By: Zach Harnischfeger
ROCHESTER, NY--- It was another packed house at Innovative Field on Saturday night with an attendance of 12,168 as the Rochester Red Wings were looking to take a 3-2 series lead over Scranton Wilkes/Barre RailRiders and extend their winning streak to three games. Timely hitting and great defense led the Red Wings to a 7-3 win over the RailRiders.
"It was a team effort," Red Wings manager Matt LeCroy said. "We played some really good defense.... there is a lot of good things in this game. These have been some really good ballgames and offensively we started to wake up so that's a good sign. I am really proud of everybody, but we got to enjoy this for a little bit and then come back ready to play tomorrow."
Rochester got off to a fast start after Jack Dunn blasted a leadoff homerun in the bottom of the first inning to grab a 1-0 lead. It was his sixth of the season.
"My mom has been on my ass lately for not swinging at the first pitch," Dunn said. "She called me three days ago at like nine in the morning and said you need to swing at the first pitch more. I watched a lot of videos of his and knew I was going to get a first-pitch fastball and I didn't miss it. It felt good to get us going like that."
In the bottom of the third inning after a leadoff double by Carter Kieboom, his first double since May 21st, Dunn notched his second hit and RBI of the game. This time a single, driving in Kieboom to give Rochester a 2-0 lead.
Scranton Wilkes/Barre got the offense going in the top of the fourth inning. Jasson Dominguez led off the inning with a single and then stole second. The next batter, Ben Rice singled and drove in Dominguez to cut the lead in half, 2-1. Carlos Narvaez brought home Rice on a double and TJ Rumfield drove in Narvaez on a single to take the 3-2 lead.
Rochester regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Travis Blankenhorn led off the inning with a walk and reached second on a fielding error by RailRiders second basemen Oswald Peraza. Two batters later, Alex Call doubled and brought in Blankenhorn to tie the game at three apiece. Later in the inning, Juan Yepez scampered home on a wild pitch to give the Red Wings a 4-3 lead.
The Red Wings scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh backed by a two-run double from Kieboom to make it a 7-3 game. Those would end up being the finals runs of the game. Kieboom was great at the plate as he reached base four times in the game.
"It's a little bit of everything," Kieboom said. "I think being patient is one thing and looking for a good pitch to hit is another. That is essentially what I did tonight, and it worked out in my favor."
Spenser Watkins made his 12th start for the Red Wings on the mound and earned his fourth victory of the season. He tossed six innings allowing three runs on five hits while striking out five and walking two. This was his 12th consecutive start of at least four innings.
"He got outs, and he threw strikes," Kieboom said. "He got a lot of quick outs to and didn't have a lot of traffic on the bases. He got shut down innings and that's all you can ask out of a starter."
The Red Wings improve to 35-31 with the victory and are now on a three-game winning streak. Tomorrow, Rochester and Scranton Wilkes/Barre will square off in the final game of the series with first pitch set for 1:05 p.m. Jackson Rutledge (2-4, 7.36) is expected to start on the mound for Rochester.
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