By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The crowd fit the description of the opposing pitcher’s surname. It didn’t matter. The Rochester Red Wings’ playoff hopes ended Friday night.
Ben Lively hurled six no-hit innings, and the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs went on to defeat the Wings, 7-1 in International League play Friday night at Frontier Field.
Lively struck out 10, walked none and improved to 11-5 on the season.
“Fastball was where I wanted to throw it all night,” the right-hander said. “Off speed came together. They all came together and we won.”
Lively had more runs then he needed before he even took the mound. Lehigh Valley sent 10 to the plate in the first inning, chased Wings starter Jason Wheeler and grabbed a 5-0 lead. Despite temperatures in the 60s, and the lengthy top of the first, Lively showed no side effects for having to wait.
“You know that happens,” the UCF alum said. “That’s baseball. It could happen to me too going out the first inning like that. I just tried to play my own game and lock in.”
Cam Perkins got the Iron Pigs on the board with a flare to right center scoring two runs. One batter later, Brock Stassi plated two more with a single. Cedric Hunter drove in another with a base hit, and Wheeler’s night ended after just 34 pitches.
“He just was out of sync,” Red Wings manager Mike Quade said. “Sometimes, you’re out of sync, and you get away with it for a while. You give yourself a chance to get back in sync. They didn’t miss many, and he walked a few. Just a little bit out of character for him. We’ve seen him struggle early, but not like that. He just couldn’t stop the bleeding.
“‘Wheels’ had such a great year for us, and it’s tough to take. It doesn’t take away from all that he’s done.”
Joely Rodriguez came out of the Lehigh Valley bullpen and tossed two innings without surrendering a hit.
Reynaldo Rodriguez gave the crowd of 12,998 reason to cheer when he broke up the no-hit bid with a two-out RBI single off Elvis Araujo in the ninth.
The crowd was the largest at Frontier Field since September 5, 2009.
Rochester’s D.J. Baxendale allowed one run on three hits over 4.2 relief innings.
The loss creates an unlikely situation. The Wings (80-61) enter the final weekend of league play tied for the third best record in the league, yet they will be on the outside looking in when the IL playoffs start next week.
“I’m so proud of the group in there,” Quade said pointing to the locker room. “They’ve played well. Unfortunately, the club were chasing has played very well against us. We’ve held our own against just about everybody, but they’ve had the edge on us. That’s part of it. They’re a really good team.”
For the first time since the Governor’s Cup has been awarded in 1933, the Wings will finish an 80-win season and not qualify for the playoffs. The Wings are the first IL team since Ottawa in 2002 to win 80 contests and not move on to the post-season.
“We played really good in a very tough division,” Quade added. We came up a little short and that stinks.”
Rochester finishes the season with three games at Lehigh Valley.
“We gave it our best shot,” Quade continued. “I love to see us go in there and play well to finish this thing out and finish 20 over. That would be great.”
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