IL1 Rochester Red Wings

Red Wings Game Notes

Published on July 1, 2014 under International League (IL1)
Rochester Red Wings News Release


Tuesday, July 1 (1:05 p.m.)

Norfolk Tides (33-52) @ Rochester Red Wings (46-38) - Frontier Field, Rochester, NY

RHP Josh Stinson (0-3, 6.28) vs. LHP Kris Johnson (6-4, 2.61)

TODAY'S GAME: The Red Wings and Norfolk Tides (Orioles) wrap up their four-game series with a 1:05 p.m. matinee this afternoon at Frontier Field. The Wings have won 4 of their last 6 games, but are still just 10-12 over their last 22 contests after a 26-game stretch (5/13-6/7) in which they went 20-6 . Rochester remains 5.0 GB of Syracuse in the IL North but still holds a slim 1.0-game lead over Columbus in the Wild Card standings. Norfolk, who owns the worst record in the league along with Charlotte, is only 7-17 over their last 24 games.

-GOING AS PLANNED: This series matches the team with the highest ERA in the IL (NOR, 4.92) vs. the team with the lowest (ROC, 3.20). So far, over the first 3 games of the series Tides pitchers have thrown to a 5.28 ERA while Wings hurlers have pitched to a 0.87 ERA. Rochester has outscored Norfolk 17-4 over the first 3 games of the set.

WITH A WIN TODAY, THE WINGS WILL...:

- Win a 4-G series over NOR for a 3rd straight season at FF & beat the Tides in a series for the 4th time in their last 5 meetings.

- Have won 15 of their last 20 games against Norfolk over the last two-plus seasons.

- Have their first 3-game win streak since June 3-4(2) at Charlotte.

KJ'S DAY: Wings southpaw Kris Johnson takes the mound on Tuesday making his 15th start of the season for the Wings. His 2.61 ERA is good for 6th-best in the IL, while his .219 BAA is 5th in the IL. Over his last 26 GS at Triple-A, Johnson is 11-5 with a 2.18 ERA (39 ER/160.2 IP). In 8 career games (5 GS) against NOR, Johnson is 2-1 with a save and a 0.74 ERA (3 ER/36.1 IP). In fact, he hasn't allowed an ER over his last 6 appearances vs. NOR (24.2 IP) dating back to 2009 . In his last start, Johnson struck out 9 on Thursday against Lehigh Valley for the first time since his career-high 10 strikeout performance on 8/2/07 with Lancaster (A). Johnson has now struck out 8 or more on three occasions this season after not striking out 8 in a game since Aug. 8, 2008 with Portland (AA) . He's averaging 7.7 SO/9 IP this season -- the highest ratio of his career (at least 50 IP).

GRAND SLAMMIN': INF Doug Bernier's second career grand slam Monday night was the Wings' league-leading 6th of the season. The Red Wings - despite ranking dead last in the IL with 50 HR this season - have now hit 6 of the 22 slams in the league (27.3%) - including four of the last eight hit . The 6 grand slams are the most for a Wings team in one season since 2005 (7 GS). In order, James Beresford (5/5 @ COL), Deibinson Romero (5/15 v. COL), Chris Colabello (6/6 @ CHA), Josmil Pinto (6/14 v. LHV) and Daniel Ortiz (6/19 vs. PAW) have the other slams for the Wings this season. The Wings have now hit 6 slams at Frontier Field over the last two seasons after going four full seasons without one at home (2009-2012).

- 64% (32 of 50) of the Wings' homers this season have come with at least one runner on base and 32% (16 of 50) have come with at least two runners on.

BLOSSOMING IN THE FLOWER CITY: INF Doug Bernier hit his second career grand slam on Monday and his first since August 16, 2008 with Colorado Springs. The slick fielding shortstop now has 4 homers on the season - the 2nd highest total for any season in his career (9 in 2008 w/ Colorado Springs). Bernier has 7 HR in 160 career games with the Red Wings after hitting just one HR in his previous 301 IL games with SWB and IND . Over his first 160 career games with ROC, Bernier is hitting .292 (147-504) with 74 RBI...Over the prior 301 games (2009-2012) in the league, Bernier hit just .216 (193-892) with 74 RBI.

- Bernier is hitting a team-best .382 (21-55) w/ RISP this season & his hitting .324 (48-148) w/ RISP over 2 years w/ ROC.

ROUNDING INTO FORM: Chris Colabello is starting to look like the 2013 IL MVP again. Over his last 8 games, Colabello is hitting .344 (11-for-32) with 4 doubles, 2 home runs and 7 RBI . After going 2-for-24 over his first 7 games back with Rochester, he's hitting .314 (32-for-102) over his last 28 games with 8 2B, 4 HR and 20 RBI. Colabello's home run on Monday night was his first at Frontier Field since 6/20/13 -- his previous 12 Triple-A homers (9 last season and 3 this year) had come on the road. In his affiliated baseball career, 45 of his 58 home runs over the last three seasons have come on the road (17 of 19 at Double-A, 18 of 28 at Triple-A and 10 of 11 in the Major Leagues).

BRILLIANT BULLPEN: After three more shutout innings on Monday, the Wings' bullpen ERA over the last 10 games has dipped to 1.53 (5 ER/29.1 IP). Over this 10-game stretch, the bullpen has allowed just 17 hits (5 for XBH) and only 4 walks in 29 1/3 innings . In fact, the bullpen hasn't issued a walk over their last 16 innings pitched. The relief corps has been a strength of the team all season long as they hold a 2.77 season ERA. Of the six relievers on the Wings current roster who have spent the majority of the season here (at least 16 appearances), four have an ERA of 2.41 or lower and four have a BAA of .220 or lower .

Check out the Rochester Red Wings Statistics

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