Wings' De Vries Silences Bats

De Vries entered the game with a 0-5 record and 6.58 ERA in five road starts, but turned in his best performance away from home, shutting out the Bats for seven innings. He scattered five hits in those seven innings, but was able to shut down a rather formidable Bats lineup.

Felix Perez, who hit .389 in the five games prior, and delivered three RBI in the series opener, led off for Louisville. Paul Janish, who recently came off the DL, batted second in the lineup sporting a .303 batting average. Cincinnati Reds third baseman Scott Rolen followed, making his first rehab appearance since injuring his shoulder on May 12. Mike Costanzo hit cleanup, batting .352 against right-handed pitching, and Dioner Navarro followed with a .524 batting average over the last 10 games.

De Vries (2-5, 4.53) neutralized them all, not allowing the Bats (21-48) to string together any consecutive hits while he was on the mound.

Offensively, the Red Wings (31-36) needed just two scoring innings against starter Chad Reineke and the Bats' bullpen to pick up the victory. In the second inning, Sean Burroughs led off with a double down the right field line. Then, on a 1-0 pitch, Wilkin Ramirez hit a bomb over the left-field fence to give the Red Wings a 2-0 lead. It was his third home run of the year, and Reineke's fourth allowed.

From when Reineke gripped a new ball following the home run to the end of the seventh inning, he retired 16 of the 20 Red Wings batters. He finished with seven innings pitched, five hits and two earned runs while striking out four.

Other than the home run, Rochester had difficulty getting to Reineke, but in the eighth inning the Red Wings took advantage of a Louisville pitching change. Bill Bray, making his second rehab appearance for the Reds, came in to pitch in the eighth. After throwing just 12 pitches while striking out the side in an appearance in the series opener, he began his work Friday night by punching out Tsuyoshi Nishioka. He then got Pedro Florimon to fly out to center field. But, that would be the end of his dominance over the Red Wings.

Danny Valencia drew a two-out walk from Bray, and Matt Carson followed with a ground-rule double over the right field fence, forcing Valencia to stop at third. Sean Burroughs, who hadn't delivered an RBI off of a left-handed pitcher all year, hit a flare over shortstop to score both runners. It was just his sixth hit off a lefty in 31 at-bats. Bray was pulled, and Louisville reliever Scott Carroll got out of the top of the frame with no further damage.

The Bats had a few opportunities to score, but did not improve on their league-worst .210 batting average with runners in scoring position, going 1-for-6. With one out in the bottom of the third, Danny Dorn hit a grounder to first base, and Burroughs threw an errant ball to De Vries covering first base for an error. Corky Miller then went down looking. Perez, who went 2-for-5 with three RBI in the series opener, hit a double that bounced off the wall in left field. With runners on second and third, however, Janish grounded out to Valencia at third base.

The following inning, Rolen led off with a hard ground ball single up the middle. After Costanzo struck out swinging, Navarro poked a single to left field. With runners on first and second and one out, Bill Rhinehart hit into his league-worst 15th double play to end the frame.

Louisville would finally get a run across in the eighth. Rochester reliever Tyler Robertson was on to replace De Vries, and with one out Janish reached base on an infield single that Nishioka couldn't quite corral at second base. Joey Gathright, who replaced Rolen in the lineup in the seventh inning, drew a walk on an eight-pitch at-bat. Costanzo hit a grounder to second, which brought Nishioka over toward first base enough to take away a double play opportunity and move both runners up. With Navarro at the plate and first base open, the Red Wings decided against walking the bases full. Navarro then delivered an infield hit, scoring Janish and bringing the Bats within 4-1. Rhinehart couldn't add to the damage, grounding out to shortstop.

The Bats matched the Red Wings with seven hits, but left nine runners on base for the contest and couldn't get the timely hits they needed. The Bats have dropped both games in this series, and are now 1-5 against the Red Wings for the season.