By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
On a night when the Rochester Red Wings were going to need their bullpen to record a significant number of outs, the most effective reliever may have been the starting pitcher.
Carson Teel, usually a part of the bullpen corps, made his third spot start of the season and was effective. He left with two outs in the fifth and a 1-1 score after allowing five hits and two walks but just the one run.
Matt Brill, however, couldn’t nail down the final out of the inning, allowing both inherited runners to score despite not allowing a hit and the Omaha Storm Chasers went on to a 6-1 victory on Wednesday in front of 7,388 fans at Frontier Field.
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Brill walked Dairon Blanco to load the bases, then hit Jose Briceno to force home the go-ahead run. He walked home another run before finally ending the inning with a strikeout.
Jefry Rodriguez allowed just one run in his three innings of relief, but Luis Avilan gave up a pair of runs in the ninth – in part because his defense failed him – as the deficit grew to 6-1.
And with the Wings (45-41) doing little with the bat, their fate was sealed. They left eight runners stranded through five innings before the Omaha bullpen retired 13 of the final 14 batters.
“Offensively we didn’t do enough,” LeCroy said. “We had a gameplan going in, we just didn’t execute it.”
A bigger concern, however, is Brill. The right-hander, in his sixth season of pro ball, is trying to find his way as a Triple-A rookie. In 12 1/3 innings over 11 appearances, he has given up 17 hits, 9 walks and 10 earned runs while striking out 14, leaving him with an ERA of 7.30 and a WHIP of 2.11.
“He’s struggled to command the baseball at times; a lot of big misses,” LeCroy said. “But they’re addressing it. There’s a mechanical issue there that they’re going to try to figure out.
“Chavy’s (pitching coach Rafael Chaves) the best in the business so hopefully he can get him rolling. He’s got stuff – 96, 97 (mph) with a plus breaking ball – and he’s a guy we’re going to rely on down the stretch.”
They relied on him Wednesday but Brill couldn’t find the strike zone. He walked Blanco on a 3-2 pitch, hit Briceno with a 1-0 pitch, then walked Rave on four pitches.
LeCroy opted to bring on Brill to face the right-handed hitting Blanco based on numbers.
“The guy coming up does his damage with lefties and I thought it would be the right time to put Brill in,” LeCroy said. “He just struggled to throw the ball over.”
The Wings only run came in the fourth, giving them a short-lived 1-0 lead, as Adrian Sanchez trotted home on a two-out, bases-loaded walk to Matt Lipka.
Cavalli’s status
Cade Cavalli isn’t expected to miss any sort of significant time due to the minor ailment that forced him out of Tuesday’s start in the fourth inning. LeCroy said “It’s just a small layer of skin that rubbed off,” LeCroy said. “It looked really good tonight.” He was selected to pitch in the Futures Game, which is Saturday at Dodger Stadium, but his status is unknown. “That’s a front office (decision) but I’m sure they’re going to error on the side of caution.”
Relievers promoted
The Wings lost relievers Cory Abbott and Tyler Clippard, who joined the Nationals on Wednesday.
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