By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
Hit safely in all four at-bats, win a random drug test from Major League Baseball.
Keibert Ruiz accomplished that feat on Thursday evening, thumping three doubles and adding a single in the first half of Rochester’s doubleheader split with Lehigh Valley. It was the 23-year-old’s first three-double game since rookie ball in 2015.
Ruiz’s skillful performance being paired with MLB’s triannual check-in to ensure the game is being played on the straight and narrow was purely coincidental. His hot streak may have rubbed off on his teammates, however, as the Red Wings recorded 11 hits in Game 1 and 10 more in Game 2 after being held to nine or fewer for 19 straight contests.
“We’ve been grinding,” Ruiz remarked. “It’s baseball. It’s not gonna be a great game every day, not gonna get three hits every day. We’ve just gotta keep the mind right, keep working hard, keep playing good to get the win.”
The Red Wings topped the IronPigs 6-2 in Game 1 but fell in extra innings in the nightcap, losing 4-3 in eight frames despite the IronPigs scratching across four hits.
“The first game, our hits counted,” LeCroy assessed. “The second game we got a lot of hits but man, we had some very unproductive outs. We didn’t move runners to have chances. Any time you make an out but somebody can advance, that’s a productive out. We weren’t able to do that in big spots, especially in the seventh. Hopefully we’ll continue to get hits but we have to do a better job of more productive outs than we’re getting.”
Ali Castillo, not to be outdone by his Venezuelan countryman, hit safely three times in the win. Fellow Venezuelan Jecksson Flores drove in a pair of runs. To illustrate LeCroy’s points, however, the Red Wings batted 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position in defeat.
Humberto Arteaga doubled to lead off the seventh, when Rochester needed just one run to win. Former Red Wing Cam Bedrosian recovered, striking out Jake Noll, Brandon Snyder and Nick Banks in order to force an eighth inning.
Lehigh Valley scored its automatic runner in the 10th, while Rochester stranded its runner at third. Derek Dietrich flew out to left, while Alex Dunlap decided to perform an ill-advised bunt for the second out. Tyler Heineman snared Rafael Bautista’s popup behind the plate for the final out, leaving the Red Wings with a bitter taste.
“Obviously I didn’t give him the bunt sign. I think he tried to do it on his own,” LeCroy said of Dunlap. “We’ll talk to him about it; that was kind of the wrong time to do it. I think it caught everybody by surprise.
“This is a teaching moment. Dunlap’s young and we’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
Josh Rogers earned his sixth victory of the season after holding Lehigh Valley to two runs on six hits over five innings, striking out five hitters with a lone walk.
The Red Wings did walk four batters in the second game. Nick Wells issued two walks and an RBI single in relief of starter Sterling Sharp, who threw 66 pitches as Rochester continues to build his pitch count.
Wells did not record an out before being lifted in the fourth. Diego Moreno entered in his place with the bases loaded and walked in the tying run. That was the last score before Mickey Moniak’s sacrifice fly scored Charlie Tilson and saddled Aaron Barrett with the hard-luck loss without surrendering an earned run.
“The second game, we pitched well enough at times but we just had too many walks in that one inning that came back to haunt us,” LeCroy noted. “We’re gonna keep throwing these guys out in different situations. We’ve got a lot of pitchers here and we hope we give them a chance to go to the big leagues.
“Every chance they get, there’s a purpose about why they’re out there.”
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