BY DAN GLICKMAN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Hits were hard to come by at Innovative Field for much of Wednesday’s game between the Rochester Red Wings and Worcester Red Sox, as veteran Rochester righty Spenser Watkins and Worcester right-hander Quinn Priester largely traded scoreless innings. Ultimately, though, a lack of clutch hitting, some late miscues, and a disastrous ninth inning sent the Wings down in defeat, 7-0.
The 32-year-old Watkins, who has seen major league time with the Orioles and Athletics, went 5.2 innings, allowing five hits and an earned run while striking out five in his second start after returning from the injured list in late August.
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“I’m feeling really good,” said Watkins on his return to the active roster. “We were able to take advantage of some downtime to work on some things while I was down, and those have been very fruitful.”
“The ultimate goal is putting the team in an opportunity to win a ballgame, so I just try to keep it as close as I could.”
The lone blemish for Watkins came in the third inning. First baseman Bobby Dalbec led off with a double to right, and then moved to third later in the inning on a Mark Contreras groundout. With two outs, a bloop from center fielder Roman Anthony– the No. 2 prospect in the Boston system according to MLB.com Pipeline- brought in Dalbec to score and put the Red Sox up 1-0.
Despite picking up the loss, Watkins’ skipper was full of praise for him after the game.
“He did an awesome job,” said Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy. “He gave us a chance to win the game.”
“We knew he was a guy that could give us some innings, a guy to give us some depth here and at the big league level to start games. He had a setback there with his back and fingers, but he’s bounced back and he knows how to pitch.”
Worcester’s Quinn Priester, meanwhile, held the Red Wings (71-61 overall, 33-26 in the second half, 4.5 games out of first in the International League in the second half) scoreless for six innings, allowing four hits while striking out eight. The following two Worcester (68-65 overall, 33-25 in the second half, 4.0 games back) pitchers also held the Red Wings to a hit each, including escaping Red Wings rallies in the sixth and eighth. Meanwhile, the Red Sox took advantage of a costly error by Jake Alu in the eighth and put up four runs off Garvin Alston in the ninth to move ahead, 7-0. By the end, Alu was used on the mound to get the final out of the top of the ninth.
Regardless of how many runs the Red Wings gave up, however, they were never going to win with zero of their own, something that LeCroy recognized, especially after only narrowly avoiding a shutout in the series opener on Monday.
“The offense had a tough time,” said LeCroy. “It was just one of those nights, where you gotta give him (Priester) credit, the guy pitched good against us. It’s been back-to-back games now where [Worcester] did a nice job and we just hadn’t made an adjustment.”
The loss moved the Red Wings into third in the International League East in the second half, a half-game back of Worcester and Scranton.
The Red Wings’ series with Worcester continues Thursday at 6:05 p.m., with right-hander Jackson Rutledge (4-8, 6.88) on the mound against Sox righty Jason Alexander (4-6, 4.59). It’ll be the first official appearance of Bruce the Bat Dog- the first 500 fans will receive a Bruce replica jersey, and the golden retriever will be available for a meet & pet later in the game with a $10-per-family donation.
Playin’ out the string. Last 2 games were awful. LeCroy praised the starter..fine. Final score though was 7-0. And only 1 run the game before. Gnats pretty much have all our offense. Maybe they will win a couple games with it.
Will the Wings simply limp to the finish line. I hope not.