STAFF REPORTS
Alejandro De Aza and Ramon Flores homered, part of a record-tying home run night as the Rochester Red Wings beat the Gwinnett Stripers 8-3 Tuesday night at Frontier Field. The series with the Stripers – who still have the league’s best record – continues Wednesday night, on Salute to Pro Wrestling Night with post-game fireworks. WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler will sign autographs and pose for photos with fans.
Rochester got on the board first in the bottom of the first with a bases loaded walk. The Wings started the inning with a double and drew two walks to load the bases off Gwinnett’s starter Ian Anderson. Alejandro De Aza came up to the plate and drew a five-pitch walk to score Drew Maggi from third to give the Wings a 1-0 lead.
Gwinnett tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the third inning. Red Wings starter Sean Poppenallowed a triple and then a single to Drew Water to tie the game. Gwinnett added another run in the inning to take a 2-1 lead.
In the bottom of the third the Red Wings’ first three batter reached safely. For the second time of the game De Aza came up to bat with the bases load. With a 3-0 count De Aza hit a grand slam landing on top of the Re/Max Nest pavilion in right field, giving the Red Wings a 5-2 lead. It was De Aza’s sixth home run of the year with Rochester. Also during the inning Brandon Barnes and Mike Miller, who made their Frontier Field debuts, recorded their first hit as a Red Wing at home.
With two out in the top of the fourth Rochester called to the bullpen and Ryan Eades came into relief. Poppen finished with 3.2 innings pitched, allowing six hits, two earned runs, two walks, and struck out six. He threw 73 pitches, 44 for strikes.
Anderson’s night was over to begin the fourth. In his Triple-A debut he finished with 3.0 innings pitched, allowing six hits, five earned runs, four walks, while striking out five. 44 of his 76 pitches were for strikes.
In the top of the fifth Gwinnett got back on the board. Cristian Pache hit a single to cut the Red Wings lead to 5-3.
Rochester registered two consecutive walks to begin the bottom of the sixth. Ramon Flores hit a one-out double to score two runs and give the Red Wings a 7-3 lead.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Flores hit a solo home run to increase the lead to 8-3. The homer, the 154th of the season for the Wings’ offense, tied the club record for most homers in one season – set back in 1959.
Preston Guilmet came on relief to start the top half of the sixth inning, and chipped in a pair of scoreless relief innings. Ian Krol took over on the mound in the top of the eighth inning, and worked two more scoreless innings,
The Stripers out-hit the Red Wings 13-10. De Aza (five RBI) and Flores (three RBI) accounted for all the Rochester run-scoring hits.
