BY JONATHAN SKUZA
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Red Wings received help up and down the lineup as Alex Call, Jack Dunn and Carter Kieboom all collected two RBI to slug the Red Wings to a 7-3 victory over the Scranton Wilkes/Barre RailRiders Saturday evening.
”It was a team effort,” Red Wings manager Matthew LeCroy said. “We played some really good defense. A lot of good things in this game.”
Dunn got the offense going for the Red Wings as he took the first pitch of the inning 388 feet over the left field wall to give Rochester the early lead. The 27-year old in his next at-bat connected on the first pitch for an RBI double to score Kieboom to extend the Red Wings’ lead.
Dunn’s mentality to go first pitch hunting didn’t come from his coaches, but came from his original number one fan in his mom.
”My mom has been on [me] lately about not swinging at the first pitch,” Dunn said. “She called me three days ago and said I need to swing at the first pitch more, so I gotta listen to mom.”
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JOE TERRITO.
After Dunn got the party started it was Call’s turn to drive in some runs. After falling behind 3-2 in the fourth inning, Call tied the ballgame in the sixth with a base hit down the left field line to score Travis Blankenhorn.
After Juan Yepez gave the Red Wings the lead after scoring on a wild pitch, Call went back to work the following inning where Rochester padded their lead. The Burnsville, Minnesota native collected his second RBI base hit with two outs in the inning.
”I just kept going, pass the baton and get to the next guy,” Call said.
Kieboom followed suit in the seventh with a two RBI double that scored Yepez and Call.
”A little bit of everything,” Kieboom said. “I think being patient is one thing and looking for a good pitch is another, so that’s essentially what I did tonight.”
Recently signed Harold Ramirez made his Red Wings debut and drew three walks in the contest for the first time in his 12 year career.
”He’s not a walker, which is funny and he had three, so I just told him they were scared of him here in Triple-A,” LeCroy said.
All of Scranton’s runs came in the fourth inning when they tallied three runs on four hits. Ben Rice drove in Jasson Dominguez on an RBI base hit after Dominguez led off the inning with a base hit and stole second. Carlos Narvaez doubled to score Rice to tie the ball game. TJ Rumfield gave Scranton the lead with an RBI base hit that drove in Narvaez.
Spenser Watkins toed the slab for Rochester as he threw six innings where he fanned five while giving up three runs on five hits and two walks. After the rough fourth inning, Watkins was able to right the ship in the last two innings of his start.
”He’s a veteran guy,” LeCroy said. “ I know what I’m going to get from him every fifth day.”
After Watkins’ solid start, Luis Reyes and Joe La Sorsa came out of the bullpen and locked the last three innings down for Rochester. The two bullpen arms set down the first eight RailRider hitters they faced.
After dropping the first two games of the series, Rochester has won three straight contests in the series and will look to clinch the series on Father’s Day.
“Come in ready to play,” LeCroy said. “These guys play the game the right way every day and sometimes you just got to remind them all how big tomorrow is to try to win a series.”
The Rochester Red Wings (35-31) and the Scranton Wilkes/Barre RailRiders (40-28) will conclude their series with a Father’s Day matinee game at 1:05 p.m. as righty Jackson Rutledge (2-4, 7.36) will toe the slab for Rochester while right-hander Yoendrys Gomez (2-2, 2.79) will get the ball for the Railriders.
Leave a Reply