BY JONATHAN SKUZA
The Rochester Red Wings split a doubleheader Wednesday afternoon to open their important road series against the Worcester Red Sox.
Rochester took game one 10-8 in a back and forth slugfest.
After Worcester took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, Travis Blankenhorn responded with a three-run home run to right centerfield to give the Wings a lead they didn’t gave back.
Jeter Downs the following inning, doubled the Rochester run total with a three-run home run of his own to a similar spot where Blankenhorn hit his.
After Worcester got back two runs in the bottom of the fourth, Drew Millas doubled with one out in the inning to score Blankenhorn to put the Wings up by four. Jack Dunn singled the at-bat after to drive home both Millas and Blake Rutherford to make 9-3 Rochester.
Worcester made it a close two-run game in the bottom of the fifth by pushing across four runs highlighted by a Bobby Dalbec lead-off solo home run.
Rutherford drew a walk in the sixth inning that allowed Derek Hill to score on a wild pitch.
Dalbec hit his second long ball of the contest in the bottom half of the inning to pull the Red Sox within two again.
Rochester hung on in the final inning to capture the victory by setting Worcester down in order.
Luis Reyes picked up the victory for Rochester out of the bullpen after pitching two thirds of an inning while striking out one and giving up two runs on three hits and a walk. Luis Cessa earned his second save of the season pitching a clean seventh inning and striking out one Red Sox.
Game two was lower scoring and did not go in the Wings favor as they fell 4-2.
Worcester jumped out to an early lead with RBI ground out from Wilyer Abreu to open the scoring.
Abreu picked up another ground out RBI in the fifth inning to extend the Red Sox lead to two. Ceddanne Rafaela doubled to put the Red Sox up by three.
Rochester got the board in the sixth inning when Jake Noll singled to score Erick Mejia who singled to lead off the inning.
Ryan Fitzgerald tripled to put Worcester back up by three in the bottom half of the sixth inning.
Hill pull the Wings within two in the seventh inning with a two out double to score Dunn who led off the frame with a six pitch walk. Rochester was not able to overcome the deficit in the final inning and fell short of the sweep.
The Rochester Red Wings (12-11/46-50) will look to take the lead in the series against the first place Worcester Red Sox (14-8/52-44) on Thursday at 6:45 p.m. Right handed Jose Urena (1-2, 6.09) will look to build off his solid performance last start as he will get the start for Rochester while righty Dinelson Lamet (0-0, 4.82) will be on the bump for Worcester.
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