Bryon Buxton and Chase De Jong lead Rochester to victory over the Mud Hens.
TOLEDO, OHIO — Byron Buxton collected two doubles and Chase De Jong turned in his best outing with the Red Wings as Rochester beat the Toledo Mud Hens, 3-2, Saturday night before 11,940 fans at Fifth Third Field.
De Jong entered in the second inning – after Jake Reed opened – and tossed 7 innings allowing just 1 run on 5 hits and a walk. He struck out 4 over his 87-pitch outing.
Buxton’s second double came with 2 outs in the seventh inning off the left field wall. He then scampered home from second on an INFIELD single from Nick Gordon to score what turned out to be the winning run.
Buxton also scored the Wings first run in the first inning after Robbie Grossman doubled him home from second.
Toledo tallied a run off Reed in the first inning to tie the game at one.
Kennys Vargas gave the Wings the lead back with a 1-out solo home run in the fourth inning.
The homer for Vargas was the 48th of his Red Wings career – tying him with Trevor Plouffe for the second-most home runs during the Twins era (Garrett Jones, 81).
The Mud Hens answered back an inning later, tying the game on a Daz Cameron RBI double that score Pete Kozma with Toledo’s second run. But De Jong allowed just 2 other base runners the rest of his outing.
DJ Baxendale earned his first save of the season as he worked around a leadoff single to toss a scoreless ninth and secure the Wings 1-run lead.
Buxton, Grossman, and Vargas all had multi-hit nights for Rochester.
The Wings (56-67) and Hens complete the 4-game set on Sunday evening at 6:05 pm. Lefty Stephen Gonsalves (9-3, 2.96 ERA) gets the start for the Wings, who can win the series with a victory.
*NOTES — Rochester’s bullpen has pitched to a 2.75 ERA (141 ER, 460.2 IP) while surrendering 177 total runs. The ‘pen pitched to a 4.32 ERA (45 ER, 93.2 IP) in July but relievers have allowed just 9 total runs in 48.2 innings over the last 11 games and 5 of those came on August 10.
• John Curtiss has worked 7 straight scoreless appearances (11.2 IP) with 8 hits, 5 walks, and 10 strikeouts since July 25.
• Jake Reed has not allowed a run in 5 consecutive outings (8.2 IP) with 2 hits, a hit batter, 2 walks and 11 strikeouts since July 27.
• Alan Busenitz has tossed 3 straight scoreless games (3 IP) with 1 hit, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts while recording 2 saves since August 8.
• Nick Anderson hasn’t yielded a run in 3 straight outings (7 IP) with 4 hits, 1 walk, and 9 strikeouts since August 10.
• DJ Baxendale has a 1.42 ERA (2 ER, 12.2 IP) in his last 7 relief appearances since June 15 (he has made 5 starts during that stretch).