ROCHESTER, N.Y. – There were 10,090 fans at Innovative Field on Sunday, and the Rochester Red Wings sent them home happy, grabbing the lead early and holding on for the 3-0 win over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders despite several threatening innings from the Yankees’ affiliate.
The win, which ensured a 4-3 series victory, was a bounce-back result after an extra-innings loss in front of 10,811 on Saturday. The Red Wings have now had nine home crowds above the 8,000 fan mark thus far at home, their most up to this point of the season since Innovative Field opened as Frontier Field in 1997.
“It’s a big win for us after a letdown last night,” said Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy.
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Anthony Banda, Tommy Romero, Amos Willingham, Joe La Sorsa, and Gerson Moreno combined to allow five hits while striking out eight on the day. It was Rochester’s fourth shutout of the year and their first since a 3-0 victory at Toledo on May 24. Although the Red Wings allowed six walks and Scranton got six runners into scoring position during the day, none of them could score against Rochester pitching that bent but didn’t break.
LeCroy was especially proud of how the team pitched without major league veteran Andres Machado, who is away from the team as his wife gives birth.
“The guys stepped up,” said LeCroy. “Guys are going to leave, guys are going to get hurt, and you’ve gotta have people who can pitch in those spots.”
Banda, starting the game for Rochester as he continues to be converted back into a starter after spending the last few years in relief, pitched well early on and allowed just one hit in 3.2 innings.
“It was progress, a good step forward in the right direction,” he said post-game. “I credit my tempo, strike-throwing, and mixing my pitches. I’m trying to get back to a reasonable comfort with starting again, and it was a big step forward today.”
All of the game’s offense came in the bottom of the second, with a two-out rally by the Red Wings.
With first baseman Travis Blankenhorn on first, Scranton starter Mitch Spence gave up an infield single to second baseman Jake Noll and then walked catcher Drew Millas to load the bases. Up came shortstop Richie Martin, who worked a 3-2 count before knocking a ball up the middle past the best efforts of the Scranton defense for a two-run double to open the scoring, 2-0.
Martin had missed the start of the series with Scranton due to illness, but key baserunning plays on Saturday and the clutch hit on Sunday made him a difference-maker upon his return.
“It felt good, I had a tough [time] early in the week, and it was good getting back out there yesterday and today to get the win,” he said.
“He’s a winning player,” said LeCroy of Martin. “I’m really glad he’s on our team. He works extremely hard, and he’s on a mission to get back [to the majors.]”
Derek Hill added another run soon after, hitting a hard line drive at Scranton second baseman Oswald Peraza. Peraza got his glove on it, but it deflected away from him, allowing Hill to reach first safely with the infield single. Millas scored, extending the lead to 3-0.
That would be the end of scoring for the day, but it certainly wasn’t the end of the game. Scranton continued to threaten throughout the game. They loaded the bases in the fourth after Banda left the game, but Brandon Lockridge then hit a ball at the pitcher Romero, who deflected it to Jake Noll at second in time for him to throw out the runner at first on the rare 1-4-3 putout to end the threat. Scranton had two men on with no outs in the sixth, only for Willingham to come in and put down the remaining RailRiders in order. Their last major threat came in the seventh, where La Sorsa struck out Elijah Dunham to strand runners on second and third.
In all, Red Wings pitching had only one “clean” inning without any hits or walks: the final inning, where Moreno put Scranton down in order.
Willingham earned the win to move to 2-0 on the year, while Mitch Spence took the loss to fall to 4-4 for Scranton (31-37, seventh in the International League East, 14 games back of Norfolk). Gerson Moreno earned his first save of the year.
Rochester (32-35, fifth in the International League East, 12.5 games back) begins a series with the Royals AAA affiliate, the Omaha Storm Chasers (33-32, sixth in the International League West, 10.5 games back of St. Paul) on Tuesday at 6:45 p.m. Right-hander Wily Peralta (2-4, 5.30) is scheduled to start for the host Red Wings.
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