Rochester Pitching De-Rails RailRiders Offense in Win

The Rochester Red Wings snapped a short two-game skid, beating Scranton/WB 2-1 in their series opener against Scranton/WB. The win extends their streak to four-straight wins in series opening games. 3B Jeter Downs logged his first three-hit game of the season, while LHP Alemao Hernandez tied a career-high with seven strikeouts on the way to his first career Triple-A win.

Scranton/WB opened up the scoring in the top half of the first, the 12th time in the last 13 games that the Wings opponent scored first. CF Jasson Dominguez drove a single through the left side with one out, and promptly stole second base in the following at-bat. After a walk to DH Austin Wells, 1B Andres Chapparo singled to the right side of the infield to score Dominguez and give the RailRiders a 1-0 lead.

Rochester threatened in the second, after 3B Jeter Downs battled through an 11-pitch at-bat and roped a double down the left field line. SS Richie Martin reached on an infield single a batter later, and stole second a batter later to put runners on second and third. A strikeout from RailRiders RHP Mitch Spence ended the threat and kept the score at 1-0.

Pitching escaped any additional damage until the fourth, when C Brady Lindsly singled in 3B Jeter Downs to tie the game 1-1. Downs had reached second base two batters earlier on his second double of the night, logging his third multi-hit game of the season. 2B Darren Baker logged his second single of the night, this time driving in Lindsly to give Rochester a 2-1 lead heading into the fifth.

Wings pitching was dominant throughout the remainder of the contest, allowing just two hits from the fifth inning on. RHP Gerson Moreno locked down the ninth inning for the save, his 10th of the season. Moreno is the fourth Red Wing since 2015 to record double-digit saves in a season (Jordan Weems in 2022, John Curtiss in 2018, A.J. Achter in 2015).

Alemao Hernandez made his third career start Tuesday night, tying a career-high with seven strikeouts. The Mexico native allowed one earned on six hits through 5.0 innings. RHP Luis Reyes was first out of the bullpen, and tossed a scoreless inning of his own. LHP Tim Cate, RHP Amos Willingham, and LHP Joe La Sorsa covered the next two innings, holding Scranton/WB scoreless on just one hit. Moreno logged his 10th save with a hitless ninth, tied for fifth-most in the International League.

Tuesday night’s Diamond Pro Player of the Game is Jeter Downs. The Columbia native went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and a run scored in tonight’s contest, and has now hit safely in five of his last seven games with the Wings dating back to 7/26-G1 at Worcester. This was his first three-hit game since 5/17/2022 with Worcester, which also came against Scranton/WB.

Both teams will square off for the second of their six-game set Wednesday afternoon, as the Wings look to take a 2-0 series lead. RHP Wily Peralta takes the mound for his team-leading 24th start of the season against RailRiders LHP Edgar Barclay. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m.Find the box score attached here