By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
So here was the situation in the top of the sixth inning on Friday night when the Rochester Red Wings began the final weekend of the season:
Runners on second and third, two outs, and the International League’s most valuable player is coming up to face left-handed starter Lewis Thorpe.
This is, by the way, the newly anointed league MVP who against left-handers is hitting .373 with a .627 slugging percentage.
What do you do? Take advantage of the open base at first and walk Joey Meneses and pitch to Andrew Knapp?
Or take your chances with the match-up of unknowns — Thorpe, up from Double-A on Aug. 15, against Meneses, the IL Rookie of the Year — and pitch to the Lehigh Valley clean-up hitter?
Wings manager Joel Skinner opted to pitch to Meneses — and on the fifth pitch the IronPigs had a 3-0 lead.
Meneses drove a hanging curve ball the opposite way and into the Red Wings bullpen and the IronPigs, behind All-Star starter Cole Irvin, defeated Rochester 3-1 in front of 11,120 fans at Frontier Field.
“People throw bad pitches,” Thorpe said. “Two pitches earlier he hit a curve ball home-run distance but it was foul. He was just staying on that curve ball. I should have gone fastball.
“Instead, three-run shot and it changed the game.”
Thorpe, who was 8-4 with a 3.58 ERA in Double-A, was all for pitching to Meneses, however. It was his execution that he didn’t like.
“I hate walking guys,” he said. “It could have been a smart option but I should have made a pitch he couldn’t hit.”
Skinner essentially agreed. He said walking Meneses creates a bases loaded jam where there would have been no room for error.
“I just think there’s ways of pitching to guys,” Skinner said.
Given the 3-0 lead, Irvin and the IronPigs bullpen kept the Wings from rallying and improved to 82-55. The Wings fell to 63-74 with three games remaining.
Thorpe pitched exceptionally well. He went seven innings, allowed just four hits and one walk while striking out seven against the IL’s best team.
The runs off Thorpe were all unearned because of his error. He failed to field a full-of-spin come-backer hit by Dean Anna. He then walked Collin Cowgill and retired J.P. Crawford on a grounder before Meneses delivered.
Thorpe is another of the bright pitching prospects for the Minnesota Twins. He allowed just 11 runs in his final nine Double-A starts while striking out 57 in 45 2/3 innings.
Though he has an 0-3 Triple-A record, he has a 3.32 ERA in his four starts for the Wings and just four total runs of support in those four starts.
“This was a well-played, well-pitched game,” Skinner said. “Thorpe pitched great.”
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