Rochester Red Wings Review: April 13th – 19th

April 13th

Rochester 6, Scranton/WB 4
W: A.J. Achter (1-0, 0.00)
L: Conner Kendrick (0-1, 15.00)
SV: Michael Tonkin (2)

Mark Hamburger got the start for the Rochester Red Wings and only lasted 4.2 innings, but their offense picked him up enroute to a 6-4 series opening victory.  Rochester improved to 3-1 on the season, while Scranton/WB falls to 2-3.

Aaron Hicks was the story for Rochester as he was just a home run away from the cycle.  He drove in four of the six Red Wings runs ending the night going 3-for-5.  Danny Ortiz hit his first home run of the season in the fifth inning off of Scranton pitcher Danny Burawa, which proved to be the game-winner.  The middle of the Red Wings order was a combined to go 0-for-17 with six strikeouts.  Luckily they had the rest of the team to pick them up, but in order for them to continue their success that will need to change.

Rochester received some nice innings out of their bullpen.  Four relievers gave the team 4.1 of scoreless baseball which closed the door on the RailRiders.  Michael Tonkin recorded his second save of the season, while A.J. Achter picked up his first win.

Player of the Game: Aaron Hicks 3-for-5, 2B, 3B, 4 RBI

April 14th

Rochester 3, Scranton/WB 1
W: Pat Dean (1-0, 1.50)
L: Bryan Mitchell (0-1, 3.68)
SV: Michael Tonkin (3)

The Red Wings improved to 4-1 on the season thanks to a two-run sixth inning and very good pitching.  Pat Dean got the start for Rochester and went six solid innings giving up just one run on four hits with eight strikeouts.  All the bullpen did was allow just one hit the remainder of the game and struck out four more RailRiders.

Rochester’s closer Michael Tonkin notched his third save of the season and still hasn’t allowed a hit.  In fact the only blemish on his stat line so far is the one walk he allowed.

The Red Wings got on the board first in the third inning thanks to two wild pithes by RailRiders pitcher Bryan Mitchell, which allowed Josmil Pinto to score.  Two extra-base hits in the sixth inning by Argenis Diaz (double) and Aaron Hicks (triple) proved as the game-winning runs.

Player of the Game: Pat Dean 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 8K

April 15th

Rochester 11, Scranton/WB 6
W: A.J. Achter (2-0, 0.00)
L: Tyler Webb (0-1, 2.08)

Alex Meyer made his second start of the season but didn’t last very long.  Meyer lasted just 3.2 innings allowing five runs on seven hits.  He did strike out six, but he ended up walking five.  In his two starts this season, Meyer has allowed 11 hits and 11 walks in 8.2 innings bringing his WHIP to a whopping 2.54, and opponents are hitting .344 against him.  Not quite the recipe for success.  Good thing for him the Red Wings offense picked him up.

The Red Wings and RailRiders were tied up at 6-6 heading into the top of the ninth, but Rochester would head into the bottom of the ninth with a five-run lead, thanks for four singles, two walks and a fielding error.  Eric Fyer led the offensive charge for the Red Wings going 4-for-5 with four RBI.

A.J. Achter threw 1.2 innings of flawless relief and was the benefactor of the big ninth inning by Rochester and picked up his second win of the season, as the Red Wings improve to 5-1 and the Scranton/WB RailRiders fall to 2-5.

Player of the Game: Eric Fryer 4-for-5, R, 2B, 4 RBI

April 16th

Pawtucket 8, Rochester 7
W: Dana Eveland (1-0, 6.35)
L: Ryan Pressly (0-1, 1.93)

Bryce Brentz put an end to the Red Wings win streak with a walk-off home run with one out in the bottom of the ninth.  Rochester looked like they were in control after a four-run fifth inning gave them a 7-3 lead over Pawtucket.  The Red Sox however felt a little differently as they chipped away at the lead to put them in position for the walk-off win with the score tied at 7-7.

