Red Wings Ninth-Inning Comeback Falls Short at Buffalo
Playing on Monday for the first time this season, the Rochester Red Wings fell short in a high-scoring contest at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, 8-7. 1B Juan Yepez cranked a homer in the loss, and 2B Darren Baker added two singles and a double to highlight the offense. Rochester fired
Playing on Monday for the first time this season, the Rochester Red Wings fell short in a high-scoring contest at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, 8-7. 1B Juan Yepez cranked a homer in the loss, and 2B Darren Baker added two singles and a double to highlight the offense.
Rochester fired the first shot in the second inning of the series opener tonight. 1B Juan Yepez clobbered his 11th home run of the season over the left-center field wall to give Rochester an early 1-0 lead. The Venezuela native’s second home run in three days left the bat at 105.9 mph and traveled 399 feet.
The Red Wings added on to their lead two innings later in the top of the fourth. DH Travis Blankenhorn led the inning off by dropping a fly ball into shallow center field for a single. 3B Trey Lipscomb lined a double past the diving Bison third baseman, putting two runners in scoring position for SS Jackson Cluff. The lefty smoked an 0-1 fastball 106.0 mph back up the middle to plate Blankenhorn and Lipscomb, making the score 3-0 Rochester. With RF Alex Call at the dish, Cluff stole second for his eighth stolen base of the season. Call then worked a walk to put runners on first and second. Two batters later, CF Dylan Crews reached first on a dropped third strike, loading the bases for 2B Darren Baker. Down to his last strike, the second baseman lined a single into right field for his second hit of the game. Cluff and Call hustled home to further extend the Rochester lead to five.
Buffalo thundered their way back into the game with a four-run fifth inning. LF Alan Roden worked a walk to start the Buffalo offense and the next batter, SS Rafael Lantigua drove a single the other way to put two runners on with no outs. Roden and Lantigua both advanced on a wild pitch and would later come around to score when CF Steward Berroa lined a single off of the glove of Rochester’s first baseman, making it 5-2. Two pitches later, Bisons’ C Phil Clarke deposited a sinker 385 feet into the Rochester bullpen for his first home run of the season, cutting the Rochester lead to one.
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The Bisons took the lead in the bottom half of the sixth. With two outs, DH Cam Eden drove a sinker into the left field corner for a double and Steward Berroa floated the first pitch he saw into shallow left for his second hit of the night. Eden scampered home from second on the play, knotting the game up at five a-piece. Berroa put himself into scoring position by stealing second base and Phil Clarke immediately rewarded him by dropping the Bisons’ third straight two-out hit into center. Berroa scored without a throw, giving Buffalo a 6-5 lead. The hit parade did not stop there as 3B Gabriel Cancel pummeled a 1-1 fastball over the right-center field wall, extending the Bison lead to three and giving Buffalo their second straight four-run inning.
Down to their last three outs and chasing three runs, the Red Wings rallied in the top of the ninth. Darren Baker jump started the Rochester offense by beating out an infield single. C Riley Adams worked a walk and then Travis Blankenhon reached on an error to load the bases with nobody down in the inning. Trey Lipscomb worked a five pitch walk to bring Baker home from the third, making it 8-6 Buffalo. Then, Adams scored on a Jackson Cluff fielder’s choice to cut the Bison lead to one. That’s all they would get as the Rochester rally fell short, dropping the first game of the three game set, 8-7.
RHP Brad Lord took the mound first for the Red Wings to start the series against the Bisons. The University of South Florida alum started strong, delivering seven strikeouts through the first 3.2 innings; three of which were back-to-back-to-back. He exited after working 4.1 innings, allowing four earned on five hits and walking three. RHP Luis Reyes entered in the bottom of the fifth. Reyes, who pitched for 3.2 innings to finish the contest, allowed four earned on five hits and walked two.
The Diamond Pro Player of the Game is 2B Darren Baker. The University of California product finished 3-for-5 with a double, two RBI and a run scored. This was his fifth game of the season with at least three hits, and fourth on the road. He has also scored a run in five consecutive games, tied for the second-longest active streak in the International League.
Rochester looks to pick up their first win of the series tomorrow night against the Bisons. LHP Andrew Alvarez is slated to make his fifth Triple-A start, against Buffalo RHP Chad Dallas. First pitch is slated for 6:35 p.m.
Find the box score attached here.
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