Courtesy of RedWingsBaseball.com
COLUMBUS, OH – Eddie Rosario finished 4-for-4 and was a triple shy of the cycle as the Rochester Red Wings beat the Columbus Clippers 8-5 Tuesday night at Huntington Park.
Rosario doubled in his first two at-bats, hit a three-run homer in the fifth and singled in his final at-bat. His home run was one of three by the Red Wings (44-28) as Kennys Vargas and Adam Brett Walker also went deep.
The Clippers (37-35) struck first against Wings starter Jason Wheeler (6-1) as Yandy Diaz hit a solo home run in the first inning. Rochester had done not much offensively through the first three innings against Columbus starter Ryan Merritt (4-6) but got to the lefty in the fourth. James Beresford opened the frame with an infield single, Jorge Polanco added a base hit and Vargas crushed a three-run shot to center to give the Red Wings a 3-1 lead. Rosario followed with a double and Tommy Field ripped a double of his own to drive in Rosario to make it 4-1.
Michael Choice cut the Rochester lead down to 4-2 with a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the fourth that almost carried out. Rosario came to back the next half inning in the fifth with two on and two outs. The first pitch almost hit Rosario as Merritt went way up and in. The second pitch was crushed to deep right-center field for the second three-run home run by a Wing in the game.
Walker hit a solo blast, his league-leading 14th, in the sixth. Adam Moore blasted a two-run homer in the bottom of the frame to make it 8-4.
Both starters worked 6.0 innings, though Merritt pitched to one batter in the seventh. He was charged with eight runs on 12 hits and two walks and did not record a strikeout. Wheeler gave up four runs on seven hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
Columbus made it interesting in the ninth against Alex Wimmers as Jesus Aguilar doubled in a run with two outs in the inning. The tying run stepped to the plate in Giovanny Urshela but Wimmers was able to strike him out looking to end the game.
The Red Wings finished with 13 hits as Beresford, Polanco, Rosario and Carlos Paulino finished with multi-hit games. Polanco, Rosario and Vargas all scored twice for Rochester.
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