Hens lose third straight

The Mud Hens found themselves facing an ensuing storm Saturday night, but it wasn't the severe thunderstorm that eventually overtook the area around Fifth Third Field.

It was a Rochester Red Wings ballclub that has dominated the Hens all summer.

Rochester continued its reign over Toledo by scoring a 6-0 victory on Saturday night before an announced sellout crowd of 9,885 at Fifth Third Field.

The International League game was called after six completed innings due to the inclement weather that brought heavy rainfall and plenty of lightning into downtown Toledo.

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The Red Wings (58-56) improved to 7-0 this season against the Mud Hens (44-71), which includes a 3-0 record in Toledo after Saturday night's road win.

"We just didn't get enough offense," said Toledo manager Phil Nevin, following the Mud Hens third straight loss and eighth out of the past 10 outings. "Not a whole lot of quality at-bats tonight."

Audy Ciriaco and Justin Henry summed up Toledo's offensive outing. They recorded a base hit apiece against the Red Wings, who went ahead 1-0 on Chris Parmelee's solo home run in the fourth inning off of Toledo starter Casey Crosby (6-5).

Mud Hens pitcher Casey Crosby talks with pitching coach A.J. Sager and catcher Bryan Holaday in the fourth inning. THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH Enlarge | Buy This Photo

"We may start switching some things up with the [batting] order," said Nevin, with regard to improving the Mud Hens' batting woes. "We're going to talk about it."

Parmelee's homer proved to be more than enough offense for the Red Wings.

However, after leading 1-0, the Red Wings poured it on in the sixth by scoring five runs off the Toledo left-hander. Rochester's Evan Bigley delivered the big blow when he cleared the bags with a thunderous grand slam home run to give the Red Wings a comfortable six-run cushion.

"Casey was throwing the ball good until that point," Nevin said. "He fell behind against some hitters and then he had to throw at them."

Rochester never looked back as the Mud Hens continued to struggle swinging their bats. Red Wings starter P.J. Walters pitched for only two innings -- a total of 18 pitches -- before he was replaced by right-hander Esmerling Vasquez. Walters, who was on a limited pitch count, didn't allow a run or a hit during his brief workout.

Vasquez (6-5) earned the decision after relieving the Rochester starter and maintaining the shutout against the Mud Hens through the next four innings before the home plate umpire halted the game during the top half of the seventh after a flurry of lightning strikes lit up the sky around the ballpark. The game was called after an hour delay.

Vasquez allowed only two hits while fanning three and walking one.

Ciriaco's leadoff hit to start the third inning and Henry's base hit to start the fourth didn't result in nothing more than disappointment for a Mud Hens team that has struggled to produce runs.

The Mud Hens wore Blue Stockings throwback jerseys last night as part of Toledo Mud Hens baseball history weekend at Fifth Third Field. The Blue Stockings were the first baseball organization in Toledo now known as the Mud Hens.

Toledo will try to halt its winless streak today at 6 p.m. against Rochester and the Famous Chicken is scheduled to be on hand.

Contact Donald Emmons at: demmons@theblade.com, 419-724-6302 or on Twitter @DemmonsBlade.