STAFF REPORTS
The Rochester Red Wings topped the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders 8-3 Tuesday night at Frontier Field. The teams meet again in a 7:05 p.m. contest Wednesday night; former Mets manager Bobby Valentine makes an autograph appearance, and it’s another $1 Wednesday with $1 Zweigle’s hot dogs, peanuts, chips, and Cracker Jack.
Just four pitches into the ball game, Mark Payton put the RailRiders ahead 1-0 following a solo shot against Rochester starting pitcher Fernando Romero.
Rochester tied the game in the bottom half of the first after Nick Gordon came around to score from second base on a bloop single from Willians Astudillo. Gordon reached base after striking out on a wild pitch, then stealing second base during the next at-bat.
Cessa went just one inning for Scranton after allowing one run on two hits while striking out a pair. He threw 20 pitches, 13 for strikes.
The Wings took a commanding lead in the third after plating four runs. Rochester took a 2-1 lead after newcomer Tyler Austin, who was traded to Minnesota yesterday by the Yankees, blasted a 454-foot home run that traveled at 113 miles per hour against former teammate Brady Lail. Rochester continued to add to the lead after Astudillo and LaMonte Wade both singled to put a pair of runners in scoring position before Jon Kemmer homered to increase the Wings lead to 5-1.
Romero continued to shut down the Scranton offense until the sixth inning, sitting down 13 consecutive batters before allowing a single to Luke Voit. After issuing a walk to Rey Navarro, a pair of hits from Abiatal Avelino and Zack Zehner brought home two to score and cut the Rochester lead to 5-3. This ended Romero’s night as he was replaced by Jake Reed. Romero allowed three runs on five hits over 6.2 innings while walking two and striking out four. He threw 91 pitches, 58 for strikes.
A two-out rally in the seventh sparked three Rochester runs, putting the game out of reach. After Stephen Tarpley retired the first two batters of the inning, Kemmer singled and Jeremy Hazelbaker walked, allowing for Taylor Motter to hit his fourth home run of the year to extend the Wings lead to 8-3.
Reed worked 2.1 relief innings, allowing two walks and a hit by pitch.
The Red Wings out-hit the RailRiders 12-5.
Winning pitcher: Romero (3-3)
Losing pitcher: Lail (4-5)
Save: Reed (2)
Losing pitcher: Lail (4-5)
Save: Reed (2)
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