By CRAIG POTTER
Rochester extends its winning streak to 7 games with a 4-2 victory over the IronPigs.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The two hottest teams in the International League met on Thursday night as the Rochester Red Wings thwarted the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, 4-2, before a paid crowd of 4,928 fans at Frontier Field.
The victory extended Rochester’s winning streak to a season-long 7 games, while ending the IronPigs win streak at 5 games. Lehigh Valley (28-25) however still has the best record in the IL while Rochester improved to 36-34.
The visitors from Allentown, PA., amassed 13 hits but stranded 11 runners on base as the Red Wings pitchers yielded just the 2 runs.
Rochester jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Zach Granite led off with a single to stretch his on-base-streak to 21 consecutive games. Mitch Garver followed with a home run off of IronPigs starter Tom Eshelman, who entered the game with a 5-1 record and 1.68 ERA. The homer was Garver’s seventh of the season.
The IronPigs broke through in the second inning when Rhys Hoskins and Nick Williams hit back-to-back doubles off Wings starter Yohan Pino to make the score 2-1.
Rochester added two more runs in the bottom of the frame to push their lead to 4-1. The inning was highlighted by a lead-off double by Niko Goodrum, followed by an RBI double from John Ryan Murphy. He advanced to third on Bengie Gonzalez’s hit, and crossed the plate on a double play turned by the Pigs.
Pino left the game in the fifth with an apparent injury. Alex Wimmers entered the game by striking out J.P. Crawford on his first pitch. He then successful picked-off baserunner Pedro Florimon from first and tagged him in a rundown for the final out.
Pino went 4.1 innings, allowing one earned run, 6 hits, one strikeout and one walk.
Lehigh Valley sliced the margin in half (4-2) in the seventh inning. Wimmers’ night ended after giving up a single to Jorge Flores and a double to Florimon. Drew Rucinski came into the game and recorded a ground ball out, which scored the run. He earned his third ‘hold’ of the season.
Wimmers tossed 2.0 innings of relief, yielding 1 earned run and striking out 2 hitters. He picked up the “win” to even his record at 2-2.
Eshelman went 6.0 innings, which was the earliest he has left a game this season, allowing 4 earned runs, 1 strikeout, 1 walk, and a season-high 9 hits in taking the loss (5-2).
Michael Tonkin worked the ninth inning for Rochester to earn his first save of the season. Jorge Flores reached on a single, on a play that right fielder Goodrum dove for but just missed making a diving catch. Tonkin struck out former Red Wing Pedro Florimon, but a single by J.P. Crawford snuck through the left side to put the tying runs at first and second. However, Tonkin got a flyball out for the second out, and struck out clean-up hitter Dylan Cozens, who leads the IL with 17 home runs, to end the game.
*NOTES – There will be no quotes from Red Wings manager Mike Quade, nor any of the players tonight as the Minnesota Twins Assistant General Manager was in town and met with Quade right after the game. He apparently could not wait about 5 minutes, which is about the usual length of the media’s interview with Quade after a game, to meet with Quade because then it would not matter how long that meeting lasted because the local media would be done. Some of us do have deadlines, particularly following a night game, which the assistant GM apparently does not care about…Matt Hague singled in the sixth inning to extend his hit streak to 10 games…Zach Granite had a pair of singles, and now has at least two hits in 15 of his last 20 games…RHP Dillon Gee has signed a minor league deal with the Twins and reported to the Red Wings on Thursday. RHP Kam Mickolio (right shoulder) has been placed on the disabled list…The status and nature of Yohan Pino’s injury was unknown. It will be updated when the information becomes available…The series continues on Friday at 7:05 pm…The Red Wings won their second straight game from the IronPigs, after losing the first 6 meetings between the two teams this season.
Links
Rochester Red Wings – redwingsbaseball.com