By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
The Washington Nationals ushered in their post-Max Scherzer and Trea Turner future on Friday night with the help of several former Rochester Red Wings. The Red Wings, typically an opportunistic group with runners in scoring position, are happy for but surely missed the likes of Luis García, Carter Kieboom and Adrián Sanchez in a winnable game at Frontier Field.
Rochester failed to convert on its first 10 opportunities with runners in scoring position and scored just two runs on Lehigh Valley despite reaching base 14 times. After No. 3 hitter Jake Noll matched IronPigs No. 3 hitter Jorge Bonifacio’s solo first-inning homer, the Wings were shut out until the eighth.
The IronPigs secured a 3-2 victory in front of 5,329 observers. Rochester fell to 30-43, the club’s second straight defeat.
Matt Tomshaw pitched well in his team Frontier Field debut, allowing just the home run and scattering four other hits in six efficient innings. He threw 56 of his 79 pitches for strikes. Rochester entered the contest with a respectable 6-4 record when a starting pitcher throws six or more innings.
“He did a really nice job,” Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy remarked of Tomshaw, who was rocked for nine runs, including four home runs, in his last start at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. “He made one mistake, really, the whole game.”
Tomshaw left the outing with his best numbers in a Red Wing uniform but just one run of support. His lineup had chances to add more runs, as Rochester placed runners on second and third with one out in the second inning and saw the first two men reach to lead off both the fourth and fifth innings.
“Just poor at-bats,” LeCroy assessed. “… Situational baseball came back and bit us tonight. We chased a little bit. We had some chances and we kind of went out of the zone for some pitches.
“They pitched well, but we’ve gotta be better. We lost some players and obviously this is an opportunity for guys to show what they can do, so hopefully we can come out (Saturday) and win both of those games.”
The Red Wings finished just 1-of-11 with runners in scoring position, with 12 left on base. The IronPigs did not fare much better, failing to convert their first four scoring situations.
Lehigh Valley outfielder Charlie Tilson snapped the dubious combined 0-for-13 RISP output when he tripled off Nick Wells in the eighth to score Logan Moore from second. Nick Maton, the next batter, singled to drive in Tilson.
Wells took the loss, his first decision this season, but LeCroy vowed to “keep throwing him out there,” calling the uncharacteristic performance “part of development.”
An Ali Castillo single combined with a Bonifacio fielding error made it a one-run game in the bottom of the inning, but Jakob Hernandez and closer Mauricio Llovera combined to record the last four outs.
Jecksson Flores collected three hits, the most he has recorded for Rochester. Castillo and Noll tallied two hits apiece.
Catcher Riley Adams didn’t hit safely but walked twice and caught Bonifacio trying to steal second in the sixth inning of his Red Wings debut. The Nationals acquired Adams from the Toronto Blue Jays in the deal that sent reliever Brad Hand north of the border. Adams batted fifth, slotted behind Noll and Daniel Palka.
“I thought he did a good job with the staff,” LeCroy said of Adams, who was the 17th-ranked prospect in the Blue Jay farm system. “Made a good throw; I thought he blocked the ball extremely well.
“It’s hard coming into a new staff and having to learn them on such quick notice, but I thought he did a nice job. He’s a nice addition.”
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