By Craig Potter
Rochester downs the Norfolk Tides, 6-2, as the Red Wings utilize the long ball.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Red Wings began the second half of the International League season with a 6-2 victory over the Norfolk Tides before 4,612 fans on Thursday night at Frontier Field.
“It was a good way to start coming off the all-star break,” said Red Wings manager Mike Quade.
Tommy Field belted a solo homer to tie the game 1-1 in the second after the Tides lofted a solo homer in the top of the inning off Rochester starter Pat Dean. Dean (3-5) picked up the victory as he hurled 5 innings+1 batter, giving up 2 runs and striking out 7 hitters.
“Dean, I thought was better, and that was big for him,” said Quade. “No walks and seven punch-outs, that will work. It was a tough night to pitch. We saw some monster home runs. They were all hit well and the wind made them even better.”
D.J. Baxendale, Ryan O’Rourke, and J.T. Chargios each pitched in the game.“Days off are good but you want to get the bullpen involved right away, so we got half of that done,” Quade said. “We’ll use the other guys in the next day or two.”
The Wings grabbed the lead for good with 3 runs in the third, and secured the victory on Byung Ho Park’s 2-run homer to right field in the fifth.
“It’s good to see Park swing the bat,” Quade said. “I don’t think I saw him hit the ball, let alone to right field, with that kind of authority. I know he’s got pretty good power to left field, but that was pretty impressive.
“Tommy the same way, that ball to right-center was pretty good.”
Wilfredo Tovar collected a pair of doubles in the game as he, Park, Darin Mastroianni, and Jorge Polanco each recorded 2 hits in the 11-hit Red Wings attack.
Tovar really should have had a triple in the fourth inning as he hit the ball into the gap in center field. He slid into third base and touched the bag before the ball was even in Norfolk third baseman Michael Almanza’s glove, but home plate umpire Shane Livensparger was on top of the play (3-man umpire crew) and called Tovar out.
Quade, who coaches third when the Wings are batting, argued the call, but to no avail. (The use of instant replay is only allowed in the major leagues and not the minor leagues).
Rochester (53-40) remained in third place in the North Division, 4.5 games behind front-runner Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (57-35), and a half game behind Lehigh Valley (53-39).
The series continues on Friday night against Norfolk at 7:05 p.m., with fireworks after the game.
*NOTES – Darin Mastroianni had 2 hits and has now hit in 9 of his last 10 games…Jorge Polanco extended his hitting streak to 6 games…D.J. Baxendale extended his scoreless streak to 8.1 innings since being promoted to Triple-A…The Red Wings are now 18-26 when the opposing team scores first…Marcus Walden pitched the 9th for Rochester, extending his scoreless streak to 13.1 innings over his last 11 appearances since June 14.
Links
Rochester Red Wings – redwingsbaseball.com
Videos
Manager Mike Quade interview – https://youtu.be/ApQifMPlAKI