Hens stymied by Rochester pitcher
Toledo drops 2nd game in a row after break
7/14/2012ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The Mud Hens hit Rochester right-hander Liam Hendriks early. They just didn't hit him enough.
Toledo scored twice in the second inning, but only managed two hits the next seven innings in a 7-3 loss to the Red Wings on Friday night at Frontier Field.
Hendriks -- who improved to 7-0 with a 1.79 ERA in nine Triple-A starts -- stymied the Mud Hens for much of the night, giving up only two runs on three hits in seven innings to earn the victory. The Australian struck out five and walked none.
Kyle Waldrop pitched a scoreless eighth and allowed one run in the ninth before Luis Perdomo got the final out to record his fifth save. With the win, Red Wings (45-48) climbed into fifth place in the International League North Division. Rochester -- which passed Syracuse in the standings -- had been last in the division since May 12 after a 14-20 start.
The Mud Hens (37-55) struck first in the top of the second inning, when first baseman John Lindsey led off with a double and right fielder Ben Guez reached base when he was hit by a pitch. After a sacrifice bunt, catcher Bryan Holaday's ground-rule double to left-center field brought both home and gave Toledo a 2-0 lead. Rochester tied it in the bottom of the third when catcher J.R. Towles hit a two-run home run.
In the fifth, Toledo's defense let down Adam Wilk when two errors led to three unearned runs. Second baseman Ray Chang extended the Rochester lead to 6-2 in the sixth inning with an RBI single.
Wilk (4-9, 3.46 ERA) allowed five runs -- three unearned -- on seven hits in five innings for Toledo. He struck out six batters and walked none before yielding to Matt Hoffman, who allowed one run in the sixth.
The Mud Hens will send left-hander Casey Crosby (6-2, 3.18) to the mound today at 7:05 p.m. Right-hander Nick Blackburn (1-0, 3.21) will start for the Red Wings, who haven't won a series against Toledo since taking three of four games in July, 2008, at Frontier Field.