Byung Ho Park belts 3 home runs in Rochester’s 13-5 win over Pawtuck.
Byungho Park lifted three of the club’s season-high five home runs as the Rochester Red Wings snapped a 4-game skid with a 13-5 drubbing of the Pawtucket Red Sox on Thursday afternoon in Rhode Island.
The Red Wings (61-46) were in danger of getting swept by Pawtucket in the 4-game set in back-to-back seasons.
Rochester starter Jason Wheeler (8-2) picked up the win, but he had to pitch his way in and out of trouble for a majority of the contest.
The Paw Sox (54-52) scored one run in the second, third, and fourth innings, but stranded runners in scoring position in each frame. Pawtucket left 10 men on base in the game.
Rochester exploded for 6 runs in the second inning, all of which came after 2 outs off of rehabbing Sean O’Sullivan. Daniel Palka capped the 6-spot with a towering 3-run shot to right-center field.
The Wings chased O’Sullivan (6-3) out of the game after just 3 innings. The right-hander gave up 6 runs, all earned, on 6 hits with 4 strikeouts.
Park led off the sixth inning with his first homer. Buck Britton followed that by drawing a walk, which brought Logan Schafer to the plate. Schafer connected and drove out his third homer of the season to make it 9-3.
The Sox got another run back in the home half of the inning off a Ryan Lamarre RBI single to make it 9-4.
Park added more insurance in the top of the eighth with his second blast, this one a pulled shot down the line in left that extended the lead to 10-4. Pawtucket responded in the bottom half with another run but Park had one last at-bat coming in the ninth.
The Korean smacked a mammoth 3-run homer to straightaway center to cap off a 3-for-5 performance with 3 runs scored and 5 RBI. Park hit long balls in 3 consecutive trips to the plate with his first homer not coming until the sixth inning.
Prior to this season, the Red Wings had not had a player hit 3 home runs in a game since 1990, and now it has happened twice in the past 68 days as Adam Brett Walker hit 3 bombs in a game at Durham on May 21.
Park was not the only Wing to turn in a big game at the dish. Palka finished 3-for-5 with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI including his big homer in the second frame. Jorge Polanco went 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored with another batted in, and John Ryan Murphy also notched a 3-hit game as he wound up 3-for-4 with 1 run scored and an RBI.
The Red Wings(61-46) return to Frontier Field on Friday night against Lehigh Valley. The IronPigs (64-41) lead Rochester by 4 games for the Wild Card playoff position. Lehigh Valley has won 5 in a row and is 9-1 in its last 10 games.
The Wings trail International League North Division leader Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (67-38) by 7 games.