By Craig Potter
Rochester loses its 4th straight game on the current homestand.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Red Wings fell out of first place with a 6-2 loss to the Pawtucket Red Sox on Monday night before 5,304 fans at Frontier Field.
The defeat extended the Wings losing streak to 4 games, and it also marked the first time since mid-August 2014 that Rochester dropped 4 consecutive games in one home stand.
“It’s four in a row and that’s not good,” said Red Wings manager Mike Quade. “We come out tomorrow and we’ve got to get a good start. We’ve got to put some things together offensively.
“When we were going well for those two weeks, we got contributions from everybody…now some of those guys have been struggling the last four days…We’ve just got to find a way to put things together on offense and get back to what we were doing.”
Among those players in a slump is Eddie Rosario, who had been on a hot streak for 29 games where he was hitting .358 with 11 doubles, 5 homers, and 23 RBI. Now since the home stand began on Friday, he is 0-for-21.
“We’ve just got to find a way to win, play hard and play good,” Rosario said of the losing streak.
The last time this season the Red Wings lost 4-in-a-row came in mid-April when they dropped 5 straight games.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was the lone winner of the trio tied for first in the International League North Division on Monday night. Besides the Red Wings loss, Lehigh Valley also lost its game as the IronPigs and Wings are tied for second place with 45-33 records, while the SWB Yankees lead with a 46-32 mark.
Rochester moved into first place on June 2, and was there alone, or held a share it, all month until after last night’s game.
In an effort to break the losing streak, the Wings will NOT take batting practice on Tuesday.
“I remember coaching with Lou Pinella in Chicago, he’d be irritated after three or four losses and he’d say, ‘That’s it, there’s no batting practices. Tell these guys to get some rest. Batting practice is overrated.’ And a lot of times you’ve come back and be pretty good.
“We came off a good road trip (5-2). We’ve worked hard, and we had a great day’s work today. This stuff will work itself out.”
The PawSox scored a pair of runs off starter Pat Dean in the third, but the Red Wings answered with back-to-back solo homers in the fourth by Miguel Sano and Jorge Polanco.
However, Pawtucket regained the lead for good with 2 runs in the fifth. he PawSox added an unearned run in the seventh, then Rochester reliever J.T. Chargois was tagged for the first home run he gave up in Triple-A by Chris Dominguez in the eighth. It was just the third home run Chargois has yielded in his pro pitching career.
Rochester rookie reliever D.J. Baxrendale retired all 3 batters he faced in the sixth inning, increasing his string to 10 straight the numbers of hitters he has retired in his relief appearances since joining the Wings from Double-A Chattanooga on June 24.
“I felt good today, threw a lot of strikes trying to get an early ground ball and go from there,” Baxendale said.
“He keeps the ball down and he spins it,” Quade said of Baxendale’s success thus far. “He’s learned to pitch out of the pen now, and that’s how we’re going to use him…In those short stints, one-time through the lineup, it’s pretty effective.”
Baxendale was a starter in Chattanooga, but does have experience of pitching out of the bullpen before.
“I threw out of the bullpen a lot in college,” Baxendale said. “I actually came out of the pen at the (AA) all-star game about a week ago. Before that I had a little bullpen stint in Chattanooga last season.
“It’s a little bit different of a mindset. You’ve just got to come in every day knowing that you have a chance to pitch.”
*NOTES – Minnesota Twins INF/OF Miguel Sano played his fourth game of a rehab assignment, playing right field and going 1-for-3 at the plate with a walk, a homer, and two strikeouts. The slugger is just 2-for-12 as he looks to get back into stride.
Links
Rochester Red Wings – redwingsbaseball.com
Videos
D.J. Baxendale interview – https://youtu.be/-7cplDLDhwU
Eddie Rosario interview – https://youtu.be/TMFgei1WZqE
Manager Mike Quade interview – https://youtu.be/3Ln8dBHNJNg