Courtesy of RedWingsBaseball.com
Adam Brett Walker’s home run backed another solid start from David Martinez, and the Red Wings beat the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders 1-0 Sunday afternoon at Frontier Field.
Martinez made his third start of the season Sunday, and benefited from a couple of nice catches by outfielders Max Kepler and Darin Mastroianni. Martinez looked equally as strong in his second inning of work, notching a pair of punchouts, as he set the RailRiders down in order.
Martinez looked sharp again in his third frame of work. He was able to get the first two hitters of the inning to hit lazy ground balls, before he ended the inning with his third strikeout of the afternoon. Scranton starter and former Wing Anthony Swarzak looked strong himself in his half of the third. He worked a 1-2-3 inning and picked up his fifth strikeout of the day.
In the top of the fifth, Martinez allowed his first two hits of the game and it looked as if the RailRiders would push the first run of the game across. But Martinez got the outs when he needed them and the score remained 0-0.
Walker led off the bottom of the fifth with a laser home run into the left field bullpen to give the Red Wings the 1-0 lead. It was Walker’s team-leading third homer of the season.
The RailRiders put the tying run at second with two outs in the sixth inning, after a double by Slade Heathcott. Martinez battled big league veteran Nick Swisher through a nine-pitch at-bat, getting a groundout to strand Heathcott.
Martinez (1-1) notched his season-high seventh strikeout to open the eighth inning, allowed a single to the ninth place hitter Pete Kozma, then was relieved by Buddy Boshers with the top of the order due up. Boshers got a groundball double play with Ben Gamel at the plate, ending the top of the eighth.
Martinez worked 7.1 innings, also a season-high, and allowed just four hits. He walked one to go with the six strikeouts, and threw 95 pitches, 63 for strikes.
Boshers got the first out of the ninth, then allowed an infield single by Slade Heathcott. Manager Mike Quade brought in reliever J.R. Graham with Swisher due up, and Swisher grounded out to Kennys Vargas for the second out. A flyball to center ended the game, with Graham picking up his third save.
Each team had five hits. Martinez has allowed just five earned runs over 20 innings (2.25 ERA) in his three starts. Swarzak dropped to 1-3 with the loss.
NOTES: The second half of the game was played in misting rain and windy conditions…Double-A Chattanooga outfielder Daniel Palka is the Twins minor league Player of the Week…Palka played six games for the Lookouts, hitting .619 (13-for-21) with four doubles, two home runs, eight RBI, six runs scored and six walks…in 20 games for Chattanooga this season, he has hit .338 (27-for-80) with seven doubles, three home runs and 15 RBI…he was acquired by the Twins via trade with Arizona on November 10, 2015, in exchange for catcher/outfielder Chris Herrmann.
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