IL1 Rochester Red Wings

PawSox Top Wings 4-2

Published on April 30, 2008 under International League (IL1)
Rochester Red Wings News Release


The Pawtucket Red Sox defeated Francisco Liriano and the Red Wings, 4-2, Wednesday afternoon at Frontier Field. Darnell McDonald and Howie Clark drove in runs for Rochester; three Red Wings relievers combined to toss 4 2/3 scoreless innings. The Wings open an eight-day road trip with a game on Thursday night in Toledo; Twins pitcher Kevin Slowey makes a rehab start for Rochester Thursday, and the game will be shown live locally on TWCS cable 26/215.

The combination of cold temperatures and wind actually produced light snowflakes in the first inning, but Wings starter Liriano needed just 11 pitches to work through the inning. Liriano struck out leadoff batter Jeff Bailey, covered first to team with Garrett Jones on the second out, and got a fly out to end the Pawtucket half of the first.

Liriano (0-1) walked the first two batters he faced in the second, and two fly ball outs later the Red Sox had a 1-0 lead with Chad Spann's sacrifice fly scoring Sandy Madera. Liriano racked up 20 pitches in the second inning.

In the third, Pawtucket reached Liriano for a pair of runs, on Jeff Bailey's wind-blown home run that just carried over the fence and into the left field bullpen. Liriano worked his way out of more trouble by striking out Spann with the bases loaded for the final out. In the fourth, Liriano set down the side in order with two ground outs and a fly ball out.

Pawtucket knuckleballer Charlie Zink was coming off his International League Pitcher of the Week selection for April 14-20, and was 2-0 with a 1.33 ERA in his last four starts. Zink handcuffed the Wings hitters early on, allowing just a walk through the first three innings. Jason Pridie picked up a single with one out in the fourth for Rochester's first hit.

Liriano's afternoon was over in the fifth, when he allowed a walk and a pair of doubles which resulted in another run and a a 4-0 Pawtucket lead. Ricky Barrett took over with the bases loaded and got a pair of outs to end the inning. Liriano's pitching line: 4 1/3 innings, five hits, four earned runs, four walks plus an intentional walk, and one strikeout.

The Wings broke through in the sixth, when McDonald's ground ball went under the glove of third baseman Spann for an error with one out and two runners on. Pridie scored to make it a 4-1 game. Clark added an RBI single to pull the Wings to within two runs at 4-2.

Zink (3-1) worked six innings, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out two. Barrett pitched 1 2/3 innings, with Mariano Gomez pitching 1 2/3 innings before giving way to Julio DePaula in the eighth.

Chris Smith pitched three scoreless relief innings for Pawtucket, picking up his first save.

After the game, outfielder Jon Knott was traded to the Phillies organization...C Ryan Jorgensen has been activated and will join the Wings for the road trip that begins in Toledo Thursday ...Randy Ruiz went 0-for-4, ending his seven-game hitting streak. During the streak he batted .429 (12-for-28) with five doubles, one triple, one home run and 10 RBI. Ruiz has at least one RBI on six of those seven games....The Red Wings have outscored their opponents 24-2 in the eighth inning this season, and 109-47 since the start of the 2007 season....Garrett Jones played his first game at first base this season, and made a nice play to take a hit away from George Kottaras in the third inning. Jones hadn't played in the field since April 15, missing time with a ! bruised knee.

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International League Stories from April 30, 2008


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