Red Wings Split Doubleheader With RailRiders

The Rochester Red Wings split their doubleheader against Scranton/WB Saturday, winning game one by a score of 15-3, and dropping game two, 5-3. C Drew Millas and LF James Wood each homered twice in game one to propel an offense that went deep five times, most by a Red Wing team in a seven-inning game since July 5, 2011, against Pawtucket (now Worcester). RF Travis Blankenhorn launched his second homer of the series and team-leading 11th of the season in game two, and James Wood extended his team-leading on-base streak to 18 games with a walk in the first.

GAME ONE:

After a scoreless first inning on both sides, Rochester struck first in the top of the second. With one out, DH Travis Blankenhorn blooped a fly ball that dropped into shallow left field for a single. The next at-bat, C Drew Millas crushed a 330-foot, two-run home run into the home bullpen in left field to give Rochester an early 2-0 lead. This was his fourth homer of the season and second of the series against the RailRiders.

In the top of the third, 2B Erick Meija led off with a broken bat infield single. CF Alex Call then worked a walk, moving Mejia into scoring position. With two on, 3B Carter Kieboom hit a fly ball to center field that advanced Meija to third and put runners on the corners. LF James Wood followed suit with a three-run shot to right field, his third consecutive game with a long ball. The next batter, 1B Joey Gallo hit his second home run in as many games, a 389-foot shot over the right-field wall to make the score 6-0. This is the first time the Wings have launched back-to-back homers this season.

The Wings continued to pad their lead in the fourth. Back-to-back walks by RF Stone Garrett and SS Jack Dunn led off the inning to put two runners on with no outs. Garrett later advanced to third on a throwing error and came around to score on a sacrifice fly from Mejia to make the score 7-0. With two outs on the board, Kieboom laced a double into the right-center field gap to score Dunn from first and increase the lead to eight runs.

Scranton/WB logged their first hit of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, a double off the bat of C Carlos Narvaez. A strikeout proceeded back-to-back walks to RF Oscar Gonzalez and DH Jose Rojas, loading the bases. The next batter, SS Kevin Smith came to the plate and skied a fly ball to center field that scored Narvaez and put the RailRiders on the board. A walk to 2B Josh VanMeter loaded the bases once again, and 3B Caleb Durbin drew the team’s fourth free pass of the inning to force in another run in the next at-bat. CF Everson Pereira capped off the three-run frame with a line drive single to right field, scoring Pereira to make the score 8-3 after four innings of play.

Rochester responded immediately in the top of the fifth, kicked off by a walk to Gallo. Garrett then reached on an error to put two runners on, followed by a walk to Dunn that loaded the bases. After working the count, Meija challenged a full-count strike that was successfully overturned, confirming a walk to push Gallo home and make the score 9-3.

The Red Wings began the sixth inning with another walk to put Kieboom on first base. Wood then drew a walk of his own, followed by a ground out from Gallo to advance both runners into scoring position. Two batters later, Drew Millas smoked his second homer of the game 352 feet to left field, increasing the lead to 12-3.

After a quick bottom half of the sixth, Dunn started the final scheduled inning with a single through the infield. Three batters later, Kieboom singled to put two runners on with two outs. James Wood then launched his second home run of the game to center field, a 443-foot three-run shot that swelled the lead to 12 runs. This was the farthest home run by a Red Wing in 2024.

Carlos Narvaez doubled with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but Red Wing pitching escaped with no damage to seal the win in game one of their doubleheader, 15-3.

Rochester sent out RHP Joan Adon for the first game of the Saturday doubleheader. The Dominican Republic native logged 3.2 innings of three-run ball on just one hit while striking out five and walking six. He turned the ball over to RHP Adonis Medina with one out in the bottom of the fourth. The right-hander extended his scoreless appearance streak to four after logging 1.0 inning on one hit while striking out two and walking two. LHP Richard Bleier was next out of the bullpen for Rochester. The former Boston Red Sox southpaw finished with 1.1 hitless innings with one strikeout. RHP TJ Zeuch took the ball for the seventh and turned in a scoreless final inning, allowing one hit while striking out two. The Red Wing bullpen kept the Scranton/WB offense at bay, logging 3.1 innings of scoreless baseball on just two hits with two strikeouts.

The Diamond Pro Player of the Game in game one goes to C Drew Millas. The Nationals' No. 19 prospect logged his first career multi-home-run game, with a two-run shot in the second and a three-run shot in the sixth. The Rochester catcher finished the contest with a 2-for-4 line while tying a career-high with five RBI, and adding two runs scored. Millas entered 2024 with just four home runs as a right-handed hitter in his career. He has tied that total this season, hitting four of his five home runs from the right side of the plate, including both in game one Saturday.

Find the box score for game one attached here.

GAME TWO:

Rochester once again jumped ahead early, putting themselves on the board in the top of the first to kick off game two. With one out, LF James Wood worked his team-leading 25th walk of the season to extend his on-base streak to 18 games. RF Travis Blankenhorn then jumped on the first pitch he saw and drove it 347 feet the other way for his 11th home run of the season, giving Rochester a 2-0 lead. This was the Wings sixth total homer of the doubleheader, and Blankenhorn’s second of the series.

RailRiders C Luis Torrens led off the bottom half of the third with a single to center field, and moved into scoring position on a walk to SS Jeter Downs. After a pair of strikeouts, 3B Caleb Durbin drew a walk of his own to load the bases. 1B T.J. Rumfield subsequently roped a single to left field that brought two runs around to score and tie the game at 2-2 heading to the fourth.

With one out in the following half inning, CF Alex Call ripped a double down the left field line. He then moved to third base on a wild pitch, and two batters later 3B Jake Alu drove him in on an RBI single to break the tie, 3-2, after three and a half innings.

Rochester’s lead was erased immediately in the bottom of the fourth when RF Oscar Gonzalez drove the first pitch of the inning 454 feet to dead center field for his second home run of the season. After a pair of outs, back-to-back doubles from Downs and 2B Josh VanMeter gave Scranton/WB a 4-3 lead.

Scranton/WB padded their lead with an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. LF Jose Rojas connected on a solo home run to lead off the inning, making the score 5-3 heading to the seventh. Rochester went down in order in their last turn at bat, giving the RailRiders a two-run victory and a three-games to-two series lead.

RHP Jackson Rutledge took the mound at the start of the second game in Saturday’s doubleheader, marking his seventh start of 2024. The Missouri native worked 5.0 innings and allowed four earned runs on six hits while walking three and striking out six before handing the ball to RHP Rico Garcia. The right-hander allowed one earned on one hit in the sixth while walking and striking out one.

Diamond Pro Player of the Game for game two goes to RF Travis Blankenhorn, who connected on his team-leading 11th home run of the season, tied for second-most in the International League, and one-off Norfolk’s Coby Mayo. The Pennsylvania native went 1-for-3 with a homer, two RBI and a run scored in the back half of the twin bill. He now leads the team with 11 homers, 29 RBI, and a .597 slugging percentage this season.

Rochester looks to split the series in the finale against the RailRiders on Sunday afternoon. RHP Spenser Watkins takes the ball for the Wings against Scranton/WB RHP Yoendrys Gomez. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m.

Find the box score for game two attached here.