Rochester remains 1 game behind first-place Durham.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Red Wings defeated the Omaha Storm Chasers, 4-1, Thursday night at Frontier Field to take a 2-1 series lead.
The victory keeps the Wings in a 3-way tie for second place, with Jacksonville and Lehigh Valley, one game behind International League East Division leader Durham.
RHP Sterling Sharp logged a career-high nine strikeouts across 5.2 innings, allowing just one earned run on seven hits. His outing tonight marks the 10th time in the month of July that Wings’ starting pitchers have held opponents to three or fewer earned runs.
Omaha took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a Dairon Blanco RBI single, but the Wings gained control in the fifth with a four-run inning. 3B Jake Alu scored on a groundout from LF Andrew Stevenson to tie the contest at one apiece. It was Alu’s second run scored in a Red Wings uniform this season. The Wings went up 2-1 thanks to an RBI single from SS Ildemaro Vargas that scored C Chris Herrmann, whose last run came on May 15 at Worcester.
1B Joey Meneses logged his 17th home run of the season with a two-run bomb that scored Vargas as Rochester took a 4-1 lead in the fifth. Meneses registered Rochester’s only multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 at the plate with one run and two RBI. His 94 hits on the season are good for second place in the International League.