IL1 Rochester Red Wings

Red Wings Demolish Scranton

Published on August 29, 2008 under International League (IL1)
Rochester Red Wings News Release


RED WINGS DEMOLISH SCRANTON YANKEES The Rochester Red Wings are not going to make it to the playoffs this season, but they sure took it to the team atop the division as they crushed the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, 9-3, on Friday night at Frontier Field. Matt Macri was a big part of the offense with a 2-for-4 night, including a triple and three RBIs.

The win also guaranteed the Wings (72-69) at least a .500 season with three games left on the schedule. Although Rochester cruised to an easy victory, you could never tell it from the top of the first inning.

Red Wings' starter Brian Bass started his second Rochester game pretty rough. After chucking the bases full with Yankees, Bass surrendered a sacrifice fly to Shelley Duncan, giving them a 1-0 lead. His defense didn't help him much after that either as two consecutive errors proved deadly as the Yankees tacked on another run, making it 2-0.

"The first inning is always tough on us," Red Wings manager Stan Cliburn said of his team who has allowed 110 runs in the first inning, the most of any inning total this season. "Statistically that puts you behind in a game but our team doesn't quit."

"I had a few bad breaks in the first," Bass said. "You just have to have damage control and get as many outs as you can."

Turns out for Bass, his offense was the "damage control" against Yankees starter Victor Zambrano.

In the second inning, Trevor Plouffe reached on a sharp single into left field. Macri followed him with an arching ball that hit the base of the centerfield wall for a triple to plate Plouffe. Ryan Jorgensen scored Macri, two batters later, with a sac fly to left field, knotting the score at 2.

The Wings continued with their hot swings in the third and fourth innings. After Howie Clark led-off with an infield single off the glove of Zambrano, Garrett Jones laced a double into center to score him. In the fourth, Jason Pridie reached on a double to the right field corner and was driven in when Alejandro Machado belted a triple to deep center that glanced off Melky Cabrera's glove. Those runs put the Wings up, 4-2.

But the fifth is when the Wings really let loose and made the runs rain.

Four pitches into the inning, Jones jacked a ball into right-center off the 'Fan Zone'. After three more batters reached and two more scored on a Macri double, Zambrano was removed in favor of Scott Patterson. Zambrano finished allowing eight runs on 11 hits, walking three and struckout two.

Brock Peterson rewarded that move by depositing a ball into the right field bullpen, scoring Macri. After the inning was through, Rochester found itself up a total of seven runs, 9-2.

Bass was taken out for Ricky Barrett for the fifth. Bass finished with two runs (one earned) on four hits. He struck out three.

Barrett went one inning, the sixth, and allowed one run on a sac fly to Chad Moeller, moving the Yanks (83-54) one closer, 9-3. After that, Olympic bronze-medal winning pitcher Brian Duensing came into the game. It was his first appearance for the Red Wings since coming back from Beijing, and he didn't disappoint. In his two innings of relief, he didn't allow a man to get on base. Tim Lahey came in for him and pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning, ending the game on a harmless groundout.

"It was good having Duensing back for those two innings," Cliburn said. "It will help him get ready for his start on Monday."

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International League Stories from August 29, 2008


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