Rochester Red Wings Game Notes - August 23 at Lehigh Valley
August 23, 2024 - International League (IL)
Rochester Red Wings News Release
Rochester Red Wings (30-18, 68-53) vs. Lehigh Valley IronPigs (22-24, 56-63)
Friday - 7:05 p.m. ET - Coca-Cola Park - Allentown, PA
Radio: Fox Sports 1280/iHeartRadio TV: Bally Live, MiLB.TV
RHP Jackson Rutledge (4-7, 6.87) vs. RHP Seth Johnson (0-0, 0.00)
IRON SHARPENS IRON: Thursday night spelled another hit parade for the Red Wings offense, who collected a season-high 18 hits on their way to a 12-3 win over Lehigh Valley...Rochester has now won nine of their last 10 games and trails Columbus by just 1.5 games in the International League second half...DH DREW MILLAS tied his career-high with four hits, including a double while driving in a pair of RBI...LF TRAVIS BLANKENHORN, in his first game back with the team after a stint with Washington, connected on his 25th home run and second triple of the season to go along with a single and a walk...on the mound, LHP ANDREW ALVAREZ limited the IronPigs offense to two earned and tied his Triple-A high with seven strikeouts...the Red Wings look to win another series and wrap up their fourth-straight win tonight, sending RHP JACKSON RUTLEDGE to the mound against IronPigs Seth Johnson.
MILLY ROCK: DH DREW MILLAS tied a career-high with four hits in last night's contest, going 4-for-6 with a double, two RBI, and a run scored...the switch-hitting catcher has a multi-hit game in four straight games for the first time since 7/23-28 in 2023 with Rochester...Millas owns a batting average of .312 (68-for-218), which is tied with Gwinnett's Drake Baldwin for best among International League catchers (min. 150 AB).
LUCKY NUMBER 13: CF DARREN BAKER extended his hitting streak to a team-leading 13 games (dating back to 8/7-G1) in last night's contest against Lehigh Valley...Baker finished the night 1-for-5 with a walk and run scored...the California native has a .344 (22-for-64) batting average during the month of August with a .391 on-base percentage...one more hit moved Baker's season total to 118, which is good for first in the Washington Nationals Organization...
Baker's 13-game hit streak is the longest active hitting streak in the International League and is the second-longest hitting streak by a Red Wing this season (Juan Yepez, 14).
KIE...BOOOOM!: 1B CARTER KIEBOOM finished last night's game 2-for-4 with a double (15th of the season), one walk, an RBI, and two runs scored ...in 12 games in August, Kieboom is batting .313 (10-for-32), with an on-base percentage of .421, and an OPS of .952...the Georgia native has a seven-game hitting streak dating back to 8/14 and a multi-hit game in three out of his last five.
SOUND THE HORN: LF TRAVIS BLANKENHORN returned to the Red Wings' lineup last night for the first time since 7/28 against Lehigh Valley... the former Met finished a double shy of the cycle and went 3-for-5 at the plate with a home run, a triple, and a walk with two RBI and four runs scored...the homer was his team-leading 25th of the season...he is the first Red Wing with at least 25 homers since Adam Brett Walker in 2016 (27)...Blankenhorn currently holds a nine-game extra-base-hit streak and a four-game home run streak as a Red Wing...
Blankenhorn is the first International League player with an XBH in nine-straight games since Luken Baker in 2023 (13, 7/25-8/9), and the first Red Wing since at least 2012.
BIG AL: LHP ANDREW ALVAREZ logged 5.0 innings of two-run baseball last night, allowed four hits, and had seven strikeouts...Alvarez picked up his fourth win of the season and owns a 1.96 ERA in four starts (23.0 IP) in August...the southpaw has thrown at least 5.0 innings in seven of his last eight starts dating back to game one of a doubleheader on 6/27...
Alvarez has struck out 23 batters in the month of August, most among Red Wing pitchers.
JUNKYARD JAKE: 2B JAKE ALU recorded a season-high four RBI on Thursday night at Coca-Cola Park, three of which came on a line drive off the wall in right field to clear the bases for a double... the New Jersey native finished the night 2-for-5 and tacked on a run scored, crossing via a SS JACK DUNN single...
In five games on a Thursday this season, Alu is batting .389 (7-for-18) with an on-base percentage of .476 and an OPS of .920.
RELIEF ON THE RISE: RHP ORLANDO RIBALTA, LHP TIM CATE, and RHP TY TICE combined to throw 3.1 innings of relief last night against the IronPigs... the relievers did not allow a run, a hit, and just one walk and struck out five batters to close out the game...
Ribalta has gone eight straight appearances without giving up an earned run, dating back to 7/28 against Syracuse.
BAT DAWGS: The Red Wings' bats exploded on Thursday evening with the team racking up 18 hits in the game, including at least one hit from every player in the lineup... this is the most hits Rochester has had in a single game since 9/18/2022, also against the IronPigs (22)... since 7/1, Rochester ranks third in the International League in batting average (.269) and second in total hits (388)...
The Red Wings offense has posted double-digit hits in eight of their last 10 games.
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