ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Looking for the team’s first three-game series sweep of the season, the Rochester Red Wings had to wait for the rain to pass before taking on the Buffalo Bisons at Frontier Field.
They also have to wait for their series sweep after falling to their thruway rivals, 9-5.
Buffalo starter Sean Reid-Foley entered the game leading the International League in walks with 38 over 49 innings pitched. His lack of control became visible in the second inning. After retiring the first two Red Wing batters, Reid-Foley issued three walks and allowed two singles on just 21 pitches. Two of his three walks came with the bases loaded and would be the only offense produced by Rochester until the fifth inning.
The Bisons answered immediately in the top of the third when Kohl Stewart ran into some placement issues as well. With a man on first and second due to consecutive walks, Billy McKinney tied the game with a double to right field. Buffalo added another in the next top half with Alen Hanson and Andy Burns tacking on singles to drive in the third Stewart walk of the game.
With Reid-Foley setting down six consecutive batters after the struggle-filled second, the Bisons’ power hitters were able to double their score and increase its lead to four in the fifth. Socrates Brito opened the inning with a single off Stewart and advanced to second on the right fielder’s error. Two batters later, Billy McKinney launched his first home run of the year to drive in Brito and remove Stewart from the game.
Three pitches in to Zach Weiss’s relief effort, the Red Wings found themselves watching another ball be removed from the field when Patrick Kivlehan turned on a full-count, inside fastball. Weiss gave up two more hits that inning but managed to strand them on base.
The Red Wings chipped away at the deficit in the bottom half of the fifth when the shortstop, Nick Gordon, tripled and later scored on a wild pitch from Reid-Foley.
Reid-Foley’s outing came to an end when he gave up a four pitch walk to Brent Rooker.
The starter gave up four hits, five walks and three runs over five and a third innings of work. Reid-Foley’s replacement, right-handed reliever Zach Jackson, held Rochester hitless until the eighth when he was removed from the game.
With Brito lining the Bisons’ third homer un of the day in the top of the eighth and increasing their lead to 8-3, the Wings fought back to cancel out the additional runs. Buffalo pitcher, Matt Dermody, came in for relief of Jackson and gave up three straight hits to Rochester’s middle-of-the-order. A Zander Wiel single, followed by a Jake Cave triple and Wynston Sawyer double shrunk the deficit to three but would not be enough to stop the bleeding.
In the top of the ninth, Kivlehan capped off his series with his second solo shot of the game and his fourth home run of the series. McKinney finished with two extra-base hits and four RBI in the game as well.
The three relievers for Rochester, Weiss, Trevor Hildenberger and Preston Guilmet each threw less than two innings and were responsible for giving up at least one earned run.
Buffalo out-hit Rochester 14-8.
The Red Wings’ next game will take place at NBT Bank Stadium against the Syracuse Mets on Monday, June 3rd.
WP: Reid-Foley (2-3)
LP: Stewart (4-3)
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