Rochester scores early in posting a 5-2 win over the Louisville Bats.
By Rochester Red Wings
LOUISVILLE, KY. — The Red Wings surge up the International League North standings continued Friday night as Rochester beat the Louisville Bats, 5-2, to climb just 3 games back of first-place Scranton/Wilkes-Barre — which lost in Gwinnett – with 17 games to play.
It was the Wings (62-61) pitching which was the story of the night. Kohl Stewart (5 IP), DJ Baxendale (3 IP) and Fernando Romero (1 IP) combined to allow just four base hits.
The Bats scored their only two runs of the game off Stewart in the first inning. Louisville didn’t threaten again until the ninth inning off Romero when two singles put runners on first and second with one out and brought the tying run to the plate. But, Romero would induce back-to-back groundouts to thwart the threat and earn the save.
Wilin Rosario knocked in his 75th run of the year with a single in the first inning to give the Wings a 1-0 lead.
After the Bats took the lead, Rochester came right back with two in the second to recapture the lead on an RBI single from Mike Miller and a sac fly from Ian Miller. The Wings would tack on two more in the third to make it 5-2 and that’s the way it would end six innings later.
The Wings look for a third straight win on Saturday night in Louisville. First pitch is at 6:30 pm.
*NOTES — The Minnesota Twins have announced the following roster move: DELETE: LHP Lewis Thorpe was recalled by Minnesota…The North Division race remains close, with 4.0 games separating the top 4 teams. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has lost 8 of its last 9 games, allowing Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse to all keep their hopes alive…Alejandro De Aza ranks among the International League leaders since joining Rochester on July 17 in RBI (2nd, 26), hits (T-5th, 33), and runs (T-6th, 20)…The series continues Saturday at 6:30 pm…The Buffalo Bisons are 2 games behind SWB with the Syracuse Mets 3.5 games out of first. Following the 2 remaining game against Louisville, the Wings finish the regular season with games against the Bisons (8) and the Mets (7).
Krol suspended 50 games
By Danny Wild / MiLB.com
Veteran reliever Ian Krol was among four Minor League players suspended for drug-related violations by Major League Baseball on Friday.
Krol, who signed with the Twins in June and is currently with Triple-A Rochester, was suspended 50 games without pay after his second positive test for a drug of abuse under the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. He tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug Stanozolol.
Krol, 28, is 1-4 with a 5.28 ERA in 46 relief outings this season between Rochester and Triple-A Louisville. The lefty from Illinois signed with Cincinnati in January and began the season with the Bats, where he struck out 28 in 25 1/3 innings over 28 games. He signed a Minor League contract with Minnesota on June 18 and was 0-1 with a 5.23 ERA in 18 games before his suspension.
The southpaw has appeared in 225 career Major League games with Washington, Detroit, Atlanta and the Angels, most recently last year with Los Angeles. He’s 8-6 with a 4.50 ERA in 190 career innings in the Majors.