IL1 Rochester Red Wings

Bisons Take 6-2 Decision Over Wings

May 14, 2007 - International League (IL1)
Rochester Red Wings News Release


The Red Wings lost their second straight to Buffalo Monday night at Frontier Field. Buffalo broke out with four home runs and shut down the Wings' offense to win 6-2. Matt Tolbert had two hits to raise his International League leading batting average to .396, and Alexi Casilla added two hits and an RBI for the Wings.

Buffalo starter Rafael Perez got the win after pitching seven and two-thirds innings, giving up two runs while striking out seven. Andy Marte went 4-for-4 with a home run and Mike Rose added two hits with two RBI to lead the Bisons offense.

The Wings threatened to score first in the second inning when Matt LeCroy led off with a walk, followed by a Jose Morales single to center. But Tommy Watkins hit into a double play and Matt Moses followed with a strikeout to end the threat.

The Wings struck first in the fourth inning. Casilla got things started with a leadoff single and advanced to second base because of an error by Bisons' shortstop Hector Luna. Glenn Williams followed with a single to right and LeCroy knocked in the first run with a line-drive single to left field. Watkins ended the inning after grounding into his second double play.

The lead was short-lived after Buffalo started the fifth inning with four consecutive hits. Marte tied the game with a leadoff home run that hit the video scoreboard in left field. After Luna followed with a single, Rose gave Buffalo a 3-1 lead when his homer to left field fell just out of reach of Watkins' glove. The Bisons then loaded the bases after back-to-back singles with only one out, and Shin-Soo Choo drove in their fourth run after grounding into a fielder's choice, making it 4-1. Starting pitcher Dave Gassner took the loss after allowing four runs on nine hits in five and one-third innings pitched.

Buffalo threatened again in the sixth. After Rose's single forced Gassner to leave the game, the Bisons loaded the bases when Jason Cooper hit a single off Wings' reliever Jason Miller with only one out. But Miller forced Ryan Mulhern to ground into a double play to end the inning.

After the Wings continued to struggle on offense, Buffalo added two more runs in the seventh. Luis Rivas and Keith Ginter hit solo home runs off Miller to extend the Bisons lead to 6-1.

Rochester added a run in the eighth when Casilla hit a line-drive double to left field to score Tolbert, finishing the scoring for the Wings.

The Wings hit well off of Bisons reliever Brian Sikorski in the ninth inning, loading the bases following Trent Oeltjen's single with only one out. However, Tolbert and Denard Span followed with consecutive strikeouts to end the game.

NOTES: The Wings left 22 runners on base..... INF Gil Velazquez joined the Wings from Double-A New Britain on Monday but did not play... Tolbert also leads the league in on-base percentage.

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