3 Rochester pitchers combine to shut out the IronPigs, 2-0.
ALLENTOWN, PA. — The Red Wings pitching staff continues to shine as Stephen Gonsalves, Tyler Duffey and Gabriel Moya combined to shutout the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, 2-0, Thursday night at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, PA.
With the victory, the Wings (23-18) salvaged a series split against the IronPigs after dropping the first two games of the series. Rochester hasn’t lost a series since April 20-22 vs. Columbus.
Just how good has the pitching been? The Rochester offense has averaged just 2.4 R/G over the last 8 contests and the Wings have gone 5-3 over that span.
The staff ERA which was lowered to 2.95 on the season is the best in the league.
Kennys Vargas broke the scoreless tie in the sixth inning with a 2-out, ground-rule double to left-center that plated Nick Gordon. Brock Stassi followed with an RBI single to score Vargas and give the Wings a 2-0 lead.
Gonsalves (W, 4-1) needed just 38 pitches to cruise through the first three innings before throwing 48 pitches combined in the fourth and fifth as he labored but kept the IronPigs off the scoreboard.
The biggest out Gonsalves recorded all night was his last one as he struck out ex-Wing Trevor Plouffe with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth inning. Plouffe had homered in each of the first three games of the series.
After five scoreless on Thursday, the southpaw has allowed just seven runs over his first five Triple-A starts this season (26.1 IP). Six of those seven runs came in 1.2 IP on May 11 at Scranton.
The Wings bullpen took over and did what they’ve done all season: recorded outs. Duffey went 2.2 innings and Moya the final 1.1 innings to earn the save. With four scoreless Thursday, the bullpen lowered its ERA to 2.12 on the year.
Gordon finished the game 2-for-4 with two doubles and a run scored.
The Wings return to Frontier Field on Friday to open a 6-game, 4 day set against the Buffalo Bisons. Game One of Friday’s twinbill starts at 5:05 pm.
*NOTES — Prior to Thursday’s game, INF Miguel Sano was reinstated from the disabled list. Sano went 6-for-16 with 2 HR…To make room on the Twins roster, they optioned OF Jake Cave back to Rochester. Cave went just 1-for-9 in 3 games with Minnesota, but the one hit was a home run in his Major League debut…The Red Wings lead the International League with a 2.95 ERA. Rochester has thrown 6 shutouts and allowed 3 or fewer runs in 22 of 41 games…Rochester catcher Willians Astudillo recorded his first career multi-homer game in Wednesday’s win, going deep in the 8th and again in the 9th. He now has 5 home runs this season, establishing a career high. Astudillo had hit 4 home runs in a season 3 times previously (2017, 2016, 2014)…Nick Buss has hit in 7 of 8 games while batting .379 (11-for29) after returning from the disabled list with a right calf strain on May 11. He had 3 extra-base hits (all doubles) in 19 games before the injury and has 3 doubles and 2 homers in 8 games since. Buss has multi-hit games in 3 of his last 4 contests.