BY JONATHAN SKUZA
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Red Wings extended their winning streak to four games with a 7-3 victory over the Omaha Storm Chasers behind strong performances from Thaddeus Ward and Darren Baker Thursday evening.
”You gotta give credit to mister Thad Ward,” Red Wings’ manager Matthew LeCroy said. “He was in total control of the ball game. He kept us in it. He gave up an opposite field home run for his only damage, but how we responded in the bottom of the seventh for me is what our team is about.”
Ward led the charge on the mound hurling seven strong innings on the mound for the Red Wings. The 6-foot-3 right-hander punched out six Omaha batters while giving one run on four hits and no walks.
”I think Brady [Lindsly] and I put together a good game plan on how we wanted to attack the hitters in their lineup,” Ward said. “A lot of help from the defense, we had an incredible behind all of us pitchers and they made a lot of really good plays for us.”
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Ward earned his second victory in a row on the mound, building off of a five inning outing against Lehigh Valley last week.
”He’s got really good stuff to shut down a team like he did tonight,” LeCroy said. “He’s starting to get a little confidence. He could’ve easily went back out. I really like where he’s at. We need him if we’re going to win this thing and get into it and try to extend our season into September.”
Not only was Ward strong on the mound, his defense behind him was just as strong. The Rochester turned two double plays and made some stellar plays in the outfield to record outs. The first one came when Jack Dunn threw out Ryan Fitzgerald at second base trying to stretch his base hit into a double in the second inning. Then, Baker made a diving catch in left field to record the first out in the fifth inning.
”They’ve been fantastic all year long,” Ward said. “I know we’ve had guys moving up and down and moving all over the place, but it’s been from start to finish this year, so far, it’s been really strong defensively.”
”I’m so happy for our defense all year,” LeCroy said. “We got a lot of winning players on here and that’s hopefully going to continue the way we know how to play and play together as a group.”
Baker was the hero on the offensive side of the ball with a four RBI night on three hits including a double that drove in two in the seventh to give Rochester the lead it never gave back. The clutch double came with the bases loaded and no outs
”Just trying not to do too much,” Baker said. “I enjoyed those moments and came through tonight.”
The Redwood City, California native’s other two RBI came the following inning with a base hit in the same situation he found himself in his previous at-bat.
”He’s proving people all the time that he can play in the big leagues,” LeCroy said. “We can him the hit collector. He find ways to get on. It’s fun to watch him. He has a smile on his face all the time. That was a big spot for us in the game for us to really put the dagger in them.”
The Rochester offense started out well with the newest Red Wings Jose Tena and Andres Chaparro connecting for the contest’s first run. Chaparro drove in Tena with a base hit after he collected a one out double.
Tena came to the Red Wings in the Lane Thomas trade to Cleveland while Chaparro came to Rochester in the Arizona trade for Dylan Floro.
”We added some more pieces to our club,” LeCroy said. “We lost [Alex] Call and Blank (Travis Blankenhorn), we lost two really good offensive players and we added some guys that can help pick up those pieces and I’m excited for this group.”
The Red Wings offense went cold before the seventh inning when Baker gave Rochester lead after giving up the tying home run in the top half of the inning. Tena collected an RBI in the big inning with an RBI base hit and Dylan Crews collected a sacrifice fly RBI the next inning to round the Rochester scoring.
Rochester as of late has been using small ball tactics like dropping bunts as of late to help them in tight contests especially of late in the last two series. Rochester used the bunt in the seventh inning with Dunn and Lindsly using it to get on base for Baker to drive in runs with the bases loaded.
”You’re forcing the other team to make plays,” LeCroy said. “It’s just a way for us to continue to put pressure on them to get outs.”
”I think it’s just rooting for each other and playing hard just to win the game and enjoy,” Baker said.
Omaha did start a small rally in the ninth inning, but Rochester was able to put an end to it after the Storm Chasers pushed two across.
Rochester finished July 13-10 for their third consecutive winning month after going 16-13 in May and 15-11 June. It was the first time Rochester has achieved this since June-August of 2019.
”This is fun, you’re playing for something,” LeCroy said. “We’ve put ourselves in the situation in these last with these last 44 games to play for something. Every game is going to be magnified and every play and every pitch and that’s why you want to play for something in the end.”
The Rochester Red Wings (19-11, 57-46) will continue their series with the Omaha Storm Chasers (15-15, 64-39) on Friday at 6:45 p.m. as Rochester will send southpaw Andrew Alvarez (2-3, 6.18) to the mound while Omaha will have lefty Daniel Lynch IV (7-0, 3.59) toe the slab.
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