BY JONATHAN SKUZA
ROCHESTER, N.Y.– The Rochester Red Wings weren’t able to contain the long ball as the Scranton Wilkes/Bare Railriders hit five solo home runs as the Red Wings fell 6-5 Friday evening.
“We knew if we could keep them in the ballpark, we could have a chance to win and we didn’t do that,” Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy stated about the loss. “It’s one of those nights where we just didn’t make good enough pitches at times and they made us pay.”
After Rochester took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, the Railriders answered with an Oswald Peraza sacrifice fly to tie the ball game in the third. The next five runs for Scranton came via the long ball. Shortly after the Red Wings made it 4-1, Carlos Narvaez cut the lead in half with the first long ball of the evening. Peraza and Elijah Dunham hit back-to-back homers in the sixth inning to tie the ball game for the Railriders. Jamie Westbrook gave the Railriders their first lead of the night with his solo home run in the seventh. Michael Hermosillo hit the game-deciding round-tripper in the top of the ninth to help Scranton secure its first victory of the series.
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JOE TERRITO.
Despite the defeat, Rochester did not go quietly as they battled throughout the whole ball game. Nomar Mazara led the charge for the Red Wings with a 3-for-4 effort including a 385-foot home run in the second inning to get Rochester on the board early. The long ball was the right fielder’s first since June 2nd against the Syracuse Mets.
“About time,” Mazara said. “I hit 107 and it doesn’t even get to the warning track. It’s about time when I hit it over 105 it’s getting out of the ballpark. So yeah, it feels good.”
Rochester snatched the lead in the third thanks to two errors, a walk by Jake Alu, and a Mazara RBI double. Alu would tie the game in the seventh with an RBI double of his own to score Derek Hill who tallied a two-out base hit.
Jose Urena started for Rochester pitching six innings while striking out three and surrendering three earned runs on six hits including three homers. The Red Wings had three bullpen arms pitch for them as well surrendering the other two runs on the other two long balls.
“We gave up some two-strike homers and made some bad pitches with some really good counts for us,” LeCroy stated. “That’s what they do. They try to drive the ball out of the park. You can tell every guy that goes up there to hit. They’re looking to hit a ball over the fence. We just got to do a better job. executing. We got to expand the zone a little bit more.”
Rochester is currently in fifth place in the International East Division 14 games behind the Norfolk Tides (45-20). The Rochester Red Wings (31-34) will continue the series against the Scranton Wilkes/Bare Railriders (30-36) on Saturday at 6:45 p.m. as the Red Wings will send right-hander Joan Adon (2-4, 4.98) to the mound while southpaw Tanner Tully (5-1, 4.11)will start for Scranton Wilkes/Bare.
FINAL: SWB 6, ROC 5
WP: D.J. Snelten (1-3, 4.76)
LP: Gerson Moreno (3-4, 2.59)
SV: Michael Feliz (1)
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||
| Scranton/WB | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 3 | ||
| Rochester | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 1 |
GAME INFORMATION:
First Pitch: 6:47 PM
Temperature: 65 °F
Time of Game: 2:42
Attendance: 8,285
HOME RUNS:
ROC – Nomar Mazara (5) solo off RHP Will Warren in the 2nd (count: 1-1) to right center field
SWB – Carlos Narvaez (3) solo off RHP Jose Ureña in the 4th (count: 1-0) to left field
SWB – Oswald Peraza (11) solo off RHP Jose Ureña in the 6th (count: 0-2) to left center field
SWB – Elijah Dunham (5) solo off RHP Jose Ureña in the 6th (count: 3-2) to right center field
SWB – Jamie Westbrook (9) solo off RHP Amos Willingham in the 7th (count: 0-2) to left center field
SWB – Michael Hermosillo (7) off RHP Gerson Moreno in the 9th (count: 0-1) to right field
STARTING PITCHERS:
RHP Will Warren: (2-3, 6.90) 4.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO, 1 HR 19 BF, 91/50 (P/S), left down 4-2
RHP Jose Ureña: (3-3, 8.83) 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 SO, 3 HR, 24 BF, 83/56 (P/S), tied 4-4
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