By TOM GARIGEN
There aren’t many positions in the sports world that carry less glamour than minor league backup catcher. It can be difficult to stay on top of your game, knowing that your number may not be called for days.
Doug Robbins entered the 1992 season slated as Rochester’s second-string backstop behind Mark Parent. He would also see some occasional time at first. But the scarcity of playing time didn’t stop him from taking advantage when the opportunities arose. Case in point – a 3-for-5, two-RBI performance that led the Red Wings to an 8-2 victory over Jamie Moyer and the Toledo Mud Hens on this date 28 years ago.
Robbins hit his third homer and singled twice while also scoring two runs as the Wings accounted for all eight of their runs in innings 6-8 to make a winner out of starter Bob Milacki. The home run tied the game at one and kickstarted a Rochester offense that struggled against Moyer over the first five frames.
“I’ve seen him four years now and he’s what I call a professional hitter,” Rochester manager Jerry Narron told the Democrat & Chronicle about Robbins. “He’ll take a strike for you, bunt a guy over, hit and run … he also does a great job working with the pitchers.”
Milacki scattered four hits while allowing two runs and striking out six over seven innings to improve to 7-1 on the season. Jim Poole came on to toss two hitless innings to pick up his ninth save.
Parent gave Rochester a 4-2 lead with a two-run single in the bottom of the seventh. The Red Wings then tacked on four in the eighth to break it open.
Tommy Shields drilled an RBI double and Damon Buford added a run-scoring hit to make it 6-2. Robbins followed with an RBI single and Mel Wearing had a sacrifice fly to close the scoring.
Parent, Shields, and Steve Scarsone had two hits apiece as Rochester banged out 11 on the game.
| Red Wings 8, Mud Hens 2 | |||||||||||
| Toledo | AB | R | H | BI | Rochester | AB | R | H | BI | ||
| Allre ss/3b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Mercedes rf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Smith 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Robbins 1b | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ||
| Brogna dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Wearing dh | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Rowland c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Parent c | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Sparks 1b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Voigt lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Clark rf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Scarsne 2b | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Ingram lf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Shields 3b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Reimink 3b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Dickrsn ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Robertsn cf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Buford cf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Cangelosi ph | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Decillis ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Rosrio pr-ss | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Totals | 28 | 2 | 4 | 2 | Totals | 32 | 8 | 11 | 8 | ||
| Toledo | 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 – 2 | ||||||||||
| Rochester | 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 4 0 – 8 | ||||||||||
| E – Reimink 2. DP – Toledo 1, Rochester 2. LOB – Toledo 4, Rochester 8. 2B – Smith, Mercedes, Scarsone, Shields. HR – Sparks (2), Robbins (3). SF – Wearing. SB – Ingram, Parent, Buford. | |||||||||||
| Toledo | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |||||
| Moyer L, 8-8 | 6.1 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | |||||
| Robinson | 1.2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Rochester | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |||||
| Milacki W 7-1 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | |||||
| Poole S, 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | |||||
| T – 3:03. Attendance – 3,015. | |||||||||||
Also On This Day: 1971 – Bobby Grich hit three home runs, a double, and a single, leading the Red Wings to a sweep of a double header against the Richmond Braves in Richmond. The sweep clinched the International league pennant for the Red Wings, Rochester’s first since 1966 … 2006 – Jeff Bailey’s fourth inning home run held up as the winning hit, helping the Pawtucket Red Sox edge the Red Wings 3-2 Sunday afternoon at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket…Chris Heintz and Josh Rabe each had two hits and knocked in a run for Rochester.
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