By PAUL GOTHAM
Columbus 5 Rochester 3
That big righty
Alex Meyer came into the season with an emphasis on managing his pitch count. Through two Tuesday night Rochester’s 6-9 starter used 24 tosses – 15 for strikes. Meyer needed six pitches to retire the first two batters of the third. He faced the minimum of eight batters (double play erased a leadoff single in the first) up to that point. Someone must have cued Zeppelin because the levee broke. Columbus strung together three two-out hits and seven of the next eight batters reached as the Clippers tagged the Greensburg, Indiana native with five earned runs.
“We gotta get Alex straightened out,” Rochester manager Mike Quade said. “He’s gotta locate better. The big arm is still there. It hasn’t gone anywhere. We gotta get him to have better command of the strike zone with all of his pitches.”
Worth noting that Meyer had a couple of breaks go against him. A line drive from the second batter of the fourth inning, Carlos Moncrief, handcuffed the usually reliable James Beresford at second when it got lost in the sun peering through the concourse at Frontier Field. Three batters later, a Michael Martinez slow roller to the right side of the infield allowed Moncrief to score.
Meyer tossed six shutout in his last outing on April 21st against Syracuse. Prior to that he allowed five over 3.2. Meyer went 7-7 last year with an ERA of 3.52. That number is 6.27 after four starts in 2015.
“He’ll be all right,” Quade added. “We got him out of there early tonight. I thought we’d give him a blow. You get ten baserunners in four innings, that’s a lot of work…It was just time to make a change and get him back to where he’s at.”
Impressive Pressly
Columbus hitters reached base every inning from the third through the seventh including multiple runners in four of those frames. Then along came Ryan Pressly. The Red Wing reliever needed 25 pitches to set down all six batters he faced – four with punch outs including the last two looking with a dirty deuce.
“That’s the best curveball I’ve seen Press have,” Quade commented. “If he’s got that going with his other pitches, he’s going to be tough.”
Flashing the leather
Coming into the game Rochester ranked second in the IL with a fielding percentage of .989 (six errors in 570 chances). The D was on display Tuesday night. Eddie Rosario gunned down Tyler Holt at home with a seed from center, and Jose Martinez made a throw from foul territory behind the third base bag to get Jose Aguilar in the fifth.
“When you manage a club it’s a lot of fun to have a bullpen to work with and to have defense you can count on,” Quade stated. “You kinda feel when you break camp, and you leave for a season, if you’ve got that, that you got a chance to have some fun.”
Doing yard work
Rosario and Danny Ortiz drilled solo shots in the sixth. It was the second game in a row the Wings clubbed multiple home runs.
“It’s a lot nicer to have a couple guys on when you hit home runs,” Quade noted. “We had a couple of solo shots tonight. If we get that consistently all year. I thought we had some power, but you’re just not sure how consistent it’s going to be.”
On the topic of streaking
The loss snapped a five-game win streak against Columbus for the Wings. Rochester swept a series at the friendly confines last May before taking Monday night’s meeting 6-1. Meyer was the winning pitcher when the home nine took a 5-4 decision last May 15th. Reynaldo Rodriguez came into the game with a team-high 12-game hitting streak. The Rochester first baseman went 0-for-4 with a pair of strike outs and two fly outs. Aaron Hicks doubled to left center in the third to extend his hitting streak to nine games. Hicks has raised his bating average from .194 to .286 over that stretch.
Making the most of his rehab
Nick Swisher went 2-for-5 on the night and is hitting 7-of-14 in three games with Columbus. The 11-year MLB veteran drove in two on the night and would have had a third RBI if not for the previously mentioned hose from Rosario. Meyer was able to get Swisher to ground into a double play in the first. Pressly got the better of “Swish”with a curve ball for a swinging strike out which got a laugh out of Swisher.
“I guess he thought it was a pretty good one,” Pressly said. “I don’t know. Seeing a big leaguer laugh at a curve ball he strikes out on obviously you’re doing something right.”
Next up
Rochester and Columbus meet for the third of a four-game series Wednesday night. Jason Wheeler gets the ball for the Wings. Toru Murata will go for Columbus. A 6:30 first pitch is scheduled.
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