Locastro, Andújar power offense as RailRiders clip Wings again
Jun. 16—MOOSIC — Entering the day in first place, Rochester managed to handle one four-run inning from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre's offense early in Wednesday's game.
So, the RailRiders had to do it again.
Tim Locastro banged a bases-clearing double off the base of the wall in deep center field with two outs in the sixth inning and Miguel Andújar tacked on his third run-scoring hit of the night as the RailRiders pulled away for a 10-6 win over Rochester at PNC Field, taking the first two of the series from the Red Wings and knocking them into second place in the International League East.
Locastro had three doubles on the night, drove in four runs and stole a base. Andújar doubled and singled twice, Armando Alvarez drilled a three-run homer and leadoff man Estevan Florial scored three runs to help the RailRiders (25-37) win for the sixth time in seven games.
"I just think this team, we're starting to really come together as a unit," Locastro said. "The coaching staff's been great with us and we're finally putting together some good at-bats and sort of piecing them together. If we can continue to do that, we can continue to win a lot of games."
Alvarez's home run just inside the left-field foul pole in the second was the main part of the team's first four-run inning, which Andújar capped with a base hit to give the RailRiders a comfortable 5-1 lead, especially with starting pitcher JP Sears on the mound.
Sears carried a 0.86 ERA into the game and had yet to allow a home run this season between Triple-A or the bigs. Rehabbing major leaguer Alcides Escobar ended that streak in the first inning with a long homer to the bridge above the bullpens. In the fourth inning, Joey Meneses and Jake Noll cut further into the RailRiders' lead with back-to-back solo blasts. Sears needed to strand two runners to get out of the inning without any more damage.
It was the first time in his career Sears allowed three home runs in a game. He finished his four innings with one walk and five strikeouts, retiring eight in a row at one point.
"You look at it and it's like, well, solo home runs don't usually beat you, as long as you don't give up too many of them," RailRiders manager Doug Davis said.
"But he really had to grind tonight. I think it all came down to basically his fastball command. He just really struggled hitting his spots with his fastball. He was missing to the opposite side of the plate that he was trying to go to quite often. And then once he threw his breaking pitches in there, they started to see him a little bit better."
With Sears out of the game, Rochester tied it up in the top of the sixth against David McKay thanks to two-out doubles from Ildemaro Vargas and Adrián Sanchez. Sanchez's plated two runs.
The RailRiders offense, which still ranks 20th out of 20 International League teams, quickly got the lead back.
Rochester (35-27) starter Logan Verrett lost the final batter he faced, José Peraza, to an 11-pitch walk with one out in the bottom of the sixth. Reliever Alberto Baldonado got the second out without any issues, then Alvarez reached on Vargas' error at third base.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre capitalized.
Florial worked a walk to load the bases and Locastro emptied them, crushing an 0-2 pitch over center fielder Matt Lipka's head. Locastro swiped third base and Andújar knocked him in from there.
"You put Andújar in the third spot, it sort of changes the complexion of the lineup," Davis said. "It gives you an extremely professional hitter who is going to give you a good at-bat every time he goes up there. He has potential to hit a home run and drive the ball and drive in runs, and so it makes the guys around him better. Locastro, obviously, is swinging the bat very well right now, which is great for Tim. He needs that, I think, for his confidence and knowing that he's going to be needed at the big league level at some point once again. To keep him hot and confident in his hitting ability I think it's really important right now, and that's where he's at right now."
Rochester added one run in the eighth, but Locastro doubled in Florial to answer it in the bottom of the inning.
"All in all, I think up and down the lineup, it's been a lot of contribution from everybody and it's been a lot of fun watching," Davis said.
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