Tuesday 6/17/08

WINGS FIGHT BACK, FALL SHORT AGAINST BATS

The Red Wings rallied back from an early 5-0 hole, but dropped a 10-9 decision to the Louisville Bats Tuesday afternoon at Frontier Field. Sergio Santos had two hits and drove in three runs for Rochester, who out-hit Louisville 18-14. The Wings have an off day Wednesday, then open an eight-game roadtrip with a game in Indianapolis Thursday night.

Louisville captured an early lead in the first inning. Lead-off hitter Norris Hopper landed on base after hitting a double off starter Danny Graves, advanced to third, then went home on two errors by the Wings infield. With the bases loaded, Kevin Barker smashed a grand slam over the centerfield fence, to increase the Bats' run count to 5. The Wings ended the inning with a 4-6-3 double play.

Rochester rallied back in the bottom of the first to cut into the Bats lead. To start the rally, Jason Pridie hit a single and then stole second. Louisville pitcher Justin Mallett walked Garrett Jones and hit Randy Ruiz, to load the bases. With 2 outs, Santos hit a double, plating Pridie and Jones, bringing the score to 5-2.

In the second, the Bats threatened again with a pop fly fumbled by Chris Basak. The runner then tried to advance to second, but was tagged out by Graves. The Bats followed with a home run by Jeff Keppinger, making the score 6-2.

The Wings answered back in the bottom of the second. Basak led off the inning with a home run to left field. Denard Span increased the run count when he drove a double to centerfield, and then scored off a wild pitch. Pridie followed with a single and moved to second when Darnell McDonald was walked. Jones hit a single to plate Pridie, but was out as he tried to advance to second. This increases Jones' hitting streak to nine games. Santos brought home McDonald for the tieing run as he drilled a ball down the third base line for his second double of the game. The inning ended on a fly ball by Trevor Plouffe, with the score 6-6.

Graves (3-2) started the third by allowing three consecutive singles by the Bats. Carmen Cali relieved Graves and took the mound with the bases loaded. The Bats took back the lead when Cali hit his first batter, and increased their lead on a two-RBI single by Michael Griffin. The inning ended with a double play, bringing the score to 9-6.

Drew Anderson led off the fourth with a home run, increasing the Bats lead to 10-6.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Wings got back on the scoreboard. Plouffe hit a base hit, and moved to third on a double by Basak. Span plated Plouffe on a single,, but three runners were left on base as Bats pitcher, Todd Coffey, struck out the last two Wings batters, leaving the score 10-7.

The Wings continued to claw back into the game in the sixth. Ruiz hit a double and was brought home by a RBI single from Plouffe. This is Plouffe's first RBI in Triple-A.

Span drilled a two-out single in the eighth inning, bringing home pinch-runner Tommy Watkins and pulling the Wings to within a run at 10-9.

Ricky Barrett turned in four scoreless relief innings, striking out five while not allowing a baserunner until the ninth. After allowing a pair of singles, Barrett was relieved by Bobby Korecky. Korecky fanned cleanup hitter Ryan Hanigan, then got an inning-ending double play groundball to cut down the Bats' scoring attempt.

Josh Roenicke faced the heart of the Wings' lineup in the ninth, and struck out McDonald for the first out. Jones took Roenicke to the deepest part of the park but Hopper tracked down the ball against the fence for the second out. The Bats brought in closer Jon Adkins to relieve Roenicke, and Adkins got ahead 0-2 on Ruiz before Ruiz stroked a single up the middle. Alejandro Machado ran for Ruiz at the first, but Adkins got Santos to fly out to end the game. Adkins picked up his 14th save, with Matt Belisle (4-0) getting the win.