By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
A bloop double, eight-pitch walk and home run defined Josh Rogers’s Frontier Field debut on Friday evening.
Rogers, who won his first two decisions as a Red Wing after being signed to a minor-league contract on June 4, retired the first seven Buffalo Bisons that strode to the plate. The third and fourth innings proved to be the 26-year-old’s undoing, as three third-inning doubles and Dilson Herrera’s two-run home run in the fourth accounted for all the scoring in Buffalo’s 5-0 victory.
Herrera’s first hit was innocuous enough, a pop fly into right field that caught fair territory and bounced into the grassy knoll area for a one-out ground rule double. Rogers responded by striking out No. 9 hitter Nash Knight, making the bounce look even more harmless. But the right-hander lost an full count battle to Breyvic Valera, issuing a walk, and surrendered RBI doubles to Richard Ureña and Kevin Smith.
“I thought he came out the chute his typical self,” Red Wings manager Matthew LeCroy remarked of Rogers’s outing, “and then all of a sudden his rhythm kind of got out of sync there and it carried over to the fourth.”
Herrera, who has spent time in the major leagues with the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles, effectively put the contest out of reach with a shot off the center field batter’s eye. The Bisons stumped Rochester hitting, firing a combined one-hitter two days after recording just two hits off the Red Wing bullpen.
“(Rogers) got beat on some off-speed,” LeCroy acknowledged, “but he still gutted it out, gave us some lift when we needed it out of our starter.”
Four of the nine Red Wing batters (Geraldo Parra, Yadiel Hernandez, Brandon Snyder and Adrián Sanchez) struck out twice apiece. Humberto Arteaga’s stray single and Cody Wilson’s ninth-inning walk represented Rochester’s lone baserunners.
Bisons left-hander Zach Logue threw seven frames, striking out eight without walking anyone.
“Our offense, we just didn’t make the adjustments we needed,” LeCroy assessed. “It felt like we were in pull mode, didn’t seem to adjust to hit the ball the other way and got (Logue) throwing inside… We need to be better with our plan up there.”
T.J. McFarland and Andres Machado performed well in relief for 3.1 innings; Machado allowed a hit but induced a groundout and struck out two to escape the ninth without allowing a run.
The Red Wings, losers of three of the last four games, need wins on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon to earn a series split. Sterling Sharp (1-1, 3.05 ERA) is scheduled to start for Rochester, while Connor Overton (1-0, 0.73 ERA).
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