By: Mike Rose
ROCHESTER, N.Y.– The Worcester Red Sox scored three runs in the first and never looked back as they took down the Rochester Red Wings 12-1. The victory gave Worcester a 4-2 series win in the final matchup between the two teams this season. Bobby Dalbec led the offensive charge going 4-for-4 and finishing a double shy of the cycle. He racked up two runs and three RBI on the day for the Red Sox.
Overall every Worcester hitter recorded a hit in the contest and all but Bradley Zimmer scored at least one run. It was the 11th time in the last 12 games that the opposition broke through first against Rochester.
"We don't plan on being behind that just happens and that's baseball. Guys are working in between starts to try and polish themselves up but it just happens. We deal with it the best way we can by trying to limit damage and play good defensively and do what we can offensively," acting Red Wings Manager Billy McMillon said.
Worcester captured the season series over Rochester 13-11 after taking four of the final five at Innovative Field this week. It got away from Rochester almost immediately as Roddery Muñoz struggled early on. After walking the lead-off man Ceddanne Rafaela on four pitches Yu Chang lined an RBI double to make it a 1-0 game. The Red Sox would tack on two more in the first to make it a 3-0 advantage. Rochester would claw a little closer in the second on an RBI triple from Richie Martin. That would be as close as Rochester would get the rest of the day.
Red Sox starting pitcher Brandon Walter would retire 17 of the final 20 Red Wings he faced and finish the day allowing one run on five hits and one walk in seven innings with six strikeouts. Walter in his final 20 innings against Rochester this season allowed just five runs after allowing 11 runs in his first two matchups with the Red Wings.
"I don't know," McMillon said in regards to the Red Wings struggles with Walter. "I think if I had that answer we wouldn't struggle against him all the time. Some guys just have a better performance against us and others don't, it's baseball."
On the other side, the Red Sox offense continued to balloon the lead. Rafaela would drill a two-run home run to right field in the fourth and Bobby Dalbec would add a solo shot in the fifth to push Worcester ahead 6-1.
The Red Sox would tack on four more in the seventh capped off by Niko Kavadas's bases-clearing double to make it a 10-1 game. In the eighth, Chang would hit the third WooSox home run of the day and, after a walk from Enmanuel Valdez, Dalbec would rack up his fourth hit of the day with an RBI triple to put the finishing touches on a dominant showing for Worcester.
Offensively Rochester managed just seven hits overall. Derek Hill made his return to the Rochester lineup Sunday and picked up the only multi-hit effort on the day for the Red Wings. Hill went 2-for-4 overall in his first action since July 30.
"It's always nice to have a guy come back from the injured list and contribute. He's been very steady and arguably one of our best offensive performers all year so just having him back in the lineup hopefully will boost us as we play the remaining four series," McMillon said.
Rochester (22-28, 56-67) will begin its second to last homestand of the season Tuesday when they welcome the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders to town. Alemao Hernandez (0-1, 8.22) is slated to get the start in game one of the series for the Red Wings while Mitch Spence (8-6, 4.59) is projected to get the ball for the Railriders. The first pitch from Innovative Field Tuesday is scheduled for 6:45 p.m.