Rochester’s bullpen blanks the Mud Hens to secure a 6-5 victory.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Red Wings withstood another late rally by the Toledo Mud Hens to escape with a 6-5 victory on Saturday night before 10,552 fans at Frontier Field.
The Red Wings broke out to a 3-0 in the second. Kennys Vargas started the rally with a double. With 1 out, Wilfredo Tovar drew a walk, and Tommy Field hit into a fielder’s choice. Rookie Adam Brett Walker blasted a 425-foot, 3-run homer that hit off the top of the Vanderstyne-Toyota sign on top of the scoreboard in left field.
“That’s something to see,” said Red Wings manager Mike Quade with a smile.
The homer was Walker’s 13th of the season to lead the IL.
“I got a curveball, hit a homer, put us up ahead, got a quick start, it was pretty fun,” Walker said.
“It’s pretty cool to see where it goes. I try not to show anybody up. Sometimes I take a peek while I’m going around. I’m just trying to have a quality at bat and help the team win.”
The Mud Hens got 1 run back in the third off Rochester starter Jose Berrios.
The Wings tacked on 3 more runs in the 4th when Field and Walker each singled. John Ryan Murphy walked to load the bases. James Beresford hit into a fielder’s choice as Field crossed the plate. Walker came home on a wild pitch and Logan Schafer singled to drive in Beresford for the 6-1 lead.
Berrios retired the first 2 hitters in the 7th before yielding 4 hits and a walk as the Mud Hens tallied 4 runs to pull within one at 6-5.
“We were starting to think Berrios was going to get us to the eighth, at least, he was doing so well,” said Quade. “Two out and nobody on in the seventh and he just couldn’t finish the deal; breaking ball kind of abandoned him and his command wasn’t as good.
“We really were pushing for him to get through that. His pitch-count was great, so that was a little disappointing but the bullpen was great.”
Berrios went 6.2 innings while giving up 7 hits, 5 runs, 2 walks, and striking out 5.
Sean Burnett came on in relief and with the tying run on second, got a groundout to first baseman Vargas to end the rally.
“Burnett coming back, four ground balls, that’s what he does,” said Quade.
On Friday night, Burnett came on in the 8th with the bases loaded and gave up 2 hits and 2 runs in the Mud Hens’ 7-run rally.
“That’s one of the good things about being a reliever, you get right back out there,” Burnett said. “It was good to get back out there and face the same guys I faced yesterday. I had a little better success today.
“I just tried to keep the ball down. Yesterday my arm felt great but I wasn’t able to keep the ball down.”
Burnett retired all 3 batters in the 8th, and Alex Wimmers retired all 3 hitters he faced in the 9th to earn his 4th save of the season.
“We’ve got to make these early runs standup,” Quade said. “We’ve got to continue to get good starting pitching and we’ve got to piece together this bullpen.
“Jose was excellent and we put six runs on the board by the fourth inning; good, good.”
*NOTES – Saturday’s paid attendance was 10,552 – the second straight home game to top the 10,000 mark…The Red Wings bullpen has struggled the last 3 games, allowing 3 or more runs in back-to-back games, and at least 1 run in 4 of the past 7 games. In the last 7 games the bullpen has an ERA of 7.88 (14 ER, 16 IP) and have given up 21 hits with 6 walks and 10 strikeouts…Eddie Rosario received a 4-pitch walk in the third inning, just his second walk this season after he drew his first walk on Friday night….Rochester still holds first place in the IL North Division with a 36-27 record, 1 game ahead of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (35-28)…The Red Wings also hold the overall best record in the IL at 36-27 by 1 game over SWB and Columbus (35-28).
Links
Rochester Red Wings – redwingsbaseball.com
Videos
Adam Brett Walker interview – https://youtu.be/cpokVcAgzgU
Sean Burnett interview – https://youtu.be/hxGc6LN4V6I
Manager Mike Quade interview – https://youtu.be/u0uJsxexk78