Taylor Rogers got the start for Rochester and went six innings giving up five runs on eight hits, along with three walks and seven strike outs. Logan Darnell came in relief for Rogers and wasn’t that effective giving up two runs in 2/3 innings.  Ryan Pressly came on to try and close the game out but wasn’t successful recording his first blown save of the season and suffering his first loss.  Red Wings’ pitchers did allow three home runs on the day.

The loss wasn’t due to a lack of offense, because the Red Wings did score seven runs on 12 hits.  Reynaldo Rodriguez ended the day going 3-for-4 with an RBI and Jose Martinez drove in two runs, but the pitching couldn’t hold on.   The Loss drops Rochester’s record to 5-2, while the Pawtucket Red Sox improve to 5-3.

Player of the Game: Blake Swihart (PAW) 3-for-4, 2B, R, 3 RBI

April 17th

Pawtucket 6, Rochester 4
W: Dalier Hinojosa (1-0, 5.06)
L: A.J. Achter (2-1, 3.00)
SV: Tommy Layne (1)

The Red Wings would drop their second in a row on Friday to the Pawtucket Red Sox 6-4.  Jason Wheeler got the start for Rochester and was decent in his five innings of work.  He allowed two runs on five hits, while walking two and striking out four.

Pawtucket got on the board first scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning on a two-run single by Blake Swihart.  The Red Sox would hold on to the 2-0 lead, until the fifth inning when Rochester’s Eddie Rosario belted a grand slam off Henry Owens giving the Wings a 4-2 lead.

The lead didn’t last long as Pawtucket would rattle off four unanswered runs to take the lead for good in the bottom half of the eighth inning.  Dalier Hinojosa would strike out the side after allowing a lead-off single in the top of the ninth, securing the win for the Red Sox.

Player of the Game: Bryce Brentz (PAW) 2-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI

April 18th

Pawtucket 13, Rochester 3
W: Eduardo Rodriguez (1-0, 2.31)
L: Mark Hamburger (0-1, 9.35)

The Pawtucket Red Sox got to the Red Wings pitching early and often scoring plenty of runs beating Rochester 13-3.  Mark Hamburger got the start and wasn’t good, allowing five runs on 10 hits in just four innings of work.  On the other side, Eduardo Rodriguez did what he needed to go to record his first win of the season.

The long ball would be the story on this one as balls were just flying out of McCoy Stadium, as both teams would combine for five dingers including two from Humberto Quintero of Pawtucket.

The game would remain close for the first half until the Red Sox pulled away and never looked back.  Stephen Pryor came in for Hamburger and got lit up himself giving up six runs in an inning and a third.  It wasn’t in the cards for the Red Wings in this one because they just couldn’t solve Pawtucket’s pitching.

Player of the Game: Humberto Quintero (PAW) 3-for-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 5 RBI

April 19th

Pawtucket 4, Rochester 3
W: Zeke Spruill (2-0, 1.35)
L: Ryan Pressly (0-2, 4.50)
SV: Tommy Layne (2)

The Red Wings were hoping to avoid a series sweep against the Red Sox but it wasn’t to be.  Pawtucket beat Rochester 4-3 earning the sweep and improving their record to 8-3, while the Red Wings fall to 5-5.

Things looked pretty good in the early going as Rochester would score two runs in the top half of the first, and would get great pitching from starter Pat Dean who went six strong innings giving up just two hits and striking out seven.  The lead would get away from Dean and the Wings unfortunately at the expense of relief pitcher Ryan Pressly and some shaky defense.  Pressly gave up the game-tying runs in the seventh and then the eventual game-winning runs in the eighth.

Four Red Wings players would record multi-hit games, but it wouldn’t be enough.  Brock Peterson belted his third home run of the season in the losing effort.

Player of the Game: Tommy Layne (PAW) 1 IP, SV

The Week Ahead

April 20th – 23rd @Syracuse
April 24th – 26th vs Syracuse