Jackson Rutledge hurled four innings striking out eight as the Rochester Red Wings went on to sweep host Scranton/Wilkes Barre in International League action, Friday night.
The Red Wings are now 70-58 overall, 32-23 in the second half while they keep hopes for first place alive with wins of 6-2 and 4-1. Scranton now sits 73-55 overall, 30-24 in the second half.
The Red Wings struck first in the top of the second with Riley Adams and Trey Lipscomb each getting on base. Joey Meneses came up and roped a single to plate Adams and grab a 1-0 lead. Stone Garrett grounded out and Lipscomb scored off of it to go up 2-0.
Scranton cut into the lead in the bottom of the second with a single from Carlos Navarez scoring T.J. Rumfield to cut the lead to 2-1.
With two outs in the top of the fourth, Joey Meneses singles and Stone Garrett walked to put two runners on. Jack Dunn stepped up to the plate and hit his ninth homer of the year to extend the lead to 5-1.
In the fifth inning, Jahmai Jones scored off a groundout from Jorbit Vivas to make it a 5-2 game.
In the sixth, Stone Garrett scored off a wild pitch to put the icing on the cake in game one.
Rutledge picked up the pitching win for the Wings. Tanner Tully went four and two thirds for Scranton striking out four.
GAME TWO
In the top of the second, Jackson Cluff singled, then scored on a throwing error to get the Red Wings out to a 1-0 lead.
Going to the top of the third, Andrew Pinckney hit a solo shot to extend the lead to 2-0. In the bottom of the third, J.C. Escarra singled for Scranton. He advanced to second on a throwing error then to third on a wild pitch. Jorbit Vivas stepped up and hit a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 2-1.
In the top of the fifth with two outs, Travis Blankenhorn singled which brought a pitching change for Scranton. Victor Gonzalez replaced Oddainer Mosqueda. Joey Meneses doubles in the next at-bat to bring home Blankenhorn. Jake Alu then doubles to score Meneses and grab the 4-1 lead.
Spenser Watkins went four innings for the Red Wings striking out four. Adonis Medina got the win with one inning and fanning two.
The Red Wings face Scranton tomorrow with first pitch slated for 1:05 p.m. Thaddeus Ward (7-5, 5.40) is projected to start for the Wings.
The math isn’t very kind. 20 games remaining and a 4.5 deficit. Not likely that there is realistically any chance to overcome that. But at least the Wings returned a little touch of sanity after the ugly 5 game losing streak that effectively took them out of the race.
If they can win at least one of the next two they will keep their modest streak of not losing a series 2nd half. At least there is that. And while there is nothing significant about it anymore, they could still finish 1st in their division…something they haven’t done since Lincoln was President, or so it seems. Finishing 1st used to always mean something when it comes to post season but MLB has seen to it that post season in AAA is a completely meaningless exercise.
I wonder if, in their infinite ‘wisdom’ SOMEBODY with an ounce of brain could sit down and restore some fun to the minor league season again. Years of history don’t seen to matter anymore, but the foolishness of the AAA ‘playoffs’ is maddening. Thought maybe the split season was going to help, but it really hasn’t at all. The ‘playoffs’ are a joke; an afterthought; and they render the regular season merely an exercise in playing mostly meaningless games to simply dry run potential prospects. Clearly the ‘suits’ don’t care about the paying customers anymore.
OK, I’ve ranted about this a lot and nothing is going to change. But doesn’t it make even the smallest thread of sense, that finishing first in any divisional arrangement should be rewarded in some way?