There were, at the least, three stories to follow in Thursday’s Rochester-Columbus game. One was local, as the Wings had lost five in a row and needed to get back on the right foot. The second was organizational, as it was Jeff Manship’s first Triple-A start. The third was meteorological, as anyone who was at the park could tell you. Some fans will be interested in one, some in another, and some in more than one. That is fine. All three stories have happy endings.
Manship was 6-4 with a 4.28 ERA for the Rockcats in 2009. He only gave up two home runs in 75 innings, which is impressive. In his first start at Triple-A, he didn’t give up any home runs, but that’s not to say that he got off easy.
After striking out his first opponent, Manship was tagged for three doubles and a single by the next five batters, bringing home four runs. None of the doubles were cheap, but the fourth run only scored because right fielder David Winfree forgot to pick up Andy Marte’s ground ball single as it rolled by him on its way to the wall.
In that first inning, and in his other five, Manship relied fairly heavily on breaking pitches, both a curveball and a changeup. Most scouts say his changeup needs work, but he used it to great effect in this start. It sits around 79-81 miles per hour, compared to 89-91 on his fastball. The speed differential is so great that Manship is able to get hitters way out in front. The curveball is more of a swing-and-miss pitch, and it did its job as well.
When Manship got into trouble, it was with offspeed pitches out over the plate. All three of the extra base hits he allowed in the first were on breaking balls left over the plate, as far as I could tell. He only walked two batters, but lacked command within the zone. That led to ten hits for Columbus.
Fortunately for the young pitcher—really, he’s not that young, he’s 24, older than most of his teammates—Justin Huber hit a three run homer in the bottom half of the opening inning, bringing the Wings right back into the ballgame. That already was a good sign, since the Wings had only scored one solitary first inning run in their five game losing streak.
After the first, Manship and the Clippers’ Kirk Saarloos both threw well, and no runs were surrendered for the next four innings. Manship left after the sixth, having thrown 95 pitches. He was in line for the loss, but again, good news came while he sat on the bench. Tommy Watkins and Alexi Casilla singled in Dustin Martin and Jeff Christy, putting the home team ahead 5-4 in the bottom of the sixth.
At the beginning of the game, it was hot. Very hot. Around the third or fourth inning, though, the clouds began to assemble over the field, and by the top of the seventh, fans were getting not only uneasy, but modestly wet. They were not comforted by Jesse Crain, who put two runners on base then moved them both into scoring position with a wild pitch. Tony Graffanino was at bat, and two men were out. Then it started to rain hard.
At first, the rain was tolerable, and the wind was more of a problem. By the time the game was suspended, though, it had developed into a full-fledged drenching, with lightning to boot, and it took an hour and a half to go away. The temperature had dropped about twenty degrees from the first pitch at 1:35, and the attendance fell even further. Only a handful of fans stuck around for the finale—one of them was former city mayor Bill Johnson, inconspicuous in the cheap seats.
By the time the tarp came off, the weather had become considerably more pleasant, but Crain was nowhere to be seen. Where he’d been standing was, instead, Juan Morillo. The fireballer walked Graffanino, then gave up a heart-breaking double to Marte, scoring all three runs. Wet Rochesterians wondered why they bothered staying at all. The Clippers were leading, 7-5.
Anyone who spends much time watching the Red Wings—this is the local story—knows they don’t do well with comebacks. Until today, they were 7-29 when trailing after seven innings, and 4-30 after eight. That looked like the plan on Thursday, as well, until the bottom of the ninth.
The first batter was Huber, and he hit another home run. It should be mentioned that his first home run was to straightaway center field, where batted balls seldom go. This one went to left field. The next batter was Danny Valencia, and he, too, homered to left field. It was his first Triple-A homer, and it tied the score at seven.
After Winfree flied out, Dustin Martin doubled and two men were walked to load the bases for Tommy Watkins. The Mayor of Fort Myers already had two hits on the day, and had played a solid left field as well. It was altogether fitting, then, when he rang a ball down the first base line, scoring Martin to win the game.
Watkins was one of five Wings with a multi-hit game; the others were Casilla (in his first game back from a pulled groin), Huber (who also doubled), Valencia and Martin. Steve Tolleson went hitless for the second straight game. The victory went to Rob Delaney, who pitched the ninth inning.
In addition to his home run, Valencia smoked a ball down the left field line in the early innings, but only got a single due to a convenient bounce off the wall. Also, in the fifth inning, he made a solid stop of a hard-hit ball to third base, but threw low for an error.
Topics: Alexi Casilla, Andy MArte, Bill Johnson, Columbus Clippers, Danny Valencia, David Winfree, Dustin Martin, Jeff Christy, Jeff Manship, Jesse Crain, Juan Morillo, Justin Huber, Kirk Saarloos, Minnesota Twins, Rob Delaney, Rochester Red Wings, Steve Tolleson, Tommy Watkins, Tony Graffanino
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Are you going to be in Scranton for the June 29 doubleheader?
No, I won’t be. I was at the Saturday night game against Columbus though. Crain came in to pitch the ninth, got the first two guys out, then gave up a double. Rochester immediately got someone up in the bullpen. The score was 6-1. How’s that for a vote of confidence?