By Paul Gotham
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Rochester’s Red Wings fell on the wrong side of history Tuesday afternoon. They also landed on the wrong of the game result.
Mike Hessman etched his name in the record books, and a trio of Toledo hurlers dialed zeroes as the Mud Hens downed the Red Wings 3-0 in International League action at Frontier Field.
The loss snapped a seven-game winning streak at home for the Wings.
“It was a great homestand,” Rochester manager Gene Glynn said. “One sweep of a series and three out of four from a team that just swept us. You always hate to lose and end any kind of streak, but it was a really good homestand for us, and we needed that.”
Scott Diamond took the loss. The left-hander allowed three earned runs over seven innings. After a first inning hiccup, he surrendered just four hits over the next six.
“He’s been pitching really good,” Glynn noted. “He’s a lot like he was or getting back to that. Diamond has pitched many good starts now.”
Diamond struck out six, walked none and threw 96 pitches – 70 for strikes. He is 2-5 on the season.
Drew VerHagen scattered five hits over seven full for his second win of the season. The right-hander fanned five and walked one.
“He kept us off-balance,” Glynn stated. “We hit some balls hard that were caught, but for the most part him and Scotty went head-to-head after that first inning.”
“That’s what he does,” said Rochester manager Gene Glynn. “He’s done it for a long time.”
Hessman became just the sixth player in minor league history to swat 400 round trippers.
“It’s too bad it happened right away, and it gave them a little cushion,” Glynn added.
With 255 home runs in his IL career, Hessman is three shy of the record set back in the 1930s by Ollie Carnegie.
Toledo added an insurance run in the fifth. Ben Guez led with a double and scored one out later on a Ezequiel Carrera sacrifice fly.
Diamond had retired seven straight before the Guez two-bagger and eventually set down 14 of 15. He hasn’t allowed a walk in his last 13.1 innings.
Rochester put a pair on in the fifth. Pedro Florimon singled through the left side with one out. Doug Bernier rapped a two-out base hit to right, but the Wings couldn’t capitalize.
Wilkin Ramirez beat out an infield base hit to lead the seventh. It looked like the Wings would scratch a run across when Dan Rohlfing sent a line drive into the gap in right center. Guez made a spectacular catch and held on despite colliding with Carrera.
“They made some good defensive plays. We didn’t hit that many balls hard today,” Glynn added. “But there were a couple that could have fallen in and probably changed it. I don’t know if we’d a come back and scored four. When you score that first run and have another guy on base that next guy is always a little bit more amped up.”
Rochester’s streak (four wins over Columbus and three over the Hens) came on the heels of an eight-game slide to the same teams on the road last week.
“I don’t know if I’ve seen that,” Glynn said of his team’s dramatic turnaround. “You do end up playing some teams back to back or in a close proximity…Sixteen games against the same to teams, that gets kinda old.”
“For us to turn it around like we did is a credit to those guys in the locker room. Stepping up and playing the game.”
Corey Knebel tossed a scoreless eighth for the Mud Hens.
Kevin Whelan pitched the ninth for his sixth save.
Florimon went 2-3 for the Wings.
A.J. Achter hurled two scoreless innings in relief for the Wings. Rochester’s bullpen allowed five runs (three earned) over 21 innings during the homestand.
James Beresford singled in the eighth and extended his hitting streak to seven games.
Doug Bernier started at first base. He has now started six different positions (1B, 2B, SS, 3B, LF, RF) for the Wings this season.
Rochester gets an off day Wednesday before heading to Scranton/WB for a four-game set starting Thursday.
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