Courtesy of the Rochester Red Wings
The Red Wings ninth-inning rally came up one run short as Rochester’s four-game road winning streak was snapped with a 7-6 setback to the Charlotte Knights at BB&T Ballpark Thursday night.
Trailing 7-0 heading into the ninth, the Wings first six hitters of the inning all reached base capped by Daniel Ortiz’s three-run blast which trimmed the lead to 7-6. The Knights then turned to Donnie Veal who retired all three batters he faced to end the game and send Charlotte to their first win of the series.
James Beresford and Deibinson Romero ignited the rally with back-to-back singles to start the inning. Chris Colabello followed with a run-scoring double – his first extra-base hit in 11 games with Rochester this season. After Brad Nelson and Wilkin Ramirez notched RBI singles, Ortiz launched his second, three-run homer in as many days to pull the Wings within one.
Over his first three Triple-A games, Ortiz has two home runs and seven RBI.
The Wings (34-26) had just three hits all game off Charlotte starter Charlie Leesman (2-5), who tossed eight shutout innings before yielding to Michael Cleto in the ninth. Cleto failed to get an out as he was charged with all six runs.
Wings starter Trevor May (5-4) turned in a quality start allowing three runs in six innings. He struck out nine and walked two.
Marcus Semien broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the fifth inning off May. The base hit gave the Knights a 1-0 lead and snapped May’s streak of not allowing an earned run at 30 innings. Prior to Thursday, the last earned run allowed by the Wings right-hander came back on May 7.
The Knights tacked on four insurance runs in the eighth inning off Rochester reliever Matt Hoffman. Jordan Danks homered in the inning, the Knights’ eighth home run of the series.
The Wings and Knights close out the five-game set on Friday night (7:05 p.m.). RHP Yohan Pino (7-0, 1.65) will make the start for Rochester.
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