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MOOSIC — With how well the bullpen had pitched early in the season, when RailRiders starter Jaron Long handed the ball over to the relief crew with two outs in the sixth inning with a lead, it looked like Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was destined for a victory.
Instead, the opposite happened. Rochester scored two more runs in the inning to take a lead and broke a tie in the ninth, plating five runs to knock off the RailRiders 11-6 on Wednesday morning in the first school day special of the season to sweep the three-game set at PNC Field.
With the loss, the RailRiders fall to 2-5 on the young season and start a four-game series in Syracuse Thursday afternoon.
“They’re scrappy like we are, we gotta do some things better,” RailRiders manager Dave Miley said. “It’s early, no panic, but we do have to do some things better.”
With the score tied 6-6 in the top of the ninth and Tyler Webb on the mound for SWB, the lefty got the first out and the second batter reached on an error, which opened the gates for a big inning. Webb, who needed 40 pitches to get two outs in the ninth, then allowed three straight singles as the Red Wings opened a 7-6 lead. He didn’t help things any by walking two with the bases loaded before getting pulled in favor of Danny Burawa, who gave up a two-run single to Eric Fryer. Fryer finished 4 for 5 with four RBI.
“We kinda imploded a little bit in the ninth inning with the walks and different things that happened,” Miley said.
The RailRiders held a 5-2 lead entering the top of the sixth as Long began the frame by retiring seven in a row. He allowed a pair of singles to start things off and almost induced a groundball double play, but Danny Ortiz was called safe on a bang-bang play at first. After another fielder’s choice, Long gave up a walk and a single, turning the ball over to Chasen Shreve with two runners on and two outs.
“I kinda got in a little bit of a rhythm going into that inning and they pieced together some good at-bats and just seemed like one thing led to another,” said Long, who lasted just 3 2/3 innings in his first start of the season but looked much improved on Wednesday, getting ahead of 17 of the 24 batters he faced and inducing eight groundball outs.
“I felt a lot better out there. I was able to command the ball a lot better and for me, you gotta look at the result, but you also gotta look at your quality of pitch and today I thought my quality of pitch was pretty solid.”
Shreve, who was making his first appearance since Friday night in the Yankees’ 19-inning game and being optioned to SWB, walked the first batter he faced then allowed a two-run single to, Fryer putting Rochester in front 6-5.
“That was frustrating, made me mad a little bit,” Shreve said. “I don’t like giving up other people’s runs. It frustrated me (because) Long threw well today. I was upset about it, but it happens.”
Ramon Flores, who had a day off Tuesday night being mired in a 1 for 15 slump after hitting for the cycle on Opening Day, clubbed a pair of solo homers on Wednesday — with the second one tying the game at 6-6 in the bottom of the sixth — and gunned down a runner at the plate from left field. He became the first RailRider to have a multiple home run game since Zoilo Almonte went deep three times last July 23 in a game at Gwinnett.
“It just gave me a little break, a little change of perspective to take some time off and go back to work today,” Flores said through a translator. “I was able to put together a good game today, but at the end my main goal was to help the team win but we couldn’t scratch off a win today.”
Red Wings 11, RailRiders 6
Rochester`AB`R`H`BI
Hicks cf`6`0`0`1
Rosario rf`5`2`1`0
Pinto dh`5`0`4`1
Ortiz lf`5`1`2`1
Rodriguez 1b`5`2`1`1
Beresford 2b`4`2`1`0
Martinez 3b`3`2`1`2
Diaz ss`3`1`1`1
Fryer c`5`1`4`4
Totals`41`11`15`11
RailRiders`AB`R`H`BI
Heathcott cf`4`1`1`0
Flores lf`5`2`2`2
Austin dh`4`0`0`0
Roller 1b`4`1`3`1
Romine c`4`1`0`0
Figueroa 2b`5`1`1`0
Segedin 3b`4`0`0`0
Gamel rf`3`0`2`2
Noonan ss`3`0`2`0
Totals`36`6`11`5
Rochester`002`004`005`—`11
RailRiders`103`101`000`—`6
E: Rosario (1), Figueroa (2). DP: Rochester 1, RailRiders 0. LOB: Rochester 8, RailRiders 10. SAC: Martinez. 2B: Diaz (2), Fryer (1), Roller (1). HR: Flores 2 (3). SB: Heathcott (2). Outfield assists: Rosario (Gamel at 3rd); Flores (Beresford at home)
Rochester`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Meyer`3.2`7`5`5`5`6
Pryor`2.1`2`1`1`2`3
Thielbar`1.1`2`0`0`0`0
Achter (W, 2-0)`1.2`0`0`0`0`3
RailRiders`IP`H`R`ER`BB`SO
Long `5.2`7`6`6`1`4
Shreve (BS, 1) `2.1`4`0`0`1`0
Webb (L, 0-1) `0.2`3`5`0`2`1
Burawa`0.1`1`0`0`0`0
WP: Meyer
Umpires: 1B: Tom Honec. 3B: Jonathan Bailey. HP: Carlos Torres.
T: 3:06. Att: 3,955.