laid down a bunt single that scored the game-winning run for SWB…Entering the game, the Rochester bullpen had allowed just 4 earned runs in their last 9 games since May 26. The 3 runs they yielded in the 7th inning were all unearned…Wings reliever Alan Busenitz has the third-lowest average against (.150, 12-for-80) as he retired all 3 batters he faced in the 9th…Daniel Palka is expected to miss around 4 weeks after being placed on the disabled list with a fractured index finger on his left hand. He sustained the injury in his final at bat in the 11th inning against Indianapolis on May 27.
Links
Rochester Red Wings – redwingsbaseball.com
Videos
Zack Granite interview – https://youtu.be/WmUCKTgox-Y
Mike Quade interview – https://youtu.be/ER9f83wyWoc