BY DAN GLICKMAN
The Rochester Red Wings opened their series at the Scranton Wilkes/Barre RailRiders with a 8-5 win on Tuesday, powered by three home runs.
Rochester got on the board early, scoring four in the top of the first as Darren Baker and James Wood each singled before both scored when the rehabbing Joey Gallo reached first on a throwing error by Scranton’s first baseman, T.J. Rumfield. Travis Blankenhorn followed, launching a ball at 104.3 miles per hour over the right-center field fence to increase Rochester’s lead to 4-0. Blankenhorn, with 10 home runs, is tied for second in the league in the category.
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Scranton pulled within two in the bottom of the second, but a two-RBI single by Baker in the fourth again put the Wings ahead by four, 6-2. Late solo shots by Jackson Cluff and Drew Millas built more of a cushion on the way to the win.
Baker, Blankenhorn, and Cluff all finished the night with two hits.
Spenser Watkins started and threw four innings in a no-decision, allowing four hits and an earned run. Tim Cate moved to 2-1 with a relief win, going 1.2 hitless innings. Rico Garcia earned his third save of the season, getting the last two outs of the night to snuff a would-be Scranton rally.
The Wings, now 16-14 and 5.5 back in the IL East, continue their series on Wednesday at 11:05 a.m. Lefty DJ Herz gets the start against righty Clayton Beeter.
A nice win over the top team in the division. And now we’re 2 over .500! Blankenhorn continues to mash. If he is able to put in a full season here we may see some awesome numbers.
Joey Gallo only whiffed twice in his first rehab. About his average. Not sure what the Gnats were thinking when they signed him.
Would be nice to see the Wings win this series.
I know its coming but the last 2 games continue to validate that the Wings might have the worst pitching in all of professional baseball. And it has been that way since we hooked on with DC. That organization needs to get up to speed with their scouting of pitching talent because that cupboard is flat out empty.