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ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Jorge Vazquez knows he may have a long wait if he plans on playing in the Bronx.
The native of Mexico plays first and third base, positions currently held by New York Yankees superstars Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez.
But while he’s waiting, Vazquez will swing for the fences. And Monday night, he connected twice.
Vazquez drilled two long home runs in the first two innings, powering the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees past the Red Wings 11-0 at Frontier Field.
“I’ve seen that guy for the past three years,” Wings manager Tom Nieto said. “He has only improved.”
Wind gusts topped 30 mph, and Vazquez ripped a three-run shot to left in the first inning off Andy Baldwin and a two-run blast to right-center in the second.
Greg Golson added a two-run shot in the fourth. Nieto didn’t believe the wind had anything to do with the long balls, and Vazquez wasn’t saying.
“Sometimes it helps,” he said through an interpreter, Yankees infielder Ramiro Pena. “But a homer is a homer.”
Vazquez beat the Red Wings on Sunday as well, breaking a 5-5 tie with a two-run homer in the eighth inning. He has 27 RBI in 16 career games against Rochester.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has hit nine homers in the first three games of the series.
Vazquez, who turned 29 last month, spent nine seasons playing in his native Mexico before joining the Yankees’ farm system in 2009. After missing the first half of the 2010 season following an appendectomy, he hit .329 with 13 home runs and 56 RBI in 57 games with Double-A Trenton.
Last year, he hit .284 with 18 homers and 68 RBI in 86 games at Trenton and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He also was named MVP of the Caribbean World Series in February and hit a homer over the 400-foot center field batter’s eye at the Yankees’ spring-training park in Tampa.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman calls Vazquez “a major-league bat” but quickly adds that his road to The Show is blocked.
Vazquez takes it in stride.
“I have to play hard and see what happens,” he said. “It’s a long season, and there are more teams than just the Yankees.”
Yankees right-hander D.J. Mitchell worked out of trouble in the bottom of the second. With runners at the corners and two outs, he struck out Chase Lambin on a 3-2 changeup to end the threat.
The Yankees struck again in the fourth. Greg Golson hit a two-run homer to center, and another run scored on Brandon Laird’s sacrifice fly as the lead grew to 9-0.
Mitchell tossed 3 2/3 innings of shutout ball but was removed after he hit 80 pitches. He didn’t pitch the five innings necessary to earn a win. That honor went to Amaury Sanit, who threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings and struck out four.
Golson singled in the Yankees’ 10th run in the seventh and came one double shy of hitting for the cycle. Jordan Parraz’s double in the eighth made it 11-0.
The Yankees also beat the Red Wings 11-0 in Moosic on April 17, 2009.
The four-game series concludes tonight with a 7:05 start. Rising star Andrew Brackman makes his first start for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre against fellow right-hander Anthony Swarzak.
SWB YANKEES
ROCHESTER
ab
r
h
bi
ab
r
h
bi
Golson dh
4
3
3
3
Revere cf
4
0
1
0
Brewer ph
1
0
0
0
Roberts cf
0
0
0
0
Dickerson lf
5
2
1
0
Plouffe 2b
2
0
0
0
Montero c
5
2
3
1
Grdnhire 2b
0
0
0
0
Gil c
0
0
0
0
Dinkelman lf
3
0
1
0
Vazquez 1b
5
2
2
5
Martin dh
3
0
0
0
Laird 3b
4
0
0
1
Brown 3b
4
0
0
0
Parraz rf
5
0
3
1
Bailey 1b
3
0
2
0
Maxwell cf
3
1
0
0
Tosoni rf
4
0
1
0
Russo 2b
4
0
1
0
Lambin ss
4
0
0
0
Pena ss
5
1
1
0
Rivera c
4
0
1
0
Totals
41
10
14
10
Totals
31
0
6
0
SWB Yankees
330
300
110
—
10
Rochester
000
000
000
—
0
E – Parraz (1), Lambin (1). LOB – SWB Yankees 9, Rochester 9. 2B – Montero (1), Parraz (1). 3B – Golson (1), Pena (1). HR – Vazquez 2 (3), Golson (2). SF – Laird.
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
SWB Yankees
Mitchell
3.2
2
0
0
4
4
Sanit (W, 1-0)
2.1
3
0
0
0
4
Carlyle
2.0
0
0
0
1
2
Wordekemper
1.0
1
0
0
0
1
Rochester
Baldwin (L, 0-1)
3.2
10
9
9
3
2
Gutierrez
2.2
1
1
1
1
2
Bazardo
1.2
3
1
1
0
3
James
1.0
0
0
0
0
2
WP – Wordekemper, James. HBP – Russo (by Bazardo).
Umpires – HP: David Rackley. 1B: Toby Basner. 3B: Gerard Ascani.
T – 2:54.
Att – 3,144.