The Rochester Red Wings opened their six-game series at the Norfolk Tides with a 5-3 to the Baltimore Orioles affiliate, despite a late home run by first baseman Travis Blankenhorn.
Rochester (5-10) could only score in two innings against the IL-leading Tides (11-4). The Red Wings had only nine hits, the first time they failed to get at least 10 hits since last Tuesday’s 7-2 loss to Buffalo.
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Just as they did in every game of last week’s series against the Buffalo Bisons, the Red Wings trailed early, as Norfolk leadoff hitter Colton Cowser homered to left-center to begin the bottom of the first inning.
Rochester pulled ahead in the third. With two outs and catcher Kevin Plawecki on second after a double earlier in the inning, third baseman Jake Alu doubled to center to tie the score, 1-1. After a walk by Blankenhorn, right fielder Nomar Mazara continued his hot hitting for the Wings with an RBI single to tie Alu and put Rochester ahead, 2-1.
Norfolk soon retook the lead, opening the bottom of the third with two singles followed by a two-run double from Cowser to jump ahead, 3-2. Cowser would also knock home one of the two runs in the fourth as Norfolk extended their lead to 5-2.
After that, the Red Wings bullpen shut down Norfolk the rest of the game, as Jose Ferrer, Alberto Baldonado, Andres Machado, and Jose Mujica combined to allow only six hits in 4.1 innings.
Blankenhorn homered into center for his fourth round-tripper of the year to lead off the top of the eighth, but the Red Wings were never able to get any closer than 5-3, despite getting the tying run to the plate in the ninth.
The Red Wings continue their series on Wednesday in Norfolk. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 P.M.
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