Jun. 19—Rochester finally chased Bryce Robison, the St. Cloud right-hander who kept them off the scoreboard, and had its chance. With the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth, Mike Bolton Jr. stepped to the plate, looking to break through against new Rox right-hander Connor Barison.
Instead, Bolton walked back to the dugout after a strikeout, along with his three Honkers teammates that were occupying the bases.
In the one chance its offense had to make an impact against St. Cloud’s dominant pitching staff, Rochester fell flat. And in a pitcher’s duel, that proved costly, as the Rox won, 3-0, Friday at Mayo Field.
“Across the board offensively, it hasn’t been quite as good as we need it to be,” manager Paul Weidner said. “This group is too talented not to [perform].”
That lack of offense spoiled a splendid start from Rochester’s Brant Alazaus, who was locked in from the first pitch.
In his third start of the summer, Alazaus had his best stuff. Though he rarely blew pitches by the Rox batters, he largely induced weak contact while only scattering five hits.
Alazaus tossed seven innings of one run ball, that lone St. Cloud score coming on Jack Winkler’s fourth-inning RBI double. He struck out six and didn’t walk anyone, turning out the hard-luck loser.
“He was keeping everybody off-balance, controlling multiple pitches. He started to get his breaking ball over more consistently,” Weidner said. “He does not deserve the loss after an outing like that.”
Though Alazaus did get some help from his defense, a series of mental mistakes harmed Rochester (5-9) after he departed.
Twice in the eighth inning, the Honkers failed to cover first on balls hit to the right side that stayed in the infield. Further, none of the Rox’s first five batters in the frame hit the ball out of the infield grass. Yet, a run came across on a slow-rolling RBI groundout to third, largely thanks to those mental blunders.
“Those are really just coaching moments,” Weidner said. “Hopefully it’s a one time thing.”
Even with Alazaus dealing, he could not get any help from a slumping Rochester lineup.
The closest the Honkers came to getting on the board was in the eighth when they loaded the bases against Robison with two outs. That chased the right-hander as he ran up against his pitch count.
Robison was sterling, fanning 13 across 7.2 innings and rarely letting the six hits he allowed get beyond second base. And Barison helped keep Robison’s shutout intact, striking out Bolton to end the jam.
“The fact that that was our only opportunity of the night speaks to the lack of stringing things together that we need,” Weidner said.
And in the ninth, that strikeout compounded. With a runner on second, Jackson Forbes booted a grounder, letting St. Cloud (10-6) bring home an insurance third run.
It was another frustrating evening for a Rochester side that has been unable to pair sharp pitching with strong hitting all season.
“[Alazaus] gave us everything we could possibly ask for,” Weidner said. “It’s unfortunate that our bats couldn’t follow suit and give him some backing.”