Spectacular D, Soft Singles Carry Wings

The Rochester Red Wings beat the Empire State Yankees 4-2 Tuesday night at Frontier Field. Tsuyoshi Nishioka reached base every time he came to bat and scored one run. The two teams play game three of a four game series tomorrow night.

The game was dominated by pitching through the first four innings as neither team scored and the two teams combined for just four hits. Yankees starter Mike O'Connor only gave up one hit and two walks before coming out in the bottom of the fourth with two outs. Nishioka led the inning off with an infield single then advanced to second on a long fly ball by Brian Dozier. With Joe Benson batting, Nishioka then stole third before Benson worked a walk, knocking O'Connor out of the game. Chase Whitley came on in relief and quickly got the last out to end the inning and the Wings' threat.

In the fifth inning, hitting finally made its way past pitching as both teams got on the board. With the Wings batting in the top of the inning, Aaron Bates led off with what would be the first of five singles that inning. Ray Chang and Ben Revere added the next two singles to load the bases for Nishioka. He drove Bates in on another single to score the first run of the game. After Dozier struck out looking, Matt Carson added the third infield single of the inning to score Chang.

The Yankees responded by adding a run of their own in the bottom of the fifth. Doug Bernier walked then scored on Ramiro Pena's long double to center field. Steve Pearce then came up and hit a long ball to left field that should have tied the game, but a spectacular diving catch by Wings left-fielder Revere kept the Wings up 2-1.

The Wings added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh. Drew Butera led off the inning with his first hit of the game, a chop single between third base and shortstop. Nishioka worked a walk to set up a two-run double from Dozier.

The Wings' pitching staff controlled the game all night, allowing just two runs. Starter Daryl Thompson allowed one run over five innings to get the win. He allowed just four hits and three walks with three strikeouts. Tyler Robertson came on in relief to pitch two innings without allowing a run on two hits and no walks with three strikeouts. Anthony Slama came on to pitch the eighth and found himself in a jam with runners on first and second. A long single by Ray Kruml scored Francisco Cervelli for the Yankees' second run. But the Yankees' threat continued when a single and walk loaded the bases, before Slama caught Kevin Russo looking to end the inning.

Slama came back out for the ninth and walked the lead-off batter before getting two quick outs. But the inning was still not without its drama as a single and wild pitch put two runners in scoring position with two outs. It took Slama a dramatic seven-pitch at bat, but he struck out Colin Curtis to end the game, and earn his fourth save of the season.