By JON SKUZA
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — There are ugly games and stretches where players and coaches would like to forget they ever happened.
The Rochester Red Wings are currently on a two-game streak in which they have lost by 10 or more runs as they dropped the series opener to the St. Paul Saints 14-1 Tuesday evening.
“Just back-to-back games,” Red Wings’ Matt LeCroy said. “They’ve been really bad. It’s baseball. We got another game tomorrow. Hopefully, we can get going and put something together in all phases of the game to get back into the win column.”
Rochester was only able to collect four hits that included a Derek Hill solo home run to center field in the eighth inning. Hill also stole second in the fifth after reaching base on a fielder’s choice.
“I’d like to get him going,” LeCroy said. “He had a good game Sunday with four hits and a home run hit tonight. He’ll be sparking our offense as we get him going. We just got to do a better job grinding at-bats, getting some better counts, working the pitcher.”
Wilson Garcia and Travis Blankenhorn tallied doubles while Jake Alu recorded a base hit in the eighth frame.
The Red Wings struggled to bring runners around the score as they left five runners in scoring position. Rochester also drew six walks, but couldn’t generate much offense from the free passes.
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“Just not as good at-bats as we needed,” LeCroy said. “We needed to score. [Aaron] Sanchez is a veteran pitcher, but the longer he’s in the game, he seems to get better, but we got our chances early. We didn’t take advantage of it.”
Joan Adon started for the Red Wings as he pitched four one-third innings striking out four and giving up four earned runs. Adon and the Wing’s defense were strong through the first three innings limiting St. Paul to three hits and throwing out a runner at second.
Kyle Garlick got the Saints on the board in the fourth inning with a home run to left field. Chris Williams pushed across two more runs with a two-out double later in the inning.
The big inning for St. Paul came in the sixth when the Saints sent 11 batters to the plate and drove in seven runs on six hits. The inning was highlighted by a Michael Helman grand slam to blow the game open. Helman hit another long ball with a two-run shot in the eighth inning to push across the final two runs for St. Paul. The 26-year-old finished 3-for-5 with six RBI, two home runs and two runs scored. Alex Kirilloff hit a solo home run for the Saints in the seventh to add on to their lead.
Despite the losing effort, the game was a historic one at Innovative Field as it was the first game that used the Automatic Ball-Strike System. The system works by using technology through cameras installed throughout the ballpark and it determines if a pitch thrown is a ball or a strike and is relayed to an umpire behind home plate to make the call.
The automatic strike zone for each batter is defined as the bottom being 27 percent of the player’s height and the top of the zone being 51% of the player’s height regardless of the batting stance the player is using.
The ABS system will be used during games that are played Monday through Thursday. Friday through Sunday games will feature ABS-challenge games, where the umpire will call balls and strikes and each team will have three challenges that can be used throughout the game.
“I like it,” LeCroy said. “You don’t have to worry about people arguing. It’s fair to both sides. The game goes by quick, so I don’t mind it at all.”
The Red Wings will look to end their woes when right-hander Jake Irvin takes the mound against right-hander Jose De Leon Wednesday at 6:05 p.m.
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