Rochester needed its bullpen to hold on in the final innings, but the Red Wings walked away with their eighth consecutive win, beating Worcester 7-5 on Saturday at Polar Park.
According to a report by Yahoo Sports, Rochester has now won 13 of its last 14 games and remains in first place in its division. Seaver King drove in four runs and Abimelec Ortiz hit a two-run home run to pace the offense.
The game was scoreless through three innings. Rochester broke through in the fourth when Yohandy Morales singled and Ortiz followed with a two-run home run to center field, putting the Red Wings up 2-0. King added a run-scoring double in the fifth after an Andrew Pinckney walk to push the lead to 3-0.
The Red Wings appeared to put the game away in the sixth. Brady House singled and stole second, and after a pitching change, Joey Wiemer walked and Pinckney was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs. King then laced a three-run double to right, extending the lead to 6-0.
Worcester responded immediately. The WooSox took advantage of a leadoff error and a walk before Vinny Capra's two-out, two-run single to left cut the deficit to 6-2. Rochester answered in the seventh when a walk and a wild pitch set up Ortiz's RBI groundout, pushing the lead back to five at 7-2.
The WooSox kept pulling closer. A Jason Delay single, a Nathan Hickey walk, and a Nate Eaton infield single loaded the bases in the seventh. Mikey Romero hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Delay, and a passed ball moved two runners into scoring position before Kristian Campbell's RBI single pulled Worcester within 7-4. In the eighth, Max Ferguson's RBI single to center made it 7-5 and brought the tying run to the plate.
Rochester's bullpen did not allow Worcester to complete the comeback. In the ninth, Campbell hit a ground-rule double and Anthony Seigler drew a walk, then a wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position with the tying runs 90 feet away. A strikeout of Capra and a groundout by Matt Lloyd ended the threat and sealed the win.
Rochester's next games will continue what has become one of the hotter streaks in Triple-A baseball, with the Red Wings now having lost just once in their last 14 outings.
