By BILLY HEYEN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Taylor Motter paused, then took a handful of strides toward first base. He thought he’d just taken ball four, but then the home plate umpire signaled strike and he had to go back and hit with a full count.
The Rochester left fielder said afterwards that he was sitting fastball on the ensuing 3-2 pitch, but he got a slider. He swung right through it, and instead of strolling to first, Motter had to head back to his dugout. On a day when the Red Wings’ offense struggled to put anything together, that summed it up.
“Just being down here, these guys really aren’t that consistent on pitches,” Motter said, referring to the umpires in the minors compared to the majors. “He just called the same pitch a ball 2-0 or 2-1 or something like that. He called that pitch a strike.”
That was not the only thing that didn’t go right for the Red Wings, as Rochester only tallied six hits during its 5-0 loss to the Indianapolis Indians on Tuesday night at Frontier Field. Two double play groundouts exacerbated the Red Wings’ hitting woes, and only one Rochester runner reached third base all game. Three of the hits came from one player, shortstop Nick Gordon, meaning the other eight in the order had just three of their own. It didn’t matter what Rochester starter Stephen Gonsalves did on Tuesday, because the bats didn’t put any runs on the board.
“Tonight we just came up empty from the standpoint of runs,” Red Wings manager Joel Skinner said. “They were able to put some runs on the board in a few frames there.”
Indianapolis scored a run right out of the gate. Chris Bostick, a Rochester native and Aquinas graduate, walked in his first time at the plate. He finished 1-for-3 with two walks. Jordan Luplow followed with a single that moved Bostick from first-to-third. Then Jose Osuna hit what could have been a double play ball to short, but Gordon had trouble getting the ball out of his glove. That meant only one out was recorded, at second, and Bostick, the hometown kid, crossed the plate with the game’s opening run.
That turned out to be the winning run as Rochester couldn’t muster much of anything against Indianapolis starter Brandon Waddell. He had only pitched in one previous AAA game, giving up five runs in just 1.2 innings. On Tuesday, though, he scattered four hits and two walks across 5.2 while striking out five and allowing no runs.
Rochester’s best chance to score came in the bottom of the second, when Kennys Vargas yanked a liner down the left-field line for a leadoff double. He advanced to third on a Wynston Sawyer groundout to second base. But that’s when Motter struck out instead of walking, and Taylor Featherston struck out swinging as well, stranding Vargas on third.
It was Motter’s fourth game as a Red Wing after being claimed off waivers from the Seattle organization. He’s started off just 2-for-14. And while he appreciates that a team wanted him and that this is a fresh start, he also knows he’ll have to pick it up.
“Yeah you get a fresh start, new team, new eyes, but also these guys haven’t seen me,” Motter said. “So you play bad they’re gonna think you’re a bad player, you play good they’re gonna think you’re a good player. So you just gotta be consistent in who you are, your attitude on and off the field, and attack the game like it’s supposed to be attacked.”
There’s also something unusual going on at Frontier Field for the Red Wings, with Rochester having lost six of its last seven home games. There was an announced attendance of 5,328 on Tuesday, but by the later innings there were plenty of empty seats as Rochester’s bats couldn’t do anything against Waddell and three relievers.
By the end of the night, Rochester had batted in nine innings. Four times, four batters hit in an inning. Twice, five batters hit. And in the third, fourth, and fifth, three batters hit each frame for the Red Wings.
Gordon was the lone bright spot. After grounding out his first time, he pulled a single through the right side in the third. Then he seemed to miss his barrel but still lined a ball into left in the sixth. His final time up, he kept the variety going as he singled back into center field, finishing 3-for-4. But he never got further than first base.
“He’s finding the barrel,” Skinner said. “When you do that, you end up hitting line drives, and that’s what he did tonight.”
The Red Wings get a fresh start tomorrow against Indianapolis. Aaron Slegers and his 3.27 ERA are slated to be on the mound for the home team. He’ll face Indians’ pitcher Alex McRae and his 4.11 ERA. On paper, the advantage goes to Rochester.
But if Tuesday’s game had been on paper, Waddell would have been shelled and Gonsalves would have gotten the win for Rochester, not the loss. So for the Red Wings and Gordon, it’s back to the field tomorrow.
“It’s the game of baseball, you can’t win them all, but we’re definitely gonna try.,” Gordon said. “Tomorrow we’re gonna come back, we’re gonna bounce back, shake that off and be ready to do it tomorrow.”
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