Courtesy of RedWingsBaseball.com
Durham, N.C. – Adam Brett Walker made history Saturday night.
The Wings’ slugger clubbed THREE home runs as Rochester pounded the Durham Bulls, 12-2, at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
It had been 26 years and 41 days since Leo Gomez hit three long balls for the Red Wings on April 9, 1990 at Pawtucket – the last Wings player to accomplish the feat. In all 14 players in Red Wings history have hit three homers in one game.
The last four home run game? George Kelly hit four homers for the Rochester Hustlers in 1919!
Walker gave the Wings a 3-1 lead with a two-run shot in the 2nd inning and then extended the lead to 5-1 in the 4th frame with his second, two-run homer of the night. In the 5th, he turned around a 99 MPH fastball from Tampa Bay Rays reliever on rehab, Brad Boxberger, to give the Wings an 8-1 advantage. All three home runs cleared the DBAP “Blue Monster” in left field.
His first two bombs came off of Durham starter Jaime Schultz – who suffered the loss allowing seven runs (six earned) on six hits in 3.1 IP. Walker now has five home runs on the road trip and nine on the season – tying him for the most in the International League.
The Wings have been on a home run barrage over this Southern Division road trip. With the three homers tonight, Rochester has hit 13 over the first 6 games of the trip – 42% of their season total (31 HR).
Making his first start at Triple-A in exactly a month, Jose Berrios picked up the win allowing one run on three hits and five walks over 5.0 IP. The young, right-hander did strike out eight as he earned his third Triple-A win in four starts for the Wings this season.
Byron Buxton made his return to the Wings lineup on Saturday and went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and two stolen bases.
The victory is Rochester’s 13th win in their last 17 games. The Wings haven’t suffered back-to-back losses since May 2-3.
The Wings and Bulls wrap up their four-game set on Sunday with a 5:05 pm first pitch from Durham Bulls Athletic Park. LHP Tommy Milone (1-0, 2.13) gets the start for Rochester looking for the series win.
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