The Rochester Red Wings lost to the Buffalo Bisons in ten innings on Saturday, 10-9. The Red Wings had an early lead, only to lose it in the later innings only to force extras before losing on a walk-off bases-loaded walk.
The defeat came despite the Red Wings out-hitting Buffalo 14-6, as ten walks, two hit-by-pitches, and two wild pitches allowed the Bisons to score more runs than they had hits.
The Red Wings took an early lead in the first, as Andrew Stevenson had his 24th double of the year to start the game and then was doubled home by Josh Palacios. Later in the inning, Palacios would be brought home from third on a sacrifice fly by David Dahl, his first RBI as a Red Wing. In the second, the Red Wings would make it 4-0 on a two-out single by Stevenson.
The Wings offense would continue to roll in the third, as Jake Noll tripled home David Dahl and Riley Adams before himself scoring on a Jake Alu single. The Red Wings now had a 6-0 lead.
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JOE TERRITO HERE.
However, the game was far from over. In the bottom of the fourth, the Buffalo offense scored five earned runs off Red Wings starter Sterling Sharp, knocking him out of the game and drawing the score to 6-5. The Red Wings would regain a cushion with two runs in the fifth, but a Buffalo rally in the bottom of the seventh culminated in an RBI single by Jordan Groshans put the Bisons up 9-8.
The Red Wings would tie it up with a Donovan Casey RBI single in the ninth, but failed to score in the top of the tenth. Although Patrick Murphy would strike out Jordan Groshans, the Red Wings were unable to pull off the inning-ending double play after trying to set it up with a Nathan Lukes intentional walk. A walk of Colton Shavers loaded the bases, and then Cullen Large also drew a walk to bring home the walk-off run.
The loss moves the Red Wings to 47-45 on the year and pushes them further back in the International League East race.
Statistically, Rochester was led by Stevenson (3-6, 2B, 2 RBIs) and Alu (3-4 with a walk and an RBI). Taylor and Luis Avilan both had scoreless relief appearances.
The Red Wings will conclude their series with Buffalo on Sunday.
First, let’s be clear; its ALWAYS more fun writing about wins. Always. But the Wings have made it so easy to write volumes about the way they lose games. You can lose, and then you can LOSE!
Yesterday the Wings hit a new season low for a simply awful performance. You give up 6 hits while you get 14. You allow 10 walks! 2 HBP, and 2 WP’s. You blow a 6-0 lead. And then an 8-5 lead.
THEN in the 10th with two outs, your relief pitcher walks three hitters (one who has already fanned 3 times) to force in the winning run. You can’t make this stuff up.
Thats 4 straight losses and they are getting real ugly….again. I had said during their 1st long losing streak that they would be under .500 by August 1st. (remember when they were 16 OVER .500?)
It’s very likely to happen. The team is a mess and the parent team is a bigger mess. It will be interesting to see what kind of firesale the Nats will have in the next week. And how will that impact this team?
Anyway, 9 runs and 14 hits should be plenty to secure a win. Guess not. Don’t look for positives lately. There aren’t any. The name of the game is win, and the Wings had this one in their back pocket. Except the pitching staff failed to come close to doing their job. Buffalo could laugh their way into their locker room knowing that they were gifted a win. Meanwhile the Wings are left to wonder what has happened to their season.
Last night was pretty sad, no matter how its spun. Just plain sad.