Red Wings Snap Five-Game Skid With Twin Bill Sweep Against RailRiders
Coming into their Friday night doubleheader with a season-long five-game losing streak, the Rochester Red Wings took both games of the twin bill against the Scranton/WB RailRiders. Game one was a 6-2 victory, and SS Jack Dunn accounted for three runs via his ninth home run of the season. RHP
Coming into their Friday night doubleheader with a season-long five-game losing streak, the Rochester Red Wings took both games of the twin bill against the Scranton/WB RailRiders. Game one was a 6-2 victory, and SS Jack Dunn accounted for three runs via his ninth home run of the season. RHP Jackson Rutledge turned in 4.0 solid innings on the mound with eight strikeouts, before turning the ball over to a trio of Rochester relievers that held the RailRiders at bay. Game two finished with a score of 4-1, highlighted by CF Andrew Pinckney’s first Triple-A home run and a pair of hits from SS Jackson Cluff.
The series is now tied at two games apiece heading into the final two games of the weekend. Rochester sits in second place in the International League second-half standings, 4.5 games behind Columbus.
GAME ONE:
With one out in the top of the second, C Riley Adams sliced a base hit into shallow right field to start game one of the doubleheader. 2B Trey Lipscomb followed with a chopped grounder that the second baseman could not handle properly, which added a second base runner for the Wings. 1B Joey Meneses then singled to left field to advance Lipscomb to third and bring Adams around for the early 1-0 Red Wings lead. The next batter, LF Stone Garrett chopped a changeup to second for the second out of the half inning, but Lipscomb scored and made the score 2-0 in Rochester’s favor.
Scranton/WB looked to answer in the bottom half of the frame, 1B T.J. Rumfield lined a four-seamer into left field for a single to lead off the inning. After a strikeout, DH J.C. Escarra worked a walk to put runners on first and second. A wild pitch in the following at-bat moved both runners into scoring position before C Carlos Narvaez roped a 3-2 fastball into shallow center field to score Rumfield and tie the game at one.
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With two outs in the top of the fourth inning, Meneses ripped a fastball to center field before Stone Garrett worked a walk. With two on and two out, SS Jack Dunn yanked a slider to left field for his ninth home run of the year to extend the Rochester lead to 5-1.
PH Jahmai Jones ripped a ground-rule double to start the bottom of the fifth inning. After a popout to deep center advanced Jones to third, 3B Jorbit Vivas hammered a grounder to first for the second out of the frame and added the second run of the day for Scranton/WB and moved the score to 5-2.
Stone Garrett reached base for the third time in the contest with a double to center field to lead off the top of the sixth. Dunn followed with a sacrifice bunt to advance the runner to third base, and a wild pitch allowed Garrett to score and push the lead to 6-2.
The score held at 6-2 going into the RailRiders final at-bats of the first game of the twin bill. RHP Rico Garcia closed out the seventh inning with a strikeout and forced a pop-out for the final out of the contest, snapping the Red Wings season-long five-game skid.
RHP Jackson Rutledge took the mound to start the night for Rochester for the 24th time this season. The 25-year-old went 4.0 innings, allowing just one earned run on three hits with four walks and eight strikeouts, one shy of his season-high. LHP Tim Cate entered in relief to start the fifth inning, and tossed 0.2 innings, allowing two walks and an earned run on one hit. RHP Jordan Weems took over in the fifth and turned in 1.1 hitless innings allowing just one walk while recording a strikeout. Right-hander Rico Garcia received the responsibility of closing out the game in the seventh inning and earned a strikeout in a scoreless appearance.
Thursday evening’s Diamond Pro Player of the Game for game one of the doubleheader is SS Jack Dunn. The Georgia native finished 1-for-2 with his ninth home run of the season, three RBI, a run scored, and a walk. In 13 Friday games this season, Dunn posts a batting average of .326 (14-for-43) with an on-base percentage of .453.
Find the box score for game one attached here.
GAME TWO:
After a scoreless first frame from both sides, SS Jackson Cluff led off the top of the second with a line drive single into the right-center field gap. In the ensuing at-bat, a pickoff attempt went wild and into the right field corner which allowed Cluff to scamper all the way to third. The throw to third in that same play resulted in the second error and allowed Cluff to cross the plate and give Rochester an early 1-0 lead.
Red Wings pitching held Scranton/WB scoreless in the bottom of the second, and CF Andrew Pinckney came to the plate with one out in the top of the third. The 2023 fourth-round pick out of the University of Alabama deposited his first Triple-A home run 421 feet into left-center field and over the visiting bullpen to give Rochester a 2-0 lead. The solo shot is tied for the fourth-farthest home run by a Red Wing against the RailRiders since the beginning of the 2023 season.
Scranton/WB answered in kind with a run of their own in the bottom of the third. C J.C. Escarra led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a fielding error. He moved up to third in the following at-bat, and two batters later 3B Jorbit Vivas drove a fly ball deep enough into the outfield to allow him to cross the plate and put the RailRiders on the board, 2-1.
The fourth inning proved to be scoreless, and DH Travis Blankenhorn attempted to kick off a two-out rally in the fifth with a base hit up the middle. 1B Joey Meneses took advantage in the following at-bat, and laced a double down the third base line and into the left field corner. Blankenhorn came racing around third to score from first to extend the Red Wings lead to 3-1. 2B Jake Alu then provided an RBI double of his own and replaced Meneses at second base, which gave Rochester a 4-1 lead heading into the bottom half of the fifth.
Scranton/WB came to the plate in the bottom of the seventh in search of three runs. The New York Yankees top affiliate went down in order, sealing the fourth doubleheader sweep by Rochester this season.
RHP Spenser Watkins made his first start since August 15 after he was activated off the 7-day Injured List earlier Friday afternoon. The Scottsdale, Arizona native turned in 4.0 strong innings in his 20th start (22nd appearance), allowing one earned on three hits while striking out four and walking one. RHP Adonis Medina replaced him to start the fifth, and struck out two of the three batters he faced en-route to a clean 1.0 inning before turning the ball over to RHP Zach Brzykcy. The Virginia Tech product allowed a hit but stranded the runner at second, preserving a three-run lead for RHP Amos Willingham in the seventh. The Georgia native retired the RailRiders in order to earn his first Triple-A save.
Game two’s Diamond Pro Player of the Game goes to CF Andrew Pinckney. The 6’4” right-handed hitter went 2-for-4 with his first Triple-A home run, and added a single for his second multi-hit game through his first four games with the Red Wings. He has 117 total hits this season, second-most among all Nationals Minor Leaguers behind Darren Baker (124).
Rochester looks to make it three straight wins and take control of the series Saturday afternoon against the RailRiders. RHP Thaddeus Ward will get the ball for the Red Wings for his 25th start of the season, against Scranton/WB LHP Josh Maciejewski. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.
Find the box score for game two attached here.
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