IL1 Rochester Red Wings

Rochester Game Notes, June 4 at Norfolk

Published on June 4, 2017 under International League (IL1)
Rochester Red Wings News Release


YESTERDAY: Rochester rallied from a 5-0 deficit, capped off by a six-run 6th inning, to take a 7-5 lead before Chris Dickerson's three-run home run off Kam Mickolio in the bottom half gave the Norfolk Tides an 8-7 win over the Red Wings Saturday night at Harbor Park. The Wings gave up a nine-inning season-high 15 hits in defeat. Every Wing had at least one hit, Tommy Field drove in three runs and Kennys Vargas hit his first homer since being optioned by the Twins.

TOUGH STRETCH: Rochester began a tough stretch of games last Monday. Lehigh Valley entered that series on a nine-game winning streak and finished May 24-5, Scranton/Wilkes- Barre had won six in a row entering the three-game series on the 19th, Durham had won five in a row entering last Monday, and Indianapolis, which finished 21-8 in May, completed a four-game set in Rochester on Monday. The Wings completed a four-game set in Durham Thursday. The Red Wings were 3.5 games behind the division lead and in second place before the stretch but finished 6-11 and sat 10.5 games back after the stretch on June 2.

WHAT A RELIEF: The Rochester bullpen had allowed just four earned runs in their last nine games since May 26 before Chris Dickerson hit a three-run homer off Kam Mickolio in the 6th inning Saturday at Norfolk. Still, Wings relievers have pitched to a 1.93 ERA (7 ER, 32.2 IP) in the last 10 games. Relievers had tossed 19.2 consecutive scoreless innings before a run scored in the second game of Tuesday's doubleheader in Durham. Alan Busenitz has the fourth-lowest average against among qualified league relievers at .156 (12-for-77).

OH GOODY: Niko Goodrum stretched his season-high hitting streak to nine games in game one Tuesday before finishing 0-for-3 in the second game. Goodrum was batting .202 after the game on May 18 but he's raised his average to .261 after hitting in 13 of his last 14 games, going 21-for-57 (.368) with nine doubles, two homers, 12 RBI and eight runs scored since May 19.

IN THE FIELD: Rochester is fourth in the International League with a .980 fielding percentage, though the Wings have surrendered 29 unearned runs this season. The Red Wings have committed their errors in bunches. Of the 36 errors by the Wings this season, 10 came in five games from May 3-8 and six came in three games from April 11-13 and six came in five games from May 27-30.

MURPHY'S LAW: John Ryan Murphy has been reaching base at a .462 clip in his last six games since May 26, going 5-for-19 with seven walks in those games.

PALKA TO THE DISABLED LIST: Daniel Palka fractured the index finger on his left hand during his final at-bat in the 11th inning on Saturday. He finished the game and was out Sunday before x-rays Monday revealed the injury. Palka was heating up, having hit in 10 straight games while batting .341 (15-for-44) with two doubles, three homers, nine RBI and seven runs scored since May 16.

ROSTER MOVES: The Red Wings are feeling the effects of Minnesota's struggling bullpen as the Twins made two more moves Wednesday, designating LHP Jason Wheeler for assignment and optioning RHP Ryan Pressly to Rochester. Pressly joined the Wings, INF Engelb Vielma was reinstated from the Temporary Inactive List while LHP Nik Turley was transferred to Double-A Friday. RHP Alex Wimmers had his contract selected from Rochester on Thursday. Additionally, RHP Jake Reed was reinstated from the disabled list and transferred to Double-A. Minnesota played a 15-inning game with Tampa Bay Sunday which resulted in the Twins selecting the contract of Monday's scheduled Rochester starter Wheeler and recalling RHP Drew Rucinski after placing Rule 5 pick RHP Justin Haley on the disabled list and optioning 1B Kennys Vargas to the Red Wings. That bumped RHP Aaron Slegers up a day to start Monday and resulted in RHP Ryan Eades making his Triple-A debut in game one Tuesday. Rucinski was sent back to Rochester after pitching Monday.

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