Red Wings hang in playoff race with win

• Ortiz%27s double keys 3-run sixth
• Wings stay 1 1/2 out of wildcard lead
• Packed house of 10%2C970 watches

Monday night was a psychological test for the Red Wings.

With one week left in the season, the Wings knew they couldn't pick up ground by winning, but a loss would be catastrophic.

And through 5 ½ innings, before a sellout crowd, they were indeed losing. But on a night when the Red Wings extended their affiliation with the Minnesota Twins, they took a step toward extending their season, rallying to beat the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders 4-2 before 10,970 loud and lively fans.

"We knew we couldn't pick up a game," reliever A.J. Achter said, "but we needed to take care of our business first."

Daniel Ortiz's big double keyed a three-run sixth to push the Wings in front. Pawtucket beat Buffalo, so the PawSox take over the wild-card lead, one game ahead of the Bisons and 1 1/2 in front of the resilient Wings.

Alex Meyer (7-6) allowed two runs in six innings, and Achter surrendered just one hit over the final three, tying his career high with his sixth save, as the Wings kept the heat on.

"We needed to win to stay close," manager Gene Glynn said. "We got it done."

The RailRiders took the lead in the top of the first when Kyle Roller's two-out fly to center glanced off the glove of onrushing Eric Farris for an RBI double.

The Wings quickly answered as James Beresford led off the bottom of the first with a single and scored on Pedro Florimon's double to the left-center gap. The RailRiders loaded the bases in the third off Meyer, but he retired Zoilo Almonte on a fly. He wasn't as fortunate in the fifth, as Carmen Angelini walked and scored on Ramon Flores' triple.

The Wings had the packed house cheering loudly throughout the sixth. Chris Herrmann got things started with a double, and Chris Colabello walked one out later. Daniel Ortiz then smacked an RBI double to right, tying the game, and a passed ball from reliever Preston Clairborne. Farris' sacrifice fly made it 4-2.

Meyer allowed the two runs on seven hits over six innings. He threw 105 pitches, the most since April 28 for the Twins' top pitching prospect.

"He really stepped up and overcame adversity," Glynn said.

Pitcher Tyler Duffey (left oblique strain) was placed on the disabled list. Duffey essentially is being shut down for the season. A former closer at Rice University, he threw 149 innings this season between Single-A Fort Myers, Double-A New Britain and Triple-A Rochester and went 13-3 with a 3.67 ERA.

Outfielder Chris Rahl was activated from the DL.

The Wings are off on Tuesday but will have an eye on the final game of the Pawtucket-Buffalo series 75 miles down the Thruway.

"We'll be watching," Glynn said.

JMAND@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/jmand1

IL playoff race

Pawtucket 75 62 .547 —

Buffalo 73 62 .541 1

Rochester 74 64 .536 1½