IL1 Rochester Red Wings

Rochester Red Wings Game 2, Round 1 Governors' Cup Playoff Notes

Published on September 5, 2013 under International League (IL1)
Rochester Red Wings News Release


Pawtucket Red Sox (0-1) @ Rochester Red Wings (1-0)

Frontier Field - Rochester, NY - 7:05 p.m.

RHP Clay Buchholz (0-0, 2.70) vs. RHP P.J. Walters (7-5, 4.18)

TONIGHT'S GAME 2: After the Red Wings took Game 1, 7-1, behind six strong innings from Cole De Vries and a four-hit night from James Beresford, Rochester and Pawtucket play Game 2 of their best-of-five, first-round Governors' Cup playoff series tonight (7:05 p.m.) at Frontier Field... The series will shift to McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, RI for Games 3-5 beginning with Game 3 Friday night (7:05 p.m.)... Tonight's game will be the Wings 306th all-time Governors' Cup playoff game and Rochester's 382nd all-time postseason game.

GAME 2 PROBABLES...:

-WALTERS : Has made 6 career postseason starts, 4 at the Triple-A level with Memphis (St. Louis) -- including the start in the 2009 Nat'l Championship Game vs DUR (N/D; 4.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R/ER, 3 SO)... Overall is 1-1, 4.19 ERA (16 ER/34.1 IP) in 6 GS in the postseason... His last postseason start came with MEM in 2010... Is coming off a strong outing vs Buffalo on 8/31 (W, 6.0 ip, 5 h, 2 r/er), but over his previous 4 starts was just 1-3, 8.44 ERA (15 ER/16.0 IP)... Tossed the lone CG-SHO of his career vs Pawtucket on April 21 (7.0 ip, 2 h, bb, 5 k)... Is 1-0, 3.18 ERA (4 ER/11.1 IP) in GS vs PAW in '13 and 1-0, 2.20 ERA (4 ER/16.1 IP) in 3 career GS vs PAW.

-BUCHHOLZ : Is making his 3rd rehab start -- 2nd with the Paw Sox -- as he works his way back from a neck strain that landed him on the DL in mid-June... Prior to the injury Buchholz was 9-0 with a 1.71 ERA 12 starts for the Red Sox as opponents were hitting just .195 off him... Ironically, his worst start of the season came vs MIN on 5/6 (6.0 ip, 7 h 4r/er)... In his first rehab start with Lowell (NYPL) on 8/25, Buchholz allowed 3 R (1 ER) on a hit and 3 BB in 0.2 IP... In his last start with PAW (8/30), the right-hander went 3.1 IP, 7 H, R/ER, 2 SO on 53 pitches... Thursday's rehab start is scheduled to be his last before rejoining Boston's rotation next week.

MORE ABOUT THE WINGS GAME 1 WIN IN WHICH THEY IMPROVED TO 8-2 ALL-TIME IN THE POSTSEASON AT FRONTIER FIELD...

-James Beresford (4-5; 2B, 2R, RBI) notched his first career Triple-A 4-hit game and the first 4-hit game by a Red Wing in the postseason since Quinton McCracken went 4-for-4 with a HR & 3 RBI on 9/7/06 in Game 2 of first round series vs SWB.

-Cole De Vries won his 3rd career playoff game in his 6th career postseason game allowing just one run on 5 hits and a walk in 6.0 innings... He's now allowed just 2 ER in 32.0 IP (0.56 ERA) over his last 6 starts (2 w/ ROC) since returning from an elbow strain.

-The top three hitters in the Wings lineup (Richardson, Beresford & Escobar ) went a combined 8-for-13 with 2 2B, 4 R and 2 RBI.

RED WINGS IN THE GOVERNORS' CUP PLAYOFFS:

-This is the Wings' 44th appearance in the Governors' Cup playoffs -- first since 2006 (WC) & just 2nd appearance since 1997

-The Wings are now 150-155 in 305 all-time Governors' Cup playoff games -- winning 29 series while losing 33 series.

-The Wings have won 19 first round series -- including four of their last five (two vs PAW, '96 & '97)... ROC has lost 11 Cup finals.

-The Wings own an IL record 10 Governors' Cup titles - but are in a franchise-long, 15-year title drought (Last Cup win was '97).

-The Red Wings have faced Pawtucket in the Governors' Cup playoffs 3 times (all first round series)... Rochester has won all 3 series over the Paw Sox (3-1) in 1986, 1996 and 1997.

HOW THEY GOT HERE: After a 2-11 start and a 20-30 record on May 27, the Wings made the postseason by virtue of going 57-37 over the season's final 94 G . The Wings used a 20-8 month of July (first 20-win month since Aug.,'08 and first 20-win July since going 23-6 in 1997) to move from 11.0 GB in the IL North on 7/2 to a 1.0 game lead in the division at month's end... After a 6-G losing streak (8/20-8/26) knocked the Wings out of playoff position, Rochester rebounded to win 5 of their last 7 G -- including winning 3 straight to end the regular season for the first time 1995 ... The Wings entered the final day of the season needing a win and a Norfolk loss to clinch the Wild Card (Rochester won the season series tiebreaker over the Tides, 6-2). Durham took care of Norfolk (1-0 in 10 innings) while the Wings used a season-high, 9-run 1st inning and their first triple-play since 2006 to beat SWB, 13-3 .

-Pawtucket, after an 11-30 skid dropped them to 3rd place and 4.0 GB in the North on August 9, finished the season going 19-4 in their final 23 regular season games as they clinched their 3rd straight playoff berth for the first time in team history.

RED WINGS VS. PAW SOX: The Wings claimed the 2013 season series over Pawtucket, 9-7 -- their first season series win over the Paw Sox since 2009 (10-6)... Pawtucket began the year by sweeping the Wings in a 4-G set at McCoy Stadium (4/11-14) and winning 6 of the first 8 games between the two clubs. Rochester answered with their first 4-G sweep of Pawtucket since 1995 from 7/4-7/7 at Frontier Field and entered this playoff series winning 7 of their last 8 against the Paw Sox ... Pawtucket outscored the Wings, 72-65, in the season series however the Wings held Pawtucket to 2 or fewer runs in 5 of their last 8 meetings. The Wings hit .232 with 11 HR & 16 SB vs PAW, while the pitching staff posted a 4.71 ERA and were 2-for-4 in SV chances vs the Paw Sox.

-The Wings have now beaten PAW in 5 straight games at home and have held the Paw Sox to 2 or fewer runs in 4 of the 5 games

-The Wings are now 10-3 all-time vs the Paw Sox in the postseason.

Check out the Rochester Red Wings Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



International League Stories from September 5, 2013


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central