The Rochester Red Wings held on for a 7-6 victory over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on Friday night at PNC Field. Manager Matt LeCroy earned his 700th win in his managerial career.
Rochester jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top half of the first on Adrian Sanchez’s RBI double. However, the lead did not last long as Scranton/Wilkes-Barre tied the game in the bottom of the inning on Greg Bird’s RBI single.
Miguel Andújar gave the RailRiders a 2-1 lead in the third with an RBI single.
The Red Wings plated four runs in the fourth to retake the lead. Ildemaro Vargas started the inning with a two-run single. Two batters later, Andrew Stevenson hammered an RBI double to make it 4-2. Sanchez followed that with an RBI single to cap off the inning.
Sanchez collected his third RBI of the game in the sixth with an RBI single, pushing Rochester’s lead to 6-2.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre fought back in the seventh with a pair of runs to make it a two-run game. Phillip Evans picked up an RBI with a groundout, and Derek Dietrich lined an RBI single.
In the ninth, Stevenson drilled his fifth home run of the season to make it a 7-4 game.
The RailRiders made things interesting in the ninth as they plated two runs to cut the lead to one. Dietrich and an RBI double, and Max McDowell had an RBI single, but Rochester held on for the victory.
Stevenson and Sanchez combined for six of the Red Wings’ seven hits.
Jefry Rodriguez started on the mound for Rochester and surrendered a pair of runs over 2 2/3 innings. Matt Cronin and Jordan Weems each allowed two runs in relief. Jace Fry, Curtis Taylor, Sam Clay, and Tyler Clippard had scoreless outings.
The two teams will continue this six-game series on Saturday at 6:05 p.m.
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