By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
The Washington Nationals signed Daniel Palka to a minor league contract late last month with the belief that the 29-year-old could return to his 2018 form. Palka’s return to Frontier Field this week has rewarded the chance Washington took, but the rest of the Rochester Red Wings lineup could not solve Scranton/Wilkes-Barre pitching on Wednesday afternoon.
Palka paced the Rochester offense, collecting two hits and driving in two runs, but Yasmany Tomás recorded the Red Wings’ only other hit in their 3-2 defeat to the RailRiders. Thomas Milone’s line drive to center broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh, lifting Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to its 11th win in 14 games and second win over the 2-12 Red Wings in fewer than 24 hours.
“We’re in kind of a funk,” Red Wings manager Matthew Lecroy said. “We can’t string much together.”
Rochester had its chances, walking eight times and featuring at least one baserunner in seven of nine innings. But stranding seven runners and hitting just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position extended its losing streak to seven.
Palka’s ripped line drive into right field scored two, the first two first-inning runs Rochester recorded this year on a hit other than a home run. The Red Wings entered Wednesday leading all of minor league baseball with six first-frame homers (five were solo tallies), but employed two walks, a fielders’ choice and Palka’s double to jump ahead of the RailRiders.
Palka compiled just four hits in his first 30 at bats this season but is five for his last 15, with a homer and three RBI.
“He’s starting to come around,” LeCroy assessed. “He struggled out of the gate with us, didn’t have a long spring training, but you can tell his (batting practice) his last four or five days is getting better and better, and it’s starting to carry over into the games. He’s getting himself in a good spot to square the ball up and then impact the ball, and that’s the biggest thing with hitting.
“If you look at most teams who struggle, they fail to get into position in time and they’re either real early or real late. Hopefully they’ll all get their timing down, get themselves in position to have a chance.”
Pitching kept the Red Wings close, with starter Rogelio Armenteros and the Rochester bullpen also scattering baserunners. Armenteros escaped a six-walk afternoon, including issuing four walks in five plate appearances in the third, and still managed to leave with a 2-2 score and no decision after four innings. The deliberate right-hander retired the first five batters before home plate umpire Richard Riley charged him with an automatic ball for exceeding the 15-second pitch clock. The call filled the count to Zack Zehner and led to a walk on the next pitch. Armenteros proceeded to issue another walk to Brandon Wagner.
Though the RailRiders failed to score off those base on balls, Armenteros allowed a leadoff home run to No. 9 batter Cristian Pérez to begin a rocky third. Estevan Florial, Hoy Jun Park and Andrew Velazquez all walked, and though the Wings forced out Florial at home plate, Armenteros put Milone on with the bases loaded to score the tying run.
“I thought after the home run he kind of shied away from contact there for a little while and just kind of lost feel,” LeCroy said of the 26-year-old, who fired four strikeouts. “(Catcher Tres Barrera) was telling me it was either off (the plate) or in, so he might have got squeezed a little bit, but for the most part I think he was off or in.”
Kyle Lobstein struck out four batters, striking out the side in the fifth inning, and allowed just one hit in two innings of relief work. Lobstein, Dakota Bacus and Justin Miller combined to surrender just a run on four hits in five frames, striking out seven. The RailRiders’ bullpen one-upped Rochester’s, however, producing five one-hit innings. Kyle Barraclough earned the win, while Adam Warren and Nick Goody held the lead and closer Luis García picked up his fourth save.
The Wings threatened against Warren, who walked Alec Keller and Carlos Tocci to set up a two-on, one-out situation, but Rochester’s Luis García grounded into a fielder’s choice and Geraldo Parra hardly made contact to ground a ball in front of the plate to end the rally. Palka was the only baserunner in the final two innings.
“A lot of times I see a lot of big swings. Seems like we’re just trying to hit the ball 800 feet instead of hitting some outfield grass somewhere,” LeCroy commented. “These guys did have some time off last year, so I know it’s an adjustment period, but we can’t use that as an excuse much longer. We’ve gotta go out and have good at bats. This is Triple-A baseball. We expect guys to get in proper hitting position on time to give themselves a chance. Baseball’s a tough game and when you’re not going good… we’ve gotta dig ourselves out of a hole here.
“It’s gonna be a team effort; we’ve gotta lean on each other offensively, pitching, defensively, all that to get some things going. Hitting’s contagious. Once guys start having good at bats, hopefully everyone will get going.”
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