By CRAIG POTTER
Zack Littell is impressive in his Triple-A debut for Rochester.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Zack Littell was sharp in his Triple-A debut, helping the Rochester Red Wings to an 8-0 win over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs Saturday afternoon before 6,621 fans at Frontier Field. The win was the first for the Wings in the against Lehigh Valley, that concludes with a 1:05 pm game Sunday.
“I found out Wednesday night (about the start Saturday), so I had a few days to prepare, which was nice,” said Littell, who was called up from Double-A Chattanooga.
Littell retired the side in order in the first, third, and fifth innings. In the second, he walked the first two batters before retiring the next three, two via strikeout, to end the threat.
“I’m not a strikeout pitcher by any means, but if I get two strikes, I’m gonna go for it,” he said.
“You never want to walk guys like that, but I was able to make the adjustment pretty quick(ly). It’s definitely a lot more important at this level. I’m just glad I was able to make a few pitches and get out of it.”
The Wings got on the scoreboard with a two-out rally in the home half against IronPigs starter Tom Eshelman. After Taylor Featherston and James Ramsey singled, Featherston stole third to put runners on the corners. Sean Miller blooped a single between first and right field, scoring Featherston to give Rochester a 1-0 lead. Jermaine Curtis followed with a RBI single to plate Ramsey.
Littell, in his Red Wings and Triple-A debut, surrendered a two-out walk in the fourth, after retiring the previous eight batters. Joey Meneses then doubled, to put runners on second and third. However, Littell struck out Andrew Pullin to end the inning.
In the bottom of the fourth, Featherston led off with a walk. Ramsey singled to advance Featherston to third. The throw to third was cut off and thrown to second where Ramsey got caught in a rundown. During the play, LV first baseman Joey Meneses was called for obstruction after running into Ramsey, which put men on second and third with no outs.
Two batters later, Curtis was walked intentionally, loading the bases with one out. Leonardo Reginatto singled, scoring Featherston and Ramsey for a 4-0 margin. With Jake Cave at the plate, a passed ball allowed both Curtis and Reginatto to move into scoring position. Cave laced a two-run double down the first base line to increase the lead to 6-0. After Kennys Vargas singled, an error by Pullin allowed for both Vargas and Cave to move into scoring position. Brock Stassi was intentionally walked, loading the bases for Willians Astudillo with one away. He lofted a sacrifice fly as Cave scored.
Littell hurled 6 innings, allowing no runs on two hits, while striking out six and walking four.
“He used all his pitches and it’s good to see,” said Red Wings manager Joel Skinner of Littell.
Alan Busenitz threw two scoreless frames of one-hit ball, and John Curtis finished with in the ninth to complete the shutout.
Featherston hit his second homer of the season in the seventh inning for the Wings final run 8-0.
“It’s good to see them break out a little bit as a group and have some success together,” Skinner said of 12 hits.
*NOTES — OF/1B Brock Stassi was activated from the temporary inactive list…C Bobby Wilson was placed on the Minnesota Twins’ taxi squad…OF Nick Buss (right calf strain) was placed on the disabled list…Pitchers DJ Baxendale and Ryne Harper participated in the City of Rochester Clean Sweep event Saturday morning. The event began and ended at Frontier Field…Jake Cave collected three hits, as Jermaine Curtis, Taylor Featherston, and James Ramsey each had a pair of hits.
*More to come
Links
Rochester Red Wings – redwingsbaseball.com