Courtesy of Rochester Red Wings
The Red Wings put an end to their six-game road losing streak in a big way Sunday night at Harbor Park.
The bottom two hitters in the Wings lineup – Daniel Ortiz and Nate Hanson – combined to go 5-for-9 with two home runs and 9 RBI as Rochester routed the Norfolk Tides 14-2 to salvage the series finale after dropping each of the first three games out of the All-Star break.
Over the Wings’ six-game road losing streak they had scored a combined 13 runs on just over six hits per game and only eight extra-base hits. On Sunday, the Wings banged out 15 hits – including a season-high 10 for extra bases – on their way to their second highest offensive output of the season.
The Wings (55-47) – who were 1-for-20 with runners in scoring positon over the first three games of this series – went 8-for-19 in those situations on Sunday.
Chris Rahl, who finished 4-for-5 with three doubles and three RBI, got the Wings off on the right foot in the first inning, lacing a two-out, two-run double to right-center field.
Pedro Florimon followed with his third homer of the season to lead off the second inning to give Rochester the 3-0 lead.
After the Tides put two on the board in the third inning to trim the lead to one, Hanson and Ortiz took over from there.
Hanson had an RBI base hit in the fourth before Ortiz collected one of his own in the fifth.
Two innings later, Hanson hammered a 1-1 offering from Kelvin De La Cruz over the left field fence for a two-out, three-run homer that put the game out of reach at 9-2. Both of Hanson’s homers with the Wings this season have been of the three-run variety.
Not to be outdone, Ortiz capped the scoring in the eighth with a grand slam off Robert Coello – his fifth homer with Rochester and second grand slam in just 40 games.
The Red Wings now own seven of the 25 grand slams hit in the IL this season (28%).
Hanson would finish 3-for-4 with a double, homer and four RBI; while Ortiz collected two hits in five at-bats and had a career-high five RBI.
Ironically, every Wings player in the lineup collected at least one hit except for James Beresford who entered the game with a seven-game hit streak and had collected six of Rochester’s 17 hits over the first three games of the series.
Logan Darnell (5-5) earned the victory by allowing just two runs on six hits and two walks over 6 1/3 innings. Darnell is now 3-0 with a 2.63 ERA in four career starts against Norfolk.
The Wings will look to keep the offense rolling when they start a four-game series against the first-place Durham Bulls on Monday night. LHPSean Gilmartin (1-1, 4.13) will make the start for Rochester with first pitch from Durham Bulls Athletic Park scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
WINGS THINGS: 3B Deibinson Romero’s 6th inning double gave him 28 on the season, setting a new career high and tying him for the International League lead…The Wing tied a season-high with 7 doubles on Sunday. The Wings have hit an IL-most 213 this season…Logan Darnell’s victory was the first by a Wings starter since July 6 (10 games). Over that 10-game span, Wings starters went 0-4 with a 4.99 ERA…Chris Rahl became the first Red Wings player to collect three doubles in a game this season. Last year, a Wings player hit three doubles four different times including Eduardo Escobar who did it on the season’s final day vs. SWB… The four-hit game for Rahl is his first of the season and just his second, three-plus hit game this year after being the only player in the IL to collect two, five-hit games a season ago…The 12-run margin of victory was the largest for the Wings this season.
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