BY DAN GLICKMAN
The Rochester Red Wings moved to 4-1 on the season on Thursday with a 3-1 victory over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, paced by a 10-strikeout, one-hit performance over five innings from left-hander Andrew Alvarez.
Alvarez (1-0), who became the fourth Red Wings pitcher since 2004 to strike out 10 batters in five or fewer innings, faced only one major threat, when he walked Payton Henry in the top of the third before Jonathan Ornelas notched the lone hit against Alvarez with a double to put two men in scoring position with one out. Alvarez got out of it, however, striking out Spencer Jones before getting Max Shuemann to line out to left to end the inning. Henry and Ornelas would be the only baserunners against Alvarez.
Meanwhile, the Red Wings offense jumped ahead early. Christian Franklin led off the bottom of the first with a single, and then Harry Ford doubled to left get two men into scoring position. The next batter, Dylan Crews, brought Franklin home on a groundout. Although a double play later in the inning ended the Wings threat, they left the first inning up 1-0.
That score remained static until the bottom of the seventh, when Robert Hassell III drew an opening walk before moving to third on a ground-rule double from Trey Lipscomb. Yohandy Morales then sent a fly ball to right that dropped in front of Yanquiel Fernandez, allowing Hassell to score and make it 2-0. Lipscomb later scored on a sacrifice fly by Zack Short to extend the lead to 3-0.
The Rochester bullpen held the RailRiders hitless until the ninth, when the Yankees farmhands threatened against reliever Seth Shuman. With one out, Max Schuemann drew a walk before Oswaldo Cabrera sent a grounder into right to put men at the corners. A walk loaded the bases before Paul DeJong flew out on a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1. The Wings were able to escape, though, with a force-out to second to end the game.
Rochester, at 4-1, are a half-game back of Lehigh Valley in the IL East and one game back of the unbeaten Memphis Redbirds in the International League’s first half.
The Red Wings and RailRiders continue their series on Friday with a double-header of two seven-inning games. Game one starts at 1:05 p.m., with the second game scheduled to begin a half-hour after.
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