Courtesy of RedWingsBaseball.com
The Rochester Red Wings squared off against the Buffalo Bisons Tuesday night for the opening matchup of a six-game series. Despite an early 3-0 lead, the Wings dropped the series opener to the Bisons 7-4. It marked the beginning of the second series Rochester has played against Buffalo, and now fall to a record of 4-3 against Buffalo this season.
The Wings took advantage of erratic pitching from the Bisons, sending all nine batters to the plate while jumping out to a 3-0 lead. RHP Drew Hutchinson held the Wings to no hits, while walking four batters, through the first 2.1 innings. Then, after two straight walks to SS Richie Martin and 2B Darren Baker, LF Jake Alu crushed a one-run double to left field in the top of the third inning to put Rochester on the board in his first game back with the club since May 7th. 1B Travis Blankenhorn then followed up a walk by 3B Carter Kieboom with a two-run double to left field.
Buffalo first got on the board in the fourth inning after a balk from RHP Wily Peralta with 2B Davis Schnider at bat to score RF Jordan Luplow. Peralta would go on to force a Schnider fly out, but DH Wynton Bernard tagged up to score. SS Otto Lopez scored on the same play following an error by Baker, tying the game at 3-3 in the fourth inning.
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Peralta didn’t allow a Buffalo base runner until the start of the bottom of the third inning, when he walked Schnider on seven pitches. Though he walked the bases loaded, he forced a fly out to left field from 1B Spencer Horwitz. Peralta coughed up a fourth-inning double to Luplow, marking the first hit for a Rochester opponent since the second inning of Sunday’s win over the Worcester Red Sox.
The Bisons took their first lead of the game in the next inning after Bernard grounded out into a fielder’s choice to second base, scoring 2B Ernie Clement when Baker couldn’t complete the double play in time. Buffalo added four more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning off singles from C Tyler Heineman and CF Cam Eden, extending the Bisons’ lead to 7-3. The Wings added another run in the top of the ninth after a double from Alu drove in Martin. It wasn’t enough, as Rochester fell in the series opener, 7-4.
After a strong start that saw him shut down Buffalo’s first six batters, Peralta (0-3, 4.97) ended up allowing three runs through 4.2 innings, striking out two batters while walking five. Three Wings pitchers helmed the final 3.1 innings, allowing three earned runs. Hutchinson finished with a career-high six walks for Buffalo, turning in five innings of work and allowing three runs in the win.
Jake Alu has been named the Diamond Pro Player of the Game after going 3-for-5 while driving in two RBI and scoring a run in his first game back with the club. Tuesday night stood as the fifth multi-hit game for Alu with the Wings this season.
Rochester returns to the field tomorrow for the second game in the series against the Bisons. RHP Paolo Espino is set to make his fifth start of the year for the Wings. First pitch is set for 6:05 pm.
Find the box score attached here.
since their horrible 1-8 start Wings have more or less played .500 ball. Not much to really say about this team. Every now and then they play real well. Then they lay a big egg like Thursday when they went up 8-0 and still lost 10-8. Its real hard to establish an identity what with the Nats calling up guys almost daily.
Nats aren’t very good either so it stands to reason that things won’t be going well for us this season.
The split season (and its corresponding joke of a ‘post season’ has already cost the Wings 2 games and if foul spring weather persists, more cancellations are likely.
The Nationals somehow managed to win a World Series just a few years ago. Since then, they have been awful and their farm system has been also pretty mediocre. No surprise the Wings have been at the bottom of the meaningless East Division and probably the same for the other division. (2 divisions even tho only 1 team can be declared the winner of the first half.
MLB has cut the heart out of minor league baseball and its competitive spirit. Hate to be that guy who always talks about ‘the good old days’ when the IL was a really decent league…but its true. The IL used to be something special. Now its merely a holding tank for prospects, suspects and an assorted veteran who still wants to play the game.
Having a parent team in DC for the Wings is like planting a garden in your backyard in January. Makes little sense, but we have no choice. Maybe one day things will change.