ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Their Triple-A playoff hopes on life support the Rochester Red Wings gave Minnesota Twins General Manager Terry Ryan plenty of choice to consider Sunday.
Pat Dean hurled eight shutout innings, and a trio of hitters turned in multi-hit efforts as the Rochester Red Wings downed the Pawtucket Red Sox 7-0 in International League action Sunday afternoon at Frontier Field.
Dean improved to 11-11 on the season. He scattered five hits, struck out three and walked one for a third win in his last four outings. After allowing a leadoff single to start the game, the southpaw retired 15 of the next 16 he faced and did not surrender another hit until the sixth inning.
“He’s been working on his change-up,” Red Wings manager Mike Quade said. “I think that was a little better.”
Dean induced six ground balls for outs through the first three innings. Second baseman James Beresford collected five assists and two putouts through the first three frames.
“It makes a little fun when the ball is coming at you,” Beresford said. “Pat did a really good job of throwing strikes, so that helped us a lot.”
Rochester scored all the runs it needed in the first inning. Beresford reached on a one-out single to left and scored two batters later when Kennys Vargas connected on a three-run home run.
“I was looking for something that I can drive hard into the air,” Vargas commented. “He threw me a perfect pitch to drive.”
Danny Santana scored on the play when Vargas drilled the first pitch he saw from Pawtucket starter, Shawn Haviland.
“He’s so strong,” Quade said of Vargas. “You just wait for him to square up balls. It’s fun to watch when he gets a hold of one.”
The round tripper was the sixth of the year for Vargas in Red Wing uniform, but his first at Frontier Field. He reached base on a pair of walks later in the game and scored in a two-run seventh.
“He’s disciplined at the plate,” Quade noted. “There’s a lot to like about him. He’s not just a free swinging guy that strikes out a thousand times and hits 20 home runs. He takes his walks and has a pretty good idea of what he’s doing at the plate from both sides.”
Beresford finished the day 3-for-5. It was his team-leading 47th multi-hit game of the season and 18th since July 23rd.
“He just has a knack for putting the ball in play in the right spots,” Quade stated. “When it comes to consistency, there’s no question he’s one of the most consistent hitters on the club. In the two-hole that’s perfect. He’s done a nice job of that.”
The left-handed batter is second in the IL hitting .316.
“He’s done it against left handers and right handers,” Quade explained. “I spell him every once in a while against left-handers, but he’s been very good against both. When you’re managing a club, that’s invaluable.”
Santana added his fifth straight multi-hit performance going 2-for-5 tallying a pair of runs. The Red Wing shortstop has nine multi-hit efforts in his last 12 games.
“Talent’s one thing,” Quade said of Santana. “Then putting it all together and doing it consistently is another thing. There’s no arguing his talent. He’s just got to do it day in and day out and both ends offensively and defensively. His at bats have been way, way better the last ten days to two weeks.”
Dean was vying to become the first Rochester starter since Rick Krivda (1997) to throw four complete game shutouts in a season. A.J. Achter came on and threw a scoreless ninth.
“We need to get some guys work,” Quade said. “There are lots of decisions to be made in the next day or two and I didn’t want AJ not to pitch, so sometimes you do things that you have to do. I’m sure Deano could have finished it, but it’s okay. You give him a little bit of a blow. He’s so used to finishing it. He probably would have.”
Major League rosters will expand after Monday’s game.
“I don’t know what Terry is going to do, but I want to make sure guys have pitched and are rested and whatever decision he makes after tomorrow’s game.”
The shutout was the 21st of the season for the Red Wing staff – the most by an IL club since the Tidewater Tides collected 21 whitewashes in 1975. The 1974 Wings club had 24 shutouts.
With the win, Rochester improves to 71-65 and remains five games behind first-place Scranton in the IL’s North Division. The Railriders come to Frontier Field for a pair of games on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Wings have eight games remaining and trail in the wild card by seven.
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