Rochester Red Wings Game Notes
April 30, 2013 - International League (IL1)
Rochester Red Wings News Release
Buffalo Bisons (16-7) @ Rochester Red Wings (10-15)
Frontier Field - Rochester, N.Y. - 11:35 a.m.
RHP Dave Bush (2-1, 1.65) vs. LHP Andrew Albers (0-0, 4.58)
TODAY'S GAME: After a come-from-behind victory last night the Wings have a chance to win the series against the first-place Bisons with a victory on Tuesday in the finale from Frontier Field. Rochester is now 8-4 in their last 12 games after starting the year 2-11 -- the worst start for a Red Wings team since at least 1940. Still, they haven't been able to gain much ground on Buffalo as the Herd have won 12 of their last 15 games and sit 2.0 games clear of Pawtucket atop the IL North. Buffalo is a remarkable 10-3 on the road this season... Following the first scheduled off day of the 2013 season, the Wings will hit the road for an 8-game trip to Columbus (May 2-5) and Toledo (May 6-9).
WITH A WIN TODAY, THE WINGS...:
-Will win the series 3-1... And win two consecutive series for the first time since 7/28-8/5/12 @ COL (3-1) & @ TOL (4-0)
-Will even the season series with the first-place Bisons, 4-4, after Buffalo won 3 of the first 4
-Will finish the month of April going 9-4 in their last 13 games after starting 2-11 in the first 13 games of the month
-Will finish April with more wins (11) than the 2004 team which started the year 8-0 before finishing the month at 10-11
MORE ABOUT YESTERDAY...:
-The Wings won their 10th game in April for the first time since the 2008 season (13-14) after being 2-11 on April 17
-With the win and a loss by Syracuse, the Wings moved out of last place in the North for the first time since April 12
-With 3 doubles, Rochester has now recorded at least one extra-base hit in a season-high 9 straight games
-Half of the Red Wings wins this season have come by one run and 8 have been by 3 or less including 7 of their last 8 wins
GETTING MORE RELIEF: Luis Perdomo and Caleb Thielbar combined to throw 2 scoreless innings of relief behind Virgil Vasquez on Monday as the bullpen has now tossed 8.1 spotless innings in the first 3 games of the series. Thielbar inherited a runner on 3rd with one out in the 9th but induced a weak groundout by the IL's leading hitter (Negrych) and struck out Langerhans on 3 pitches to lock down his first save of the year... Since allowing 11 runs over a 2-game span from 4/22-4/23 the Red Wings relief corps has been much improved. If you take out Thielbar's 5-run, 0.1-inning outing on 4/25, the Red Wings bullpen has gone 3-0 with 4 saves and a 0.47 ERA (1 ER/19.1 IP) over the last 6 games... Even if you add Thielbar's outing, the Wings bullpen has still posted a respectable 2.75 ERA over that span. The bullpen's ERA has dipped over a run from 7.83 on 4/23 to 6.70 entering play today. 11 of the 13 relief appearances (82%) over the last 6 games have been scoreless compared to just 45% (25 of 56) the first 19 games of the season.
ALBERS & HYDE: The Red Wings are 2-2 in starts made by today's starter LHP Andrew Albers who hasn't figured in any decision yet this season... Oddly, in the 2 games the Wings won (his last 2 GS), Albers has allowed 8 runs on 13 hits and 5 walks in 8 innings. In the 2 losses, the southpaw yielded just one run on 7 hits and one walk in 9.2 innings pitched.
-In his last GS, Albers allowed a tied for career-high 9 hits... He also yielded just his 10th and 11th career HR in affiliated ball
OVER THE HUMP: Last night, OF Joe Benson became the first Red Wings player this season to extend a hitting streak past 5 games as his second inning double brought his season-long hit streak to 6 games over which he is hitting .348 (8-for-23) with 2 doubles, 2 triples, a home run, 6 runs scored and 2 RBI. Prior to going on this tear, Benson had just one extra-base hit and was hitting .158 on the season following an 0-for-6 night on 4/23. Prior to Benson, 5 different Red Wings failed trying to extend their hitting streak to 6 games this season
-Currently, Clete Thomas and Ray Olmedo are also working on 5-game hitting streaks.
NO FREE PASSES HERE: Perhaps part of the reason for the Red Wings pitching turnaround has been their command of the strike zone recently. After yielding 72 walks over the first 19 games of the season (3.79 BB/G) Rochester was 5-14. In the last 6 games, the Wings have only walked 11 batters (1.83 BB/G) and are 5-1 in those contests.
-Rochester has allowed 83 walks this season, tied for 6th most in the IL
WHAT'S ON DECK: After an off day on Wednesday, the Wings travel to Ohio to play a pair of 4-game series against Columbus (May 2-5) and Toledo (May 6-9)... Last year, the Wings went 7-1 on this road trip including a 4-game sweep of Toledo. In fact, the Wings swept the season series from Toledo 8-0 as part of their dominance over the IL West -- a division they went 24-8 against last season... Entering play today, Columbus is 13-12 (2nd in West) and Toledo is 7-19 (4th in West).
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