Buxton, Park hit solo homers as Rochester takes 2-of-3 from the Mud Hens.
TOLEDO, OHIO — Aaron Slegers fired 8.0 scoreless innings to earn his league-leading 12th victory and eighth in as many starts as the Rochester Red Wings beat the Toledo Mud Hens 2-0 in the rubber match of the three-game set Sunday evening at Fifth Third Field.
Byron Buxton hit a solo homer to open the scoring in the 6th and ByungHo Park added some insurance with a solo blast in the 9th.
The Mud Hens (46-59) received a solid pitching performance from Anthony Vasquez (5-7) but he suffered the tough luck loss, outdueled by Slegers (12-4).
The Red Wings (62-45) outhit Toledo 7-4 but all four hits for the Mud Hens were singles.
Both starters cruised in the early going. The teams played the first five innings in barely an hour, combining for five hits.
Buxton’s homer on the first pitch of the 6th inning was just inside the left-field foul pole, the second time he’s hit a home run on the first pitch of an at-bat during this rehab stint.
Slegers only faced a Toledo batter with a runner in scoring position three times in the game: with two outs in the 6th, and two at-bats after a sacrifice bunt in the 8th. He retired his final hitter of the game with the tying run 90 feet away with two outs in the 8th. Slegers surrendered four singles and didn’t issue a walk with striking out one. He is the first pitcher in the Twins era (since at least 2003) to win eight starts in a row.
Vasquez was just about as good, allowing just the one run on six hits without a walk while striking out seven over 8.0 innings.
Park’s homer off Jeff Ferrell gave the Wings some breathing room leading off the 9th.
John Curtiss pitched around back-to-back one-out walks in the 9th to secure his fifth save in as many chances for the Red Wings.
*NOTES — Rochester is 46-10 when scoring first and leads the International League with an .821 winning percentage when plating the first run this season. The Red Wings had scored the game’s first run a league-low 24 times (18-6) through June 10. Since then, Rochester has scored the first run in 32 of 48 games while going 28-4 in those. Last night was the first loss when scoring first since game one at Lehigh Valley on July 1…The Minnesota Twins have the second-best overall winning percentage among their minor league clubs with a .586 mark as the seven teams have gone 308-218. Every level is over .500. Only the Yankees system (.594, 347-237) has a better overall record…Matt Hague has hit in all eight games since receiving a day off on July 21, batting .429 (15-for-35) with five doubles, a home run, two RBI and seven runs scored. He is third in the International League this season with 112 hits and fifth with a .299 average. Hague was the league MVP in 2015 and is the only player in IL history to lead the league in hits three different seasons. Since June 15, Hague leads the league with 14 doubles. He has already set a career-high with seven stolen bases.