By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Joel Skinner spoke to players on an individual basis prior to Wednesday’s matinee at Frontier Field. Red Wing shortstop Gregorio Petit followed the skipper’s lead and pulled his teammates together as a group.
Moments before the Wings were to take on the Gwinnett Stripers in the final of a four-game set, Petit gathered the position players into a huddle along the right field line. The 5-foot-10 shortstop’s message was emphatic.
Early returns indicate the veteran adequately conveyed his thoughts.
“I told them ‘it’s easy to be good when things are going good,'” said Petit recalling the pre-game discussion. “‘It takes the best of you to get out of the bad and become good again.’
“I told them ‘to stay happy. It’s easy to be mad. It’s easy to be angry. It’s easy to be negative, so let’s try to stay positive and enjoy the game. Whatever happens you got to remember you guys are good. We are good. We’re a good team.’ We just got to keep playing.”
The Wings went out and put two runs on the board in the first and three more in the fourth on their way to an 8-3 win and a series split with the visiting Stripers. Although the run production wasn’t necessarily the result of the Wings bats coming to life, it surpassed the total from their previous five games combined.
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“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” the 16-year veteran said. “It’s been a lot of ups and a lot downs, definitely more downs than ups in this game. I just tried to make sure that they know that it’s going to be like that. It’s just a matter of time, time before it’s starts going good.”
With a day off on Thursday before heading to Syracuse to start a six-game road swing, Wednesday’s win slowed a skid which saw the Wings drop four of five with three of the losses coming by one run.
“He’s seen as much as anybody in that room,” Skinner said. “He’s seen it at all levels and understands the process. It’s nice to have guys like that who are not afraid to talk to each other.”
Kennys Vargas got the Wings on the board with a one-out single in the first. The switch-hitting first baseman/designated hitter took a fastball out over the plate from Gwinnett starter Philip Pfeifer and drove it to right center.
“I’ve been working on being a little more aggressive with those pitches,” Vargas said of the ninth pitch of the at bat from the southpaw. “They know I’ve been pulling a lot, so they start throwing to the outside corner of the plate. I might do some adjusting and try to control my power a little bit and try opposite way.”
One batter later, Leonardo Reginatto brought home Jake Cave with a sacrifice fly. Rochester had a 2-1 edge and did not trail again.
“You embrace this,” Skinner said of the recent struggles. “The focus is understanding that the reason it’s so much fun is because it’s so hard. When you have some hard times, you better embrace it and realize that this is part of it.”
Vargas finished 3-for-4 on the day with a walk.
“We’ve been struggling hitting , so I wanted to go up there and have a good at bats with a good approach and swing at a good pitches right in the strike zone. That’s what I tried to do today. Starting with the first at bat and fouling off some pitches then I got the base hit and RBI.”
James Ramsey led the fourth with a double. Petit followed with a base hit. Rochester sent eight to the plate in the frame and scored three.
Fittingly, Petit the final out of the game – a can-of-corn pop up in the infield.
The Wings improved to 7-9 with the win. Five of those losses have been by one run.
“It was definitely good to see,” Petit said. “We needed it as a team. We’ve been playing good baseball. We’re losing close games. We just haven’t been able to get that hit with runners on the bases.”
Rochester took advantage of six walks in the eighth to push across three more runs. The Wings finished with seven hits on the day.
Rochester entered the game hitting .194 (26-for-134) with runners in scoring position. The Wings were 2-for-10 Wednesday.
Six-time MLB All Star Jose Bautista finished 1-for-5 on the day. He came up with bases loaded in the sixth and struck out on a Gabriel Moya fastball off the plate.
“He’s a competitor,” Skinner said of his reliever. “It didn’t matter who was hitting. It’s good for the fans. They like that stuff, but he’s just going to compete.”
Rochester has three at Syracuse before playing another trio at Pawtucket. The Wings…errr…Plates return on Thursday, May 3rd for a 7:05 PM first pitch against Lehigh Valley. The next home game marks the return of the Rochester Plates when the home nine will don the uniforms representing the favorite local cuisine: Nick Tahou’s Garbage Plate.
